I'll be honest: I love Zenless Zone Zero. The combat is snappy, the story is weirdly charming, and New Eridu has a style I can't find anywhere else. But when the version 2.3 drip marketing rolled in, I had to squint. Lucia, Yidhari, and Komano Manato from the Spook Shack faction looked less like three distinct agents and more like a single template wearing different wigs. That's not a great sign. 😬
The Redesign Nobody Asked For
Lucia's redesign has been floating around in leaks for a while. Her original concept gave her extremely wide hips paired with very thin arms, a look that pushed past what is humanly possible. During the 2.3 beta, the developers slimmed those hips down. Good, right? Well, the mass had to go somewhere. It didn't disappear. It moved upward. Lucia is now a card-carrying member of the giant bazongas club. Anyone hoping she would stay as a flat-chested representation can officially wave goodbye.
Here's the real issue. She doesn't look more distinct after the change. She looks more like Yixuan. And so does Yidhari. All three of them share a very specific checklist:
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Small, shiny black shorts
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A barely-there top
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Uneven socks, boots, or stockings with thigh straps
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The same exaggerated proportions
It's a uniform at this point. The Chinese player community isn't happy, and from what I've seen, their complaints are pretty reasonable.
Same Outfit, Different Hair
I get that in-game fashion can create a cohesive faction identity. The Spook Shack squad might all shop at the same questionable store in the Waifei Peninsula. But having three S-rank agents released four patches apart in essentially the same outfit is too much. Komano Manato gets the weirdest deal. While Alice and Yuzuha received beachwear skins, Komano didn't. He ends up showing up to the beach in sneakers and a jacket like someone who didn't read the group chat. 😅
What frustrates me isn't that revealing designs exist. Gacha games are full of them. The problem is that variety is disappearing. Zenless Zone Zero already proves it can do better. Isolde and Sarah have fully modeled, stylish suits that don't look like swimwear. They look powerful and distinct. So the talent is clearly there. It's just being aimed in one very narrow direction.
Where Are the Practical Clothes?
This isn't only a ZZZ problem either. Genshin Impact has Nefer, whose outfit barely passes as a skirt or dress. Then there's Lauma, whose dress is completely open to the elements. I still wonder how she isn't freezing in that snowy region. Then again, maybe I shouldn't ask too many questions. The pattern across several gacha titles is getting a little too predictable.
Let me be clear: I'm not asking for every character to be fully covered or for the game to lose its edge. I just want some balance. Give me a few more suits, some practical pants, a jacket that actually closes. Let the fashion tell me something about the character, not just about the audience metrics. New Eridu is too creative to become a hallway of identical silhouettes.
What I'm Doing Instead
For now, I'm taking a small step back from pulling on every new ZZZ banner. I'll keep playing for the combat and the story, but I'm going to be pickier about who I spend polychromes on. I've been saving my resources through Wuthering Waves codes, Genshin Impact codes, and Honkai Star Rail codes instead. Characters like Wuthering Waves' Qiuyuan and Honkai Star Rail's Evernight are on my radar because, well, they wear actual clothes. In 2026, that apparently counts as a refreshing design choice.
Maybe HoYoverse will listen. The community feedback has been loud, and the comparison screenshots are everywhere. Until then, I'll keep enjoying the things Zenless Zone Zero does best, and hoping the next round of drip marketing makes me do a double take for the right reasons.