Wuthering Waves landed on the wrong foot. One of the biggest and most-anticipated entries in a growing class of open-world gacha action RPGs, it launched earlier this May with a promising core obscured by technical errors, design hangups, and narrative stumbling blocks that remained even after (and perhaps partly because of) a near-total rewrite post-beta. Even so, it had real style, a fun world to explore, and some of the best combat in this space thanks to developer Kuro Games' experience with the breakneck action game Punishing Gray Raven. There was demonstrably something there, but it wasn't always easy or fun to find.
As Wuthering Waves prepares for its big 2.0 update and a PS5 release, lead producer Solon says this isn't a relaunch and they aren't just wallpapering over their mistakes, but it is a good time to jump in. A 2.0 update is a major milestone for any game like this – a party as much as it is a patch – and though there are still plenty of fixes to come, for Kuro it also presents an opportunity to spend a little less time talking about resolving problems and a little more time refining and celebrating what Wuthering Waves does well. With that in mind, I spoke to Solon about the game's struggles, its recovery, and its future, including new Resonators and exploration embellished with honest-to-goodness flight.
