Over the course of the last decade, gacha games have gone from a rare genre that only a few Japanese mobile game developers produced to a near mainstream style of gaming, as titles like the Hoyoverse catalog have become household names. However, it can be hard to decipher which gacha games are worth playing and which ones are just cheap cash grabs.
Is Zenless Zone Zero Gacha Based?
Zenless Zone Zero going gacha would be frustrating for some RPG fans.
To determine which ones are worth playing, gamers can examine these titles based on their gameplay style, characters featured, and the legacy they have had on the gaming industry. If one does this, they can form the following list of the best gacha games in existence.
10Fire Emblem: Heroes
A Tactician’s Dream
Nintendo’s first and most popular foray into the gacha game genre came in 2017 was when they released Fire Emblem: Heroes. This game allowed players to obtain all of their favoriteFire Emblemcharacters, like Nino, Nowi, and Fae. Some of these characters hadn’t been acknowledged by Nintendo for years, so seeing them in a gacha game that featured a simplified version of Fire Emblem’s classic combat system was a fun experience.
Fire Emblem: Heroes falls low on this list due to suffering a serious issue with power creep. While other gacha games like Fate/Grand Order and Honkai: Star Rail can be fully completed with even the oldest and weakest units, it’s become a common complaint that it’s impossible to do damage in Fire Emblem: Heroes without having the most recently released Units. It’s hard to justify ranking the game any higher when an issue this grave exists.
9Fate/Grand Order
Put Fate Back on the Map
Fate/Grand Order can be considered a revolutionary gacha game not just for being popular in its own right, but also for escalating the worldwide popularity of the Fate franchise enough for several ofType-Moon’s main gamesto come out in English! That alone would have been enough to earn Fate/Grand Order a place on this list, but the actual gameplay of FGO is also fun to play with its various servant classes, three unique skills per character, and stellar Noble Phantasm animations (as long as you aren’t a year 1 servant).
Unfortunately, Fate/Grand Order must rank low on this list as its greatest strength is also its biggest weakness: its age. As more advanced games that are more user-friendly, have better-designed graphics, and more adequately formed gameplay loops release, Fate/Grand Order has become less advanced and more archaic as time has marched on. One can only wonder what future awaits this game as the tenth anniversary becomes closer by the day.
I’m saving all my quartz for Summer Chloe, how about you?
8Genshin Impact
Combining Open-World and Gacha
Next up is the game that made miHoYo a household name:Genshin Impact. This title strove to be a free-to-play open-world experience with a gacha system at its center. The combat of Genshin may be basic, but it features many fantastic character designs, like Qiqi, Klee, and Iansan. Exploring Genshin’s world as these characters can provide hours of fun for most gamers.
Genshin Impact: All Natlan Characters
Natlan has many intriguing characters in Genshin Impact.
While Genshin Impact had many fans, it must fall low on this list due to being involved with controversy on a near-constant basis. These controversies have ranged from character design discourse, not properly compensating with rewards, to not adding QoL features from other Hoyoverse games. All of these leave a bad taste in players’ mouths that makes it hard to recommend it over other gachas.
7Sakura Kakumei
Gone too Soon
In 2020, Sega continued their revival of the Sakura Wars franchise by announcing and releasing a Sakura Wars gacha game known as Sakura Kakumei. This game featured an entirely new cast of characters that embodied the spirit of the franchise. All the trademark features that made Sakura Wars memorable, from unique vocal tunes to young girls with large spiritual power, were in this title.
While Sakura Kakumei was a fantastic game to play when it came out and still has a dedicated fanbase today, it falls in the lower half of this list as it sadly shut down in the summer of 2021. While dedicated fans have worked to archive the game, that doesn’t distract from the fact it can no longer be played.
6Zenless Zone Zero
Psycho-Slip Action
MiHoYo followed up their successful track record of household gacha games in 2023 with the release ofZenless Zone Zero. This game featured a more punk-like aesthetic than their previous works and separated itself gameplay-wise by having linear stages that the player would hack-n-slash their way through. The game features several fun character designs to play, such as Piper Wheel, Lucy, and Nekomiya.
Zenless Zone Zero may feature a unique art style and fun character designs, but the actual combat of its stages is very basic to the point where many players will struggle to stay engaged with the game. While this gameplay loop sadly earns it a place in the lower half of this list, any player who enjoys it will have a fantastic time playing through Zenless Zone Zero.
5Azur Lane
Made Boats Cool
2017’s Azur Lane was once the first game that came to mind when people mentioned the phrase “gacha game”, and although its popularity has begun to slip in recent years, the quality of this game has remained as strong as ever. With plenty of small and cute ship girls to recruit and command in battle, players will fall in love with the cast of Azur Lane fast.
Azur Lane Crosswave is Best Left Stranded at Sea
While the game isn’t placing particularly high on this list, it still deserves this midway spot due to its place in gaming history and the huge amount of fan support the title received at its popularity peak. It was even popular enough to get a spinoff game for the PlayStation 4. You can’t discount a gacha that was important enough to do that.
4404 Game Reset
A Grim Future Showcased
In 2023 Sega released a title that asked a very important question: What if Sega was evil? 404 Game Re:Set portrayed a world where Sega had conquered everything and kept the public under their thumb. With gijikaned versions of their classic arcade games as recruitable units, the player sets off to defeat Sega once and for all.
404 Game Re:Set takes numerous franchises that haven’t seen the light of day in years, like Dynamite Deka, After Burner, and Shinobu, and puts them in the spotlight. The soundtrack of the title is full of classic arcade remixes and even vocal tracks which will please any hardcore gamers. The game sadly falls low on this list due to shutting down in early 2024, with a tear-jerking finale where the player themselves was forced to delete 404 Game Re:Set from existence.
3Granblue Fantasy
Made Gachas Cool
For over a decade, Granblue Fantasy has been one of the most popular gacha games in existence. The game of this title may be simplistic due to being one of the first mainstream gacha games, but said simplicity can be a joy as the player gets used to it throughout the game. Characters like Io, Cagliostro, and Charlotta have all become iconic from their appearances in this game.
In the modern day, Granblue Fantasy has become well known for being the game that every piece of media crosses over with. Whether it be classic anime or recently released games, appearing in Granblue Fantasy is seen as a badge of honor, and seeing what the next collaboration is will always be a pleasure. This franchise has become so popular that it has even spawned severalconsole gamespinoffs. It would be ridiculous not to place Granblue Fantasy near the top of this list for popularity and impact alone.
2Infinity Nikki
The Ultimate Dress-Up Game
The newest game on this list is 2024’s Infinity Nikki. Similar to Genshin Impact, Infinity Nikki strives to be an open-world gacha game where the player can explore and get themselves sucked into doing side quests. However, Infinity Nikki handles its open-world much better than Genshin by filling it with various activities for the player to do while they participate in the main gameplay loop of gathering crafting materials to make new outfits.
Infinity Nikki: Top Ten Cutest Outfits
Infinity Nikki’s main gameplay mechanic and selling point is all of the outfits that players can mix and match to create an adorable look.
Infinity Nikki places second on this list due to its very addicting and satisfying gameplay loop. Every action the player takes in this game makes them feel like they’re getting closer and closer to making the perfect outfit. It is very easy to find yourself getting sucked into the world of Miraland for hours at a time. That kind of fun more than earns Infinity Nikki this high placement.
1Honkai Star Rail
The Hoyoverse’s Magnum Opus
Topping off this list is miHoYo’s second most popular game: Honkai Star Rail. Unlike miHoYo’s other titles which feature real-time combat, Honkai: Star Rail goes for a more traditional turn-based combat system. The gameplay of this title is decisively dense with many factors that the player will naturally learn as they strive to get stronger and progress through the main story.
Withfantastic characterslike Huohuo, Silver Wolf, and Yunli, Honkai: Star Rail lands squarely on top of this list for being one of the few gacha games to truly feel like a full RPG. Every aspect from the combat to character gimmicks feels like a vast amount of effort has gone into it and makes the player forget they are playing a gacha. If you ever wanted to have a taste of what gacha games could truly be, then try out Honkai: Star Rail.
Every Hoyoverse Game, Ranked
A ranked list showcasing the best games from Hoyoverse, the publishers of Genshin Impact and Honkai: Star Rail.
