Zenless Zone Zero is a style engine first and a gacha second. Strip away the pulls and what is left is a fast, flashy character-action game about parries, assist swaps, and stringing a fight into one unbroken, stylish combo. So "games like ZZZ" is really two questions in a trench coat. Do you want another action gacha with the same loop of collecting and building fighters? Or do you want the combat itself, the pure character-action rush ZZZ inherited from a whole genre of games that predate it? This list answers both, ranked from the closest gacha match down to the classics ZZZ owes its moveset to.
What makes a game "like Zenless Zone Zero"
The traits the closest matches share:
- Fast, execution-driven action combat, built on dodging, parrying, and chaining attacks, with a swap or assist mechanic that keeps fights fluid.
- Style as a design pillar, presentation, animation, and attitude turned all the way up.
- A tight, character-forward structure where mastering individual fighters is the point.
Here are the six, ranked.
1. Punishing: Gray Raven
The closest match, full stop. Punishing: Gray Raven is a stylish urban sci-fi action gacha built on a deep combo system and a signature time-slowing perfect-dodge, and it shares almost all of ZZZ's design instincts: fast, execution-heavy fighting, a striking art direction, and a structure that rewards learning each fighter inside out. It is stage-based rather than hub-driven, and its combat ceiling is arguably even higher than ZZZ's, asking real mechanical mastery from its top content. If you want ZZZ's exact appeal in a different world, start here and do not look back.
Best for: players who want ZZZ's combat depth and style with the difficulty turned up.
2. Wuthering Waves
The open-world answer to the same craving. Wuthering Waves brings the fast parry-and-dodge action combat ZZZ fans love and drops it into a full open world, trading ZZZ's tight urban hub for exploration and traversal. It is from Kuro Games, the studio behind Punishing: Gray Raven, so the combat pedigree is real, and the production values are right up at the top of the genre. Come here when you want the same reflex-driven fighting with a world to roam between fights.
Start here: the Wuthering Waves beginner's guide and best team comps.
3. Honkai Impact 3rd
The action gacha that helped invent this lane. Honkai Impact 3rd is HoYoverse's original character-action title, built on fast valkyrie combat with dodge-and-counter mechanics and swap-driven rotations that clearly fed into what ZZZ does today. It is older and more stage-based, and it wears its age in spots, but the fighting still holds up and the story has a devoted following. For a ZZZ fan who wants to see where the studio's action instincts were forged, it is the obvious next step.
Best for: players who want deep swap-based action combat with a long story attached.
4. Genshin Impact
The studio sibling, and a gentler kind of action. Genshin Impact shares ZZZ's HoYoverse polish and its collect-and-build character loop, but its combat is more tactical and elemental than ZZZ's reflex-driven brawling, wrapped around a massive open world. It is further from ZZZ on pure combat feel than anything above, but if what you love is the HoYo craft, the character design, and the roster-building fantasy rather than the exact combo system, it is one of the surest bets in the genre.
Start here: the Genshin Impact team-building guide.
5. Goddess of Victory: NIKKE
A different flavor of style-first gacha. NIKKE is not a melee brawler, it is a cover-based shooter, so the combat loop is genuinely different from ZZZ's. But it belongs on this list for the thing ZZZ fans actually respond to: an uncompromising, wall-to-wall commitment to presentation, character, and attitude, plus a surprisingly strong story. If your love for ZZZ is as much about its swagger and its cast as its combos, NIKKE delivers that energy in a form you can play one-handed on a commute.
Best for: players who want ZZZ's style and character focus in a lower-effort, shooter-shaped package.
6. The classics ZZZ borrows from: Devil May Cry 5 and Bayonetta
Not gacha at all, and that is the point. ZZZ's whole combat philosophy, style meters, combo strings, the reward for fighting beautifully rather than just efficiently, comes straight from the character-action genre these two games define. Devil May Cry 5 and Bayonetta are the genuine article: no pulls, no daily reset, no economy, just deep, expressive, endlessly masterable combat you buy once and own forever. If ZZZ made you fall in love with the fighting and you resent the live-service wrapper around it, this is where the fighting lives in its purest form.
Best for: combat purists who want ZZZ's style without a single gacha mechanic attached.
Which one to start
If you want the closest possible match, go straight to Punishing: Gray Raven. For the same combat in an open world, it is Wuthering Waves; for the genre's HoYoverse roots, Honkai Impact 3rd; and for the studio's gentler, world-first side, Genshin Impact. If it is the style and swagger you are chasing more than the combos, NIKKE brings it in a lighter form, and if you want the pure character-action craft with no gacha at all, Devil May Cry 5 and Bayonetta are the ancestors worth owning. For more picks sorted by taste, our best action gacha games and overall best gacha games of 2026 lists carry the search further.
