One of E3's hidden gems was Genshin Impact, an open-world action game heavily inspired by The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. Genshin Impact's visuals were so similar to Breath of the Wild that it even received criticism for poaching the Nintendo game's style. Genshin Impact is back again, this time as part of the major Chinese gaming convention ChinaJoy. But this time Genshin Impact's goal is to show just how unique it truly is.
Genshin Impact developer MiHoYo has debuted an extensive look at the game's gameplay via a nearly 5-minute long trailer. The trailer showcases several open-world encounters with a variety of interesting enemy types, including blobs, beasts, robots, and minotaurs. The highlight of the trailer, however, is a boss fight against a four-winged dragon.
With the variety of the encounters shown in the trailer, Genshin Impact is able to show how its gameplay stands apart from any Zelda comparisons. Genshin Impact features a more fast-paced style of action gameplay. It's perhaps more comparable to a Musou game like Hyrule Warriors than Breath of the Wild. This includes the option of playing multiple different characters, each with their own abilities and playstyle.
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild influence on Genshin Impact is still apparent. In one fight the archer Amber sets the grass on fire and uses the rising heat to launch enemies into the air. In another sequence, a red-haired character approaches a treasure chest in what could very easily be mistaken as an anime character modded into Breath of the Wild.
The final moments of the trailer seem like a direct response to comparisons between Genshin Impact and Breath of the Wild's visuals. The trailer teases a completely new area and city, noting how "This city's buildings are so different!"
While the parallels between Genshin Impact and The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild may be immediately apparent, it's also clear that Genshin Impact is an otherwise unique and interesting game on its own. Between Genshin Impact's mix of anime characters and its Persona 5 S-esque action combat, the experience of playing both games has to be remarkably different.
Taking Breath of the Wild for inspiration for visuals and worldbuilding is otherwise difficult to criticize. After all, Genshin Impact looks remarkably pretty. It could certainly diversify its environments, which seems to be MiHoYo's goal based on the end of the trailer. Overall, Genshin Impact looks to be a very interesting game.
Genshin Impact releases spring 2020 for the PC, PS4, and iOS devices.