A good soundtrack for the HoYoverse: “ZENLESS” is an underground collab for the Zenless Zone Zero release
• Natural feeling, very underground vibe
• Didn’t notice Lucas & Steve
• Top-notch vocal and atmosphere
For this review, I must apologize for my ignorance on the matter, since I’m not a player of the game Zenless Zone Zero. I see that its studio, MiHoYo, has gathered impressive results with its HoYoverse series of games, the most famous being Genshin Impact, one of the highest-grossing mobile games in recent years. Not my type of gaming (free-to-play mobile RPG), but I see the incredible results and the amount of love from millions of fans around the world for this universe, one of the most important changes in the gaming industry in recent years.
And here comes Tiësto, literally a goldmine. He’s everywhere, always with impressive results in terms of quality and revenue. This collaboration, released as a soundtrack for MiHoYo’s newest game Zenless Zone Zero, features the Grammy-winning Dutch star, the duo Lucas & Steve, Silent Child on vocals, and the game’s music team Sān-Z. “ZENLESS” is not a relaxing release, but a Dark Techno banger that weirdly fits with the game’s flashy and colorful frames, leaving a good mark on EDM fans’ ears.
It’s actually a very interesting soundtrack: glitchy intro, hypnotic vocal section (quite short at first, then gets more space in the second section), a very eerie buildup, and a brutal drop. Quite aggressive even for Tiësto’s standards, with a frenetic bassline and a monotone melody highlighting the bass. “ZENLESS” is almost 40% drop, very aggressive, especially in the final buildup where the Techno lead takes a solo and then immediately breaks the atmosphere with an even more aggressive bass.
“ZENLESS” probably fits with the urban environment of the game (which I’m not following) because the artists actually had room to experiment with their sounds, and everything feels natural. It’s a solid EDM banger, and I’m happy to see it feeling “natural.” It’s not obvious from Tiësto. It’s not obvious it’s a commercial partnership. If you remember other soundtracks, like the monster collab for FreeFire with Alok, KSHMR, DV&LM, and all you get is a basic psytrance sample? Feel the difference here!
The main pity is the lack of sounds from Lucas & Steve. I didn’t feel their touch, although the genre is far from their standard sound. Given that, “ZENLESS” is a great sign for the EDM x Gaming industry, more alive than ever, and a very enjoyable soundtrack.
