This chapter highlights the need for advancement of wave energy converters by suggesting the significant renewable energy potential of ocean waves. Recent wave energy developments have been documented with a systematic literature review. The detailed classification of the wave energy converters has been addressed. Global research trends and technological evolution pathways in the PA-WEC research were determined through bibliometric investigations to find critical hotspots, emerging trends, and frontiers in the domain. The challenges in the conventional buoy geometries were synthesized by summarizing the gaps in recent research, and a solid foundation was laid to highlight the significance of investigating novel, unconventional buoy geometries for designing optimal PA-WEC systems.