The announcement of Wuthering Waves Version 2.0 caused quite the hype on social media. On the morning after the Version 2.0 broadcast had aired, an influx of players started logging into the game, which caused the server to host a virtual queue that would slowly let people inside.

Thanks to Kuro Games, Final Weapon recently had the opportunity to try out an early access version of Wuthering Waves Version 2.0 update. Before the update is released to the public on January 1st (PST), it’s time to explore the brand-new continent of Rinascita.

Note: This article uses images from an in-development game build and may not reflect the final version.

Rinascita, the Land of Echoes

Of course, the main star of the show is the brand-new continent that players will get to explore, and that is Rinascita, known for their advanced Echo technology, earning it the title of Land of the Echoes. After solving the issue with the Tethys System, the Rover receives an invitation from Shorekeeper.

Said invitation comes from none other than the illustrious Montelli family, saying that the Carnevale, which is a festival held to celebrate Rinascita’s Sentinel, is going to be held soon after a whole decade. According to Shorekeeper, this is the best time to visit the nation in search for answers. So, with the help of our good friend Aalto, we pack our bags, and head on over to Rinascita.

The main hub of Rinascita is Ragunna City, which seems to take a heavy inspiration from the famous city of Venice. And in fact, it seems that Rinascita itself takes a lot of cues from Italian architecture in general, with its cathedrals and towers. And I gotta say, Ragunna looks beautiful. It’s clear that a lot of effort and care went into each part of each part of its design.

However, just because it’s time for festivities, that doesn’t mean that the Rover will be able to let their guard down. For starters, how will we be able to get an audience with the Sentinel? And it seems that while the people bask in the festivities, an evil force lurks behind the scenes trying to disrupt everything. Truly, each and every story act have their thrilling moments that I’m confident will make you shake in your chair as you go through them. Kuro Games really outdid themselves with this.

A Variety of Areas to Explore

Of course, we can’t just laser focus on Ragunna itself. Rinascita as a whole has a plethora of areas for players to explore, some of which contain brand-new puzzles for players to solve.

Some of those puzzles continue the trend of Rinascita’s Echo technology, where players will be able to use the Gondola Echo to climb waterfalls, and even take ahold of an Echo that will allow for free soaring throughout the sky. Furthermore, there are a variety of challenges where you’ll morph into to clear the puzzle in some way.

Perhaps one of my main worries is that as Wuthering Waves keeps expanding, it will soon face the same problem as some other live-service games currently face, which is storage capacity.

Thankfully, it doesn’t seem that this will be a problem for now, but it is going to be interesting to see how will the developers tackle this issue as the world of Solaris-3 continues to expand.

The Faces of Rinascita

As is to be expected, we have a bunch of new faces and friends we’ll be meeting in Rinascita. First, we have Carlotta, the second daughter of the Montelli Family. Carlotta’s main charm is that she’s one of the first resonators that wields a pistol.

By conjuring crystals, she is capable of firing rapid shots at the enemy, and I mean it. Her combat animation is so quick, that even I was taken aback on how fast she can quickly dish out some damage. Her Ultimate attack is also a menace to any enemies who dare cross her.

The next playable character we have is Roccia. Upon our arrival in Rinascita, we meet the Fool’s Troupe, a caravan of performers led by Brant. Roccia is often very reserved, but during the story, she and her chest mimic partner Pero take the center stage.

For the majority of her attacks, Roccia throws the chest containing her companion, Pero, to dish out some significant damage that can extend even off-field. She is pretty strong, but I will admit it is slightly unfair that her banner will be put alongside Jinhsi.

To my knowledge, Jinhsi is a unit that continues to be incredibly powerful, and since Roccia’s role seems to be geared towards being more of a Havoc character that buffs others, it kind of makes me question how exactly she is supposed to slot in players’ team compositions. I’ll leave that as an exercise to the min-maxers, for I am not one.

There’s a plethora of other characters that appear throughout the main story, some of which were teased as playable characters in future updates. In particular, I’m interested to see how they’ll implement the Fool’s Troupe leader Brant and the Averado Bank bodyguard Zani.

Overhauled Gameplay Features

Wuthering Waves has done a major rehaul of a lot of the game’s features. First, you no longer have to warp all the way back to the main city hub just to use the Synthesis machine. You can now easily do that on the go from the main menu. Furthermore, you can also go into Settings and change your Rover’s gender once every 24 hours. Just be aware that doing so will cause the game to go back to the title screen.

Additionally, the map’s Exploration Progress has been greatly overhauled to show you a breakdown percentage of how much of each area you have explored. There’s also a bonus incentive where not only you can get rewards for completely exploring an area, but you’ll also obtain a detailed description on the lore and history behind it. It’s like a guidebook that fills up as you explore the area.

The developers also added an Echo that’s scattered across Rinascita, allowing you to listen to game soundtracks you collect in the overworld. However, there is still no way to rewatch story cutscenes, and you bet I’ll keep on asking until they add it. I would love if I did not have to create an entirely new account or go to YouTube to watch those cutscenes again, especially now that we can change our Rover’s gender.

The Grand Carnevale Awaits in Wuthering Waves Version 2.0

Wuthering Waves has truly come very far, despite it not even being a year since the game’s release. Trust me, the hype surrounding Rinascita is certainly justified, and Version 2.0 is looking to be one of the biggest updates yet. Furthermore, with the game coming to PlayStation 5, a lot more people will be able to dive into the game.

I had a lot of fun with the first few acts of the Rinascita storyline, and I’m excited to see how will the story unfold as more and more areas open up, and we get to learn more about the characters and the story behind the region.