Just like everyone else, my first thought on Genshin Impact was that it would be nothing but a low budget, shameless imitation of Nintendo’s Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.  I was very reluctant to give it a try, but I am happy I eventually decided to try it out. 

Admittedly, Genshin Impact, at first glance, bears a striking semblance to the Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, making it easy for anyone to write it off as a knock-off imitation. This narrative even gains more ground in the face of the fact that Chinese developers are famous for producing knock-offs. Regardless, Genshin Impact has managed to carve an identity of its own through its style of play, fantastic anime world of Teyyat, and its collection of characters. You would soon get so caught up in the game you wouldn’t remember its semblance with BOTW.

Genshin Impact is a free-to-play open-world adventure RPG developed by Chinese based developers -miHoYo. The game is available on mobile, PC, PS4 and supports cross-platform play. It takes you into the beautiful world of Teyyat, where you play as a lost “traveler” from another world. Honestly, the plot isn’t so great, the usual anime textbook plot, although since it’s an open-world game, you’ll spend most of your time creating your own stories, so the poor plot shouldn’t bother you much. 

Being free-to-play, the game is a gachapon game, so be prepared to spend some cash, except you prefer to grind. Unlocking new characters depends on virtual cash, which can either be gotten from completing missions or by using real-life money.

A Plot That Barely Passes

As I mentioned earlier, Genshin Impact’s story is not so innovative, yet it doesn’t take away the fun from the game. The game centers more around the world of Teyvat, a mysterious and magical world of both gods and man, and its interaction with the main character called the “Traveler.”

The story begins with a cinematic depiction of a twin star, which we discover are two interstellar travelers who arrived in Teyvat. You are made to select one of the two twin stars, the one you select gets to play the “Traveler.” Unfortunately, their return journey is obstructed by an unknown goddess, who also tried to kill them (I honestly couldn’t hear a thing she said, so I didn’t catch her name or her reason for wanting them dead, but then who cares). In the process, the Traveler of your choice loses the sibling and is knocked out cold. A couple of years later, he wakes up on a beach to meet Paimon, who becomes his sidekick and travel buddy. Heads up: she can be very annoying, but then you’ll get used to it. Together with Paimon, you travel across the seven nations that make up Teyvler searching for his twin and the Archon that took his twin.

Interesting Gameplay Partly Makes Up For Lackluster Story

Being an open-world adventure game, Genshin Impact sets itself apart from the BOTW through its party combat system. In your party, you are allowed to add four playable characters to your party as you progress, and each character comes with a unique set of skills. The game allows you to play using one character at a time, although you can always switch between players at any time. Thereby giving you a wide range of skills combination to apply while in battle.

Understanding each of your character’s elemental powers and how they complement each other in combat, and how they affect the environment. For instance, if you want to open a loot box in a lake, you could switch Kaeya, freeze the water, and then stand on the ice to access the loot box. Or, when facing a big mountain, you could switch to an Anemo character to make it easier to surmount. The abilities of the Characters are divided into two: the elementary skill and the elementary bursts. While the skill can be used at almost no cost, the bursts deplete the energy bar, refilled as you grind. Each character controls one of the seven elements, namely: ice(Cyro), nature(Dendro), fire(Pyro), water (Hydro), air (Anemo), electricity (Electro), and earth (Geo). You can improve your characters’ abilities by giving them resources, some of which can be hard to find.

The closer you get to the end of the game, the tougher it gets. The game allows you to join or host in its ranked multiple player mode, which is only available to players that have attained Adventure Rank 16. The multiplayer mode only takes four players per time, and the sad news those invited to join cannot share in the loot. This feature can be heartbreaking, especially since being a guest doesn’t exactly exempt you from slaving out in combat.

The general complaint, a majority of players have is that the game is too grindy. Even though to get some of the best characters and resources, you may need to invest a lot of money, either you spend the in-game currency, or you use real money, these characters and resources are still extremely rare. Another downside I noticed is in the area of its technical performance. The game was replete with frame drops, which can be quite disturbing, especially when used to higher resolution games.

Finally…

In conclusion, Genshin Impact is an amazing game. Its combat system is pretty smooth and can run comfortably on any device. The environment and display are typical of its anime-style aesthetics. The environment and characters are just beautiful and yet unique, regardless of it being an imitation, of some sorts, of the Legends of Zelda: battle of the Wind. The game is yet to be completed, so expect more content from the developers in no time. But don’t worry, there is a lot of activities in the game to keep you busy for hundreds of hours non-stop.