I’m not afraid to say it – I spend an unhealthy amount of time and a shameful amount of money on gacha games. Thank God I’m not talking about 1000+. But I’m not too far off. So, the unfortunate reality for some of the big names in the gacha scene like Genshin Impact or Honkai Star Rail is that spending money on the right characters can end up causing the content to become insignificant. Howling waves might solve this problem.
Because Howling Waves has third-person action combat correct. It’s not floating, weightless, or barking more than it bites. Howling Waves feels great to play. This will come as no surprise to those familiar with the developer’s last game, Punishing the Gray Crow. An oft-forgotten action drama and a real eye-candy. I’m serious – on YouTube.
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I do enjoy a lot of gacha games, but after 100 hours or so, I’m completely uninterested in a lot of the battles. It’s just not that glamorous. It didn’t get the punch I wanted. I may have found a cure for my oppressed attitude after being exposed to Howling Waves .
I was given access to the game’s base roster, and the people I played with were great. Similar to other similar games, Howling Waves encourages you to swap between teams in order to weave in when the cooldown hits. Even better here is the specialized swap attack, which is both stylish and devastating. I hope I’ve painted a good enough picture here – combat is what it feels like when you catch a falling piece of glass on the digital ground.
So the game puts these radical tools in your hands. What are you going to do to them? Well, since players are capable of going crazy, it’s only fair that the game offers challenges appropriate to that power. “Howling Waves” has an open world boss that actually requires you to use your brain. We’re talking about fast and wide attacks that can overwhelm your damage carriers if you’re not careful. Howling Waves is not afraid to test your team and skills. It’s not Elden Ring, for example, but it’s not far off.
In my demo, I fought a world boss. You can see these in other open world games, such as Genshin – dedicated arenas where you can summon big monsters to get certain upgrade materials. However, unlike the large random cubes that acted as simple elemental checks, Howling Waves threw something at me that actually mattered. The game even features a Lost Odyssey-esque attack indicator, allowing you to dodge at the exact moment an enemy is about to attack, allowing for a slow-motion glide with plenty of time to counterattack.
Now, let the elephant in the room go. Yes, I’m a guy who writes about video games on the internet. Yes, there is a stereotype associated with difficulty for such people. I understand very well, thank you. Before you ask to see me play Dark Souls’ Journey to the Undead or challenge my top five in Tekken 8, I want to stress that Kuro Games’ approach to difficulty is an outstanding aspect of the game . During the brief time I previewed it at GDC 2024, I was completely invested.
This emphasis on base difficulty – respect for player skill – is great, because it means that even if you reach out to various rare characters and milk them at the expense of your time and/or wallet, the game will Keep getting your attention. The idea of an autoplay button is laughable here. It’s like a regular dumb boss in an open world. I’m eager to get a glimpse of the crafty encounters the Kuro Games team is about to encounter.
That’s just part of the appeal of Howling Waves , and it stood out to me most during a relatively short preview session on my laptop in the convention center. There’s a lot to love here. The game blends bold colors with a darker, more muted palette, giving it a unique look among its bubblegum-bright contemporaries. Gacha monetization is crude by nature, but Howling Waves has a more generous way of doing it. Care about slot machines? Tommy Hull never could.
Hopefully, with a steady marketing push and a player base keen to try it out, Howling Waves can find a healthy community and become a real competitor to some of the genre’s giants. I think this game is solid enough to be worth your time when it finally launches. When it happens, I’m sure hundreds of people will call me a scrub – but until then, mark your calendars.
“Howling Waves” is set to launch on May 22, 2024. The game will be available on PC, iOS and Android.
