Hoyoverse, the absolutely massive game development studio and publisher behind such global hits as Genshin Influence AND Honkai: Star Railwayknows how to turn up the arousal dial. Was it the absurd physics of boobs bouncing when Genshin fired or the heart beats Tears of ThemisHoyoverse has never shied away from creating lewd characters. But now, with the introduction of Jane Doe in Ground Zero without ZenThe studio known for its excitement has clearly outdone itself.
Jane Doe is an S-rank physical anomaly that appears in the second half of Update 1.1. Ground Zero without Zen. She’s also pretty heated, as stereotypes go. Her high-waisted shorts (which are worn over ripped tights) highlight what’s probably the most dramatic hip-to-waist ratio I’ve seen in a game in a long time. Other design elements, like the little devil tail that wraps around her leg, are designed to evoke a ton of lust in fans. On August 30, developer Hoyoverse released a character demo trailer for her and well… it’s so exhilarating that it inspired both simmers and critics to comment.
The trailer shows a scenario where a character is being interrogated by Jane Doe. The character, who is tied to a chair, gasps and breathes heavily as Jane taunts her in a sexualized manner. Jane lowers her face between the character’s legs and shoves an apple down her throat — all of which is shot from a first-person perspective, so it feels like she’s doing it to the viewer. Now, both the trailer and the character have drawn mixed reactions from fans.
Some people already worship Jane, and TikTok is full of fan edits of her. One video edit that has over 3 million viewsis full of commenters shouting about wanting to “save a hex” with her — a phrase people apply to avoid TikTok’s moderation parameters. a tiny clip showing Jane walking also drew wild reactions from fans, with one person stating, “bro the thigh physics are diabolical what the f**k.”
Others, however, are not joyful with the character. Some players found the character design okay, but they didn’t like how she was portrayed in the video. Others called out Hoyoverse for using the sexual trailer for TikTok marketing. The developers uploaded the trailer to the official site Ground Zero without Zen account and one of the most popular comments, which was liked over 2,200 times, read: “the animation is so good man, but what exactly was the creative team thinking when they created a character that behaves like that.”
Hoyoverse is used to stirring up controversy with its character designs. When the game was released in 2020, people criticized the boob bouncing physics in Genshin Influence and the creators added alternate outfits for four of their characters that covered more of their skin. But this is also a company whose fans really like to crave so many of its characters. The company has always had to walk the line between creating beloved and sometimes sexy characters without going overboard with the sexual elements. Now it just seems like Ground Zero without Zen intends to fully engage with these parts of the fandom.
