Some fans were quick to assume that Genshin Impact was shamelessly "ripping off" Breath of the Wild when it was revealed last year. To say that would be a disservice to all that Genshin Impact does differently, in spite of that inspiration still being immediately apparent throughout the game's mechanics and world design. A few mechanics and core concepts are certainly borrowed and adapted, and it's unavoidable not to point that out, but the truth is that Genshin Impact offers its own world and has distinct characteristics.
With its wealth of playable characters, in-depth combat, surprisingly dense RPG mechanics and customization, unique world of Teyvat, and monstrous inhabitants, Genshin Impact makes a strong case for its own identity as an action-RPG. Even as a free-to-play title, Genshin Impact is never too egregiously transactional in the game's presentation or gameplay. It's certainly not perfect by any means, but for a game as content-packed for the enticing price of "free," Genshin Impact is a surprisingly impressive offering.
It's important to start with Breath of the Wild, and the numerous comparisons between it and Genshin Impact. The world design in Genshin Impact borrows the Breath of the Wild visual philosophy, utilizing landmarks to pique player's interests and encourage exploration. Granted, this is no longer an inherent quality to Breath of the Wild alone, but Nintendo's landmark franchise just happened to pioneer it in the context of open-world games. Genshin Impact also borrows a similar stamina system for sprinting and climbing, both of which are extremely similar to Breath of the Wild. It's fair to say that Genshin Impact wears its Breath of the Wild influences on its sleeve, but that's not the whole story.
To say Genshin Impact is a Breath of the Wild "clone" is doing a disservice to the wonderfully unique game that it is. For one thing, aesthetically speaking, the world of Teyvat is visually distinctive on its own compared to Hyrule. Genshin Impact's emphasis on exploration may be borrowed from Zelda, but the vibrant and high-contrast art style is still very unique. The primary region of Mondstadt will be largely familiar to anyone who's played Breath of the Wild, but the Liyue region is where miHiYo's artistic individuality shines through. Even the wilderness between regions has its own unique vistas, despite being reminiscent of Breath of the Wild's landscape design.
The anime-inspired art style goes especially further with the character designs in Genshin Impact. Obviously, as an open world game with a Gacha game-based character summoning system, making the character designs expressive and distinctive is very important. Genshin Impact does a serviceably good job in that regard, even if their personalities are wholly stereotypical. The same goes for the story of Genshin Impact, which doesn't really move the needle in terms of compelling storytelling. The plot at least sets a foundation to contextualize the need to explore Genshin Impact's world, but speeding through the cutscenes to get to the next dungeon or encounter doesn't sacrifice much.
As for the gameplay systems themselves, Genshin Impact is a surprisingly deep RPG for how simply the game presents itself. Characters have traditional RPG levels and experience to gain, alongside individual weapon levels and special attributes. There are also various "artifacts" that players can equip that augment certain stats and abilities, that also have stack abilities based on certain artifact combinations. The nice thing about weapon and artifact levels is that they're very easily leveled up, since exploring rewards a lot of duplicate weapons/artifacts and enchantment stones that can be cannibalized to augment weapons currently in use.
Combat is like most action-RPGs: light attack combos, heavy attacks, specials, and super attacks. It's pretty easy to grasp the intricacies of the combat mechanics, but it's still fun to stun lock and combo enemies with unique abilities and character swapping mid-combo. Melding element combos is the name of the game in Genshin Impact's combat, as dueling elements like Anemo and Pyro cause special statuses that inflict tons more damage. Mixing and matching characters' special attacks and supers rewards skillful manipulation of the game's elements, and can be used to take on higher level enemies in challenging but fair combat scenarios.
That's also why honing and refining team composition in Genshin Impact is easily the most enjoyable part of the game. Picking characters with different elemental affinities and synergizing them with a respective playstyle is what makes combat so enjoyable. That's also part of the reason why coop can be a mixed bag with friends. Obviously exploring and dungeon crawling with friends is fun enough in Genshin Impact, but it relies heavily on communication between teammates on who they want to use as their primary hero. Coop limits character usage based on the party size, so character swapping (a fundamental part of singleplayer) is effectively locked in coop mode.
Speaking of characters, "Wishing" is the primary Gacha-style mechanic used to acquire more heroes as players continue throughout Genshin Impact. The game gets a little stingy with its use of multiple currencies and special items to "Wish" for more characters, but it's not predatory by any means. Primogems, the main form of currency that's acquired through gameplay and microtransactions, are used to purchase the number of wishes a player wants to make. Several of the in-game activities in Genshin Impact reward Primogems, so theoretically hardcore players who are exploring or doing quests are given plenty of opportunities to Wish without shelling out real money.
That's really the best part about Genshin Impact; it's never overtly "for-profit" despite being a free-to-play with Gacha-based monetization. Players who take their time to explore and discover the world of Genshin Impact are rewarded progressively and relatively fairly for their efforts. At the same time, the game doesn't limit those who want to Wish often and see if they can get high-tier characters early. Monetization doesn't bar players from being on a level playing field, especially if they want to play coop. At the end of the day, players still need to level their Adventure Rank just like everyone else, regardless of how much money they theoretically paid to get 5-star characters like Venti.
As an aside, the game actually plays surprisingly well on all platforms. However, that being said, it's clear Genshin Impact was designed with Android/iOS in mind first, but was also brought to additional platforms. This is extremely noticeable in the game's draw distance and UI across all platforms, which feels designed to be compatible with touchscreens instead of PC/PS4.
While it's not a major hindrance, UI tends to be an often annoying hindrance when interacting with Genshin Impact's world. General gameplay is best on console/PC, but any kind of inventory management or menu navigation feels more like a ported-to-PC mobile game, with no natural keyboard/controller shortcuts in any menu.
That being said, Genshin Impact is a surprisingly good value for those looking for an open-world adventure that doesn't break the bank or waste players' time. There's a huge and plentiful open world ready for all players to explore, regardless of whether players invest in microtransactions or not. The combat and RPG mechanics may be surprisingly deep to some, but in practice, they are generally simple and enjoyable to execute. The game lacks in telling any kind of a compelling story, as it's largely stereotypical characters and plot are generally uninteresting. There are also a few technical kinks with UI elements, but it's certainly not a dealbreaker.
Obviously, it's not a perfect game, but Genshin Impact deserves a try from RPG fans. There's plenty of in-game content to explore, and while many assumed this was just Breath of the Wild with microtransactions, Genshin Impact has a surprising amount of depth and content for players to enjoy.
Genshin Impact is available now on Android, iOS, PC, and PS4. A Nintendo Switch version is in development. Game ZXC reviewed the game on PC.
Genshin Impact
Genshin Impact is an open-world RPG made by MiHoYo. Focusing on the interactions between seven elements, Genshin Impact is a free-to-play gacha game with a host of characters, weapons, regions, and more.
