Zenless Zone Zero on a phone: action combat on a touchscreen

Zenless Zone Zero comes from the same publisher as Honkai: Star Rail and asks for a similar amount of space — roughly 3.4 GB according to the App Store listing. In every way that affects how it plays on a phone, though, it is the opposite kind of game.

Real-time combat makes frame rate load-bearing

Combat is action-based and built around timed dodges and counters. When the frame rate drops in a turn-based game you get a less pretty animation; when it drops here you miss the window. Performance stops being a matter of polish and becomes a matter of whether the game is fair to you.

The practical consequence is that lowering the graphics settings is not admitting defeat — a stable lower setting beats an unstable high one every time, and it is the first thing to try if the timing feels unresponsive rather than merely ugly.

Touch controls, and the case for a controller

On-screen controls for an action game mean your thumbs cover part of the screen you are trying to read, and precise timing through a piece of glass with no tactile feedback is genuinely harder than with buttons.

A connected controller removes most of that problem. If you are weighing one up, what to check before buying a phone controller covers the decision — it is a bigger upgrade for this category of game than for almost any other.

The practical details

• Roughly 3.4 GB to download, and it grows with updates. Use Wi-Fi.
• Requires iOS 14 or later.
• Apple rates it 12+. As with any game in this category, the randomised purchases matter more than the rating for a younger player.

Who it suits

People with reasonably current hardware who want something with mechanical depth on a phone. If your device is a few years old, the same publisher's turn-based Honkai: Star Rail delivers a comparable amount of game with none of the performance risk.