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When miHoYo revealed Genshin Impact back in June last year I was mildly interested. Considering their previous work in the forms of Collapse Academy , Undecided Book Event , & the more recent Honkai Impact , I suspected Genshin would be more of the same but with an improved level of visual fidelity. As more details began to emerge along with gameplay footage and various story elements I started to realize that while I was right on the surface level, I was wholly unprepared for what the final product actually would be.

Synopsis

The main story revolves around your choice of one of two siblings who have been separated from one another and cast into different worlds by an all powerful and seemingly malicious Deity. Along your quest you begin to unravel the mysteries of this new world, become involved in a political tug of war, learn the nature of your powers and why they resonate so differently here, and fight. A lot. There’s more to it than that of course, but giving any extra details would spoil the plot pretty quickly.

Visuals + Presentation

From the moment you gain full control of your character, start running around, get into some combat, and familiarize yourself with the UI there is an immediate sense of fluidity. Basic attacks, skills, and ambient effects are bright, colorful, detailed, and bring nearly every interaction you have with the world to life. The brunt of my time playing the game has been on PC, where I get to enjoy a consistent 60fps, high res textures, AA effects, and more. The art style is reminiscent of many popular JRPGs with its vibrant color palette, sharp and clean looking models, and flamboyant animations. 

The world itself is huge and densely packed. Thanks to an impressive Depth of Field you can stand atop the highest point you can find, pan the camera, and discern any number of interesting locales that might be worth visiting in the distance. Rolling hills are filled with fanning blades of grass, wisps of dancing wind, dozens of varieties of flora and fauna (The majority of which you can collect and hunt), a beautiful sky box with a lovely day and night cycle, and unique structures that-more often than not-house worthwhile secrets and adventures.

 

Your exploration and questing is accompanied by a surprisingly beautiful soundtrack. Orchestrated strings and woodwind pieces energize your forays during the day time, while white key piano notes create a somber, but comforting ambiance while the hush of night descends upon the world. I was genuinely surprised as the score changed in intensity depending on the type of opposition before you. Weaker mobs are accompanied by an almost whimsical and amusing jingle, while bosses and elite encounters feature thundering percussions, rapid strings, blaring horns, and epic choirs to that really ramp up the excitement. 

 If you’re playing on mobile it’s worth noting that-depending on your device-you have access to many of the same fidelity features that you do PC. On the iPhone Xs Max I tested the game out on I was able to push the A12 Bionic Hexacore processor to get 60fps while turning down/off Blur and lowering some settings to medium. All the while the game’s aesthetic shone through vibrantly on the 1125p OLED screen. The PS4 version is unfortunately not as optimized (yet) and tends to stutter while trying to maintain 30fps while also lacking any real options to adjust visual fidelity. It’s far from bad, but if you have a mid-grade PC or better, I would suggest going that route for the cleanest and most enjoyable presentation.

 

I cannot tell you often I’ve ventured off the beaten path and just ‘absorbed’ the world around me while listening to the whispers of the wind and comforting melodies of the wonderful soundtrack. The design team has crafted environments that continue to draw you in with the promise of rewards and discoveries, and always manage to make good on those promises. Even long after you’ve searched in countless nooks and crannies. 

Gameplay + Combat

Now we get into the nitty gritty of this whole piece. I’m going to address the immediate and ginormous elephant in the room. Yes, this game looks like and has a lot of inspiration taken from The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. In fact, miHoYo has gone on record stating as much. Everything from the ‘If you see it, you can climb it’ mechanic, to the use of gliders, cooking, resource gathering, the hand painted psuedo cell shaded art style, and even some of the basic enemy designs (looking at you Hilichurls) seem like they were lifted directly from BOTW. However, the similarities end right where they begin.

Combat and progression is at the heart of Genshin Impact. This is very much an Action/JRPG so the genre staples of leveling characters, acquiring skills and abilities, stat crunching, and rounding out your party members are all here. While questing gives you large chunks of experience and resources, you will undoubtedly find yourself scouring the world for chests bursting with loot, diving into instanced dungeons to acquire coveted artifacts and leveling resources, taking down huge Elite enemies, and generally unearthing as many secrets as you can stand. 

Battles are fast paced, chaotic, and generally a lot of fun. Depending on your character archetype you have access to Swords, Spears, Spell books, Bows, Blunt weapons, and Giant Claymores. You can pull off combos, charged attacks, unique flourishes based on the timing of your input, and exploit the game’s unique spin on its elemental system. Combining elemental attacks can have devastating effects and really turn the tide of battle. Fire + Water causes Vaporize, Ground + Ice cause Crystallize, Hydro + Shock afflicts the enemy with an electrified debuff that causes damage over time, so on and so forth.

 

It didn’t take long before I was reflexively swapping characters in and out mid-combo to take advantage of an elemental buff, dodging dangerous attacks, and simply being doing cool things just to see if I could. Boss battles are equally exciting as they come with pre-rendered and in-game cutscenes, unique theme music, and a fair spike in challenge. Without being specific, Boreal is still one of my favorite encounters in the game so far, and when you get there, you’ll know why.

Each time you discover a new mechanic, item, or enemy the game gives you a prompt with an explanation of what it is and how it all works. The immediacy of this method is tried and true as it allows you to apply that knowledge as soon as you get back to the action. Experimentation is rewarded and very much recommended. It all serves to keep you engaged in the grind. 

You see, Genshin Impact’s world is incredibly large and incredibly dense. The latter part is very important. While there is certainly a fare bit of traveling on foot, in the 30+ or so hours I’ve played I never went very long without running into or spotting a guarded chest, environmental puzzle waiting to be solved, an NPC bearing a side-quest, hidden secret location(s) with their own sub-quests, and any number unique of locales to explore. There is always something to see, do, and collect. This is a hallmark of Genshin’s gameplay loop where everything you do and pickup has a purpose. 

 Every chest you open, every resource/piece of gear you collect, and every quest you complete contributes to your party’s base Exp. as well as your Adventure Rank. Your Adventure Rank is very important as it acts as a sort of buffer to how quickly the game opens up its more advanced elements to you. In fact, unless you read the information prior you would never know there was a Battle Pass that can only be accessed once you acquire Adventure Rank 20 (More on that in a bit). Now, you might be thinking “Well, that doesn’t sound good. The game is restricting me and forcing me to grind!”. Normally, I would agree were it not for quickly your rank grows simply by virtue of just playing the game. 

Genshin’s progression can also be a bit of a doozy if you aren’t accustomed to stat crunching and resource managing in RPGs. Aside from general Exp, you can level up your characters via Writs with three forms of rarity (Traveler, Adventurer, and Hero). Once you achieve the predetermined level cap, you can then Ascend your character to unlock the next set of levels. Each Ascension requires rarer items and more Exp. the higher you go, but comes with a substantial boost to strength while opening the door for more abilities and skills. Hang on though, now you have to level up your weapons and artifacts! That’s right, even individual weapons can grow and Ascend. 

This is done by feeding them Ore you acquire throughout your adventure as well as duplicate and lower grade weapons you have no need of. What’s more is that weapons can be Refined with duplicates of its type for a max rank of 5 where you unlock an extra ability and/or stat boost for said weapon. Artifacts are a little different in that they can only be enhanced using other artifacts, but the benefits of doing so are worthwhile. You can equip a total of five artifacts to each character, all with their own individual buffs and stat bonuses. Better yet, there set bonuses for each type that give you an even greater stat boost for equipping between 2-4 pieces from the set. 

We haven’t even touched on character Talents, Constellations, Friendship levels, etc. and if it all feels overwhelming to read, rest assured that the game does a solid job of onboarding the player to all of its mechanics. It doesn’t take long before you find your favorite weapons, artifacts sets, and start power leveling them to crush the opposition. It’s all purposeful and entertaining. Everything in your inventory is useful, and that’s rare.

 

Oh, did I mention there’s Drop in/Drop out Co-Op? Yep. Once you unlock the feature you can go enjoy adventures and merriment with friends and/or strangers. Tackle dungeons, chill in the city and enjoy some drinks, or run through the hills murdering everything in your path. One of my more memorable moments was joining some strangers for a bit of dungeon diving, then heading back to Mondstadt (The first major city you visit) and sitting at the cafe’ just enjoying the experience.

Enter The Gacha

Here we go. This is where the game falls apart. This is where the cash grab- Wait, did miHoYo completely subvert expectations and find a way to implement a Gacha system in the least obtrusive way possible? For the most part, yes. I will go on record admitting that I am the last person to seek out a game with a Gacha system at the core of its gameplay. I find that the Gacha usually guides the game design rather than the other way around and inevitably slams the player into a dubious paywall long before they’ve truly started enjoying the game. This…Is not the case with Genshin Impact.

Yes, the majority of the playable characters (24 currently) are locked away in the Gacha and being able to play them temporarily during certain missions or special events is a clever way to entice you to reach for your wallet. However, through the use of the in-game Primogem currency, you never have to spend a single dime to take advantage of any of the paid systems. You obtain Primogems via questing, finding loot, and completing tasks throughout the world. From there you can convert these gems into Wishing Stars that fuel the Gacha roulette system, purchase rare materials, or even use them to bypass tiers in the Battle Pass. That’s right, not only does the Battle Pass feature a Free and Paid tier, but you can boost your progress, again, without spending any real money.

Is the system perfect? No. The best and coolest characters are unfortunately blocked by an RNG mechanic which can prove frustrating if you have your eyes set on a specific one. That said, it doesn’t mean you NEED any of the extra characters as the game provides you with a well rounded party through quest progress and even offers some freebies via special events. There are plenty of offers and tantalizing packs to spend your money on, and for the most part, they all seem priced fairly or at least at the average cost you would expect from such a monetary system. I must reiterate that this is all considering that the entire game is Free and you have access to all of its systems regardless of whether you wish to spend any money.   

Roundup

If I’m being honest, I was very tempted to make this a comparison article between Genshin Impact and LOZ: Breath of the Wild. Ultimately, I decided it was a disservice to just how good Genshin is to do so. In the 30+ hours I’ve sunk into the game since launch I’ve experienced nearly every single element that I so desperately wanted from BOTW, but never got. I’ll save a deep dive of the comparisons for another time. For now, if I were to give Genshin Impact a proper rating I would gladly give it a solid 9/10. There is a lot of content and a very addictive gameplay loop on offer for the astounding price of $0. 

Genshin Impact has hit the ground running and taken communities by storm. Streamers are pushing record numbers, YouTube creators are posting consistent videos, and the player base is already skyrocketing well into the millions. I can say that every accolade is well earned. It’s actually criminal that the game is completely free and I wholly recommend that everyone try it at least once. You can download it on PC, iOS, Android, and PS4 today!