Few games offer an exciting, premium open-world RPG experience that’s really worth your time and money when you choose to invest, but Wuthering Waves is one of them.
The legacy of Genshin Impact can be felt in many premium free-to-play games that have been released since. Through Tower of Fantasy and Honkai: Star Rail, we’ve seen what’s possible when a developer invests in creating a finished product and offers it for free with optional but incredibly tempting microtransaction gacha mechanics. Wuthering Waves is one of the most promising upcoming premium free-to-play experiences in this genre, and this is everything we know about its release date and gameplay.
Wuthering Waves release window and regions
Wuthering Waves will be released on May 22, 2024. This was confirmed by developer Kuro Game Studio in a livestream event in March 2024. The game has been marketed and teased for a couple of years without any firm release date plans. A release window of somewhere in 2022 was initially floated when the game was first announced, but it clearly needed more time to cook, as well as two closed beta tests.
How to pre-register for Wuthering Waves
You can pre-register for Wuthering Waves on both iOS and Android through the game’s official pre-registration page. At the time of writing, we can’t see any mention of pre-registration bonuses. However, considering this is the game’s official launch, I’d be surprised if there wasn’t some incentive offered closer to release.
Wuthering Waves Closed Beta Test details
The second Closed Beta Test for Wuthering Waves concluded in March 2024. The developer shared all the insights they’d learned from that test and will be using those to inform future development decisions. At the time of writing, I don’t know if there’s going to be a third Closed Beta Test. That all depends on when the game will be released.
Is Wuthering Waves multiplayer?
Yes, Wuthering Waves does have multiplayer in the form of co-op. Players are able to join each other’s games, but the intricacies of this haven’t been worked out at the time of writing. The only examples we have to go on come from the Closed Beta Tests, but previous titles from Kuro Game Studio use player level as a way to limit those joining your game to preserve the fun of playing. We’ll need to wait and see exactly how it works in the finished release to know for sure.
What platforms will Wuthering Waves be on?
Wuthering Waves is being developed for PC, PS4, PS5, and mobile devices on Android and iOS. It’s impossible to say which platforms the game will be released for first or if Kuro Game Studio will release it for every platform simultaneously. More details will no doubt be revealed when the release date has been confirmed.
Will Wuthering Waves be free?
Yes, Wuthering Waves is a free-to-play game, so it won’t cost you a penny to download and play. You’ll also be able to earn in-game currency to purchase pulls in its gacha system, but you’ll always have the option to purchase premium currency for more pulls or pulls that are geared to guarantee certain results.
Is Wuthering Waves a gacha game?
Yes, as most people will be able to tell from the concept and trailers, Wuthering Waves is a gacha game. You’ll start your journey with a protagonist who is your main presence in the world. You’ll also need to recruit Resonators, who are other characters in the game’s world, via a gacha system that requires in-game and premium currency for pulls.
All Wuthering Waves trailers
Below, I’ve listed every trailer for Wuthering Waves we’ve had to date. Not all of them are noteworthy because they don’t show gameplay or are extremely short, but they all tell you the journey of the game’s marketing from the beginning to the official launch. The oldest trailers are down at the bottom, so you can see the freshest trailer here at the top.
This is the complete opening cinematic for Wuthering Waves, and I think you’ll agree it’s suitably epic for a game in the premium free-to-play genre.
The Jianxin trailer showcases one of the game’s amazing Resonators, which are the characters you’ll unlock through its gacha mechanic.
The Closed Beta 2 gameplay trailer was released to help build up anticipation for fans’ second chance to enjoy the game before its release.
The Danjin Resonator trailer is another showcase for one of the characters you can play to get in Wuthering Waves.
This Resonator trailer is for Aalto, one of the coolest Resonators I’ve seen to date.
This 2023 gameplay showcase trailer details the world of Wuthering Waves. I’ll admit, this is the trailer that sold me on it.
Sanhua is another Resonator who received her own trailer early on in the game’s development.
The Closed Beta Test character showcase trailer highlighted a few of the characters players could pick up during the test. It’s one of the more in-depth looks at these characters in terms of actual gameplay.
The concept trailer for the first Wuthering Waves Closed Beta Test goes hard, but it sets the tone for a world that you can be invested in for hundreds of hours.
The Wuthering Waves CG Trailer Daybreak is the first real look at what the developer wanted to make that we ever got. This is the anime cutscene before a fighting game, the CG cutscene on a PS1 Final Fantasy game that sold you on the pixellated storytelling.
