Zenless Zone Zero is the most recent project developed by HoYoverse, and it looks like we are in for a treat! The characters and gameplay elements that have already been shown, look truly outstanding, which makes it even harder to be patient until the game's final release. However, instead of moping around, we can spend the time until the official start of the game to better understand the world of Zenless Zone Zero!
Next to unique gameplay and some of the most loved characters the gaming world has to offer, titles like Genshin Impact and Honkai Star Rail have much more to offer than just money consuming gacha. With each of their games, HoYoverse is offering an entirely new universe and story line to its player base, without them even recognizing most of its depths.
Perhaps the upcoming release of Zenless Zone Zero (ZZZ) could finally be an opportunity for all of us to already take a closer look at the world of HoYoverse's new project? — Let's start with one thing, every New Eridu citizen has to know about: The Hollow.
Zenless Zone Zero: What Are The Hollows?
In order to understand what Hollows are, we first have to learn a little more about the history of New Eridu and where this danger came from.
The Origin Of The Hollows
A long time ago, the world of Zenless Zone Zero was much bigger than it appears to be now. Next to New Eridu, there were once a bunch of other cities, with each of them having their very own traditions and economy. Unfortunately, the peace couldn’t be maintained forever and one tragic day, almost the entire civilization was destroyed by apocalyptic-level disaster.
Nowadays, the people call it “The Hollows”.
The only surviving city was New Eridu. But not only did this small town survive this catastrophe, they actually managed to turn things around for the better and started to make use of what once destroyed the rest of the planet. After a lot of research and many years of trial and error, scientists found out how to extract viable resources out of the Hollows, using them to make huge amounts of money.
It is needless to say that this caused a lot of tension between the monopolistic enterprises, gangs, conspirators, and fanatics all over New Eridu. The story behind this, however, is for another day.
Understanding The Hollows
It's a little hard to put the true form of Hollows into worlds. Basically, you can imagine them as an abnormal spherical dimension that just appears out of thin air. (Yes, kind of like a domain from Jujutsu Kaisen if that helps you to understand it.) These holes will swallow everything they touch, putting it in a new world with a pretty weird space-time environment.
The true evil however lies inside this newly created word: The Ethereal. These mutant creatures are insanely dangerous and roam completely free on this corrupted ground. Whoever touches the Ethereal, will most likely die, either to them killing you or to the mutation that happens after getting in contact with one of these creatures. People, who mutate, will completely lose their sanity, making them almost as dangerous as the Ethereal themselves.
In order to travel inside said dimensions safely, there are specialized groups, who know their way around the Hollows pretty well and can guide and protect you on your transit.
If you happen to enter a Hollow without such guidance, the New Eridu government has released a survival guide:
- Stay where you are! It is hard to understand the space inside a Hollow.
- Look for a save place in your immediate surroundings and wait there for rescue.
- If an enemy spots you? — Run for your life and pray!
Pretty easy, isn’t it?!
Personally, I would probably just avoid coming in contact with a Hollow, but who am I to judge?