Review: Genshin Impact (Part 1)
July 15, 2022
[CONTAINS SPOILERS]
Genshin Impact is developed by Hoyoverse (synonymous with Mihoyo), a Shanghai-based game developer, released in September 2020, though the game had already been in development since 2017. Its development remains ongoing, with a version update arriving every 6 weeks or so, bringing new story content and new characters.
In terms of genre, Genshin is a third-person action/adventure RPG set in an open-world, consisting of seven nations, with its characters featuring predominantly an anime art style.
Genshin is available on Android/iOS, PlayStation, and Windows, but it’s most known for being a mobile game, having been awarded the Apple Design Award in 2021 and then subsequently featured in iPad Air (2022)’s trailer. While we don’t have sales figures for Genshin on other platforms, on mobile alone it has grossed over $3 billion USD in just 1.5 years since its release (excluding Mainland China where Google Play is unavailable). Of course, it’s been one of the best selling mobile games of recent years.
In 2020, Genshin was also nominated for Best Mobile Game and Best Ongoing Game by The Game Awards.
Despite the presence of a monetization system, Genshin does not require its player to pay in order to play. The game is considered “free-to-play” and the monetization system is generally non-intrusive. However, the monetization system itself does draw a considerable amount of criticism from its more veteran player base.
QUICK SUMMARY
Verdict: 7/10 — mixed bag, but you should try it
Developer/Publisher: Hoyoverse
Release: September 2020 (ver. 1.0)
Genre: action, adventure, third-person, hack-and-slash, anime, RPG
Platforms: mobile (Android/iOS), PS4/5, PC (Hoyoverse & EGS)
Cost: $0 upfront, $$$$ if one is willing to spend
Play Time: 160+ days
Game Progress: AR 55, all story & archon quests completed
Achievements: 470 out of 649
PROS & CONS
Part 1 of the review focuses on the pros, while in Part 2 I write about the cons and share some of my thoughts on the future of Genshin Impact.
Pros: massive open world, iconic characters, cross-platform, free-to-play
Cons: weak writing/no replayability, boring endgame, complex gacha system
OPEN WORLD
Although I’m all caught up with everything in Genshin as a fairly dedicated player for the past 5+ months, I’m still astonished by how almost endless Genshin’s regions are.
Genshin’s story takes place in Teyvat, which consists of seven nations: Mondstadt, Liyue, Inazuma, Sumeru, Fontaine, Natlan, and Snezhnaya. The main story character, Lumine/Aether (depending on your choice) is expected to reach the lost nation of Khaenri’ah, where you will face the mysterious entity who kidnapped and corrupted your sibling.
The world of Genshin Impact is breathtaking and magnificent. Each region has its own visual identity, using specific color palettes inspired by the region’s element and its archon (greek Archōn, meaning “ruler”, in this case, ruling god). Architecture, natural scenary, NPC outfits, and even enemie designs all adapt to their region, creating lively ecosystems that feel distinct from one another.
The 3 available regions today are Mondstadt (German for “Moon City”), Liyue (Chinese for 璃月, meaning “jade moon”), and Inazuma (Japanese for 稲妻, which means lightning). They are inspired by suburban Germany, ancient China, and ancient Japan respectively, but these geological/chronical baselines by no means restrict the variability in world designs.
For example, the Mondstadt nation has sub-regions like Dragonspine, which notably is a snow-covered mountain, with echoing ice caves, blinding blizzards, and ice-based mechanics.
Genshin also has a dynamic time and weather system. As the time passes, sun rises and sets, changing global lighting’s intensity and hue, while the weather often changes as the player teleports to a new location. Exceptions do exist, however, like the everlasting stormy weather on Seirai Island, as well as Enkanomiya’s “Whitenight” and “Evernight” states that can be manually toggled. Time change also affects world NPCs availabilities, for example — some merchants don’t stick around late at night.
The original soundtracks, created by Hoyoverse’s in-house audio team and remixed on-the-fly by Wwise, adapt to your current area seamlessly as you wander around, creating a deep sense of immersion. For example, Wuwang Hill in Liyue truly feels like an eerie, haunted forest, and the Chasm feels like a massive cave system with dangers lurking at every turn. It’s no surprise given Hoyoverse’s explicit aspiration for grand cinematics, and most of the time the audio and visuals work harmoniously to great effects.
Of course, there might be some repetitions. Wuwang Hill’s concept is reworked into Chinju Forest on Narukami Island, which then serves as the foundation for Enkanomiya, the giant deserted underworld beneath Watatsumi Island. I’m impressed by Genshin team’s ability to reinterpret certain familiar aesthetics and sentiments without feeling redundant or unnecessary.
Video: the first preview of Genshin Impact 3.0 Sumeru
The upcoming Sumeru region is said to be inspired by the First Persian Empire, with some Egyptian influences as well. A lot of greens can be seen in the trailer and we have learned that there will be jungles. How this will affect world exploration and combat is currently unknown, but they should be revealed in the coming months.
Elements
In the open world, there are recurring instances of elements. Walking in the rain makes a character wet, and getting yourself burned applies pyro status for a few seconds. If you come in contact with Mist Flower, a type of defensive plant that can drastically lower its surrounding temperature, while you are also wet, you will get frozen, making you unable to move for a few seconds. Thornes and wooden crates are dendro objects and they can be burned down.
The same philosophy also applies to characters, combat, and world exploration. Having a Vision, a small object that speaks to one’s elemental affinity, grants a person elemental abilities.
For example, Amber has a Pyro vision, which means she can initiate incendiary or explosive attacks. Her aimed shot can easily burn down a wooden shield, a dendro object. Similarly, her aimed shot is also used to light up torches and solve puzzles.
In total, there are 7 elements in Teyvat: Pyro (fire), Hydro (water), Cryo (ice), Electro (electricity), Geo (rock), Anemo (wind), and Dendro (tree). Besides Dendro, every other elment already has playable characters, and Dendro characters and mechanics will be released in the upcoming 3.0 update.
As you can see from the graph above, there are many reactions a player can trigger just by applying different elements to enemies, and each reaction has a different effect. Since characters in Genshin play in teams, having two characters of the same element can also grant your characters buffs in the form of resonance.
Combat
Video: Genshin’s first male catalyst user, who’s also a martial artist
I’ll keep it brief, but the combat in Genshin is overall fairly satisfying to play. It’s effortless to learn and straightforward to execute. As a result, the combat system in Genshin matches well with the game’s casual nature, and fighting doesn’t feel stressful unlike many other action games.
Style-wise, Genshin’s combat is hack-and-slash. There are five weapon types: sword (single-handed blade), polearm (staff/spear), claymore (two-handed blade), bow, and catalyst (books???) and each of them is unique. While sword and polearm are fast, claymore deals more damage, and bow/catalyst have the advantage of being ranged. Catalyst is the first class of weapon that I mastered — it casts homing projectiles and applies element on enemies with every hit, which is really useful for elemental reactions.
The three basic pillars are Normal/Charged Attacks — Elemental Skill — Elemental Burst. Elemental Skill on hit generates Energy particles to recharge Elemental Burst, which, when trigger, then deals a burst of damage over a few seconds. It’s easy to comprehend and master as far as combat systems go, and it’s doable even on smartphones.
Since characters work in teams, some will be switched out and going off-field. Some characters’ abilities remain present even when they’re off-screen, like Fischl’s Nightrider, Xingqiu’s Raincutters, and Beidou’s Stormbreaker, which makes them excellent for triggering elemental reactions with the active character continuously applying another element.
There is also alternate sprint, which only Mona and Kamisato Ayaka have — they disappear when they run, maintaining sprinting speed even on water, and when they appear near enemies, they can apply Hydro and Cryo respectively, which is also helpful for combat. As expected of an character-focused RPG, playing the same characters over and over while countering the rather basic enemies in Genshin can quickly devolve into a mindless, numbed activity, which is why these intricate flourishes somewhat prevent that from occurring by changing up the flow of combat.
CHARACTERS
Genshin’s foremost unique selling point would be its large selection (50+) of playable characters. They typically occur first as NPCs in story quests, and subsequently become available via the gacha system.
Having a large number of playable characters is nothing new to gacha games, but in Genshin, the player would need to create teams so they can deal with any situation — whether it’s solving puzzles or defeating enemies.
A team can have up to 4 members, and it usually consists of at least one damage dealer and optionally a support character, who can heal or create a shield (just to list a few functions here). Generally, characters are selected to enhance each other’s strengths and counteract weaknesses.
Next, we dive deeper into Genshin’s characters from these 4 aspects: design, voiceover, backstory, and gameplay.
Design
The character design in Genshin has a good range, going from playful to elegant and sophisticated. A region’s influence on a character’s design can be easily perceived, as well as some objects that can most showcase their ambition and passion. There’s the reuse of body types (tall, medium, short, and male/female models), but so far even new characters still look quite iconic.
Character animations have also gotten smoother over time. We’re not at the point where many feel sorry for Kuki Shinobu, a new version 2.7 character who simultaneously has some of the most interesting attack animations and is a lackluster damage dealer.
Two of my favorite designs are Raiden Shogun and Kamisato Ayato (pictured), two characters from Inazuma. I would dive deeper into Raiden as a whole, so I’ll focus on Ayato for now.
Ayato is dressed in a minimalistic white suit with indigo-adjacent accents, with purple indicating his regional affiliation and blue his element. On his chest is this signature Inazuman knot (”Musubi”), but this time much less prominent than the ones on Naganohara Yoimiya or Arataki Itto. Ayato also has azure-hued hair, which might appear odd at first, but contrasts well with the deeper blue tones on his suit. In terms of visual design, Ayato’s look is a strong evolution since Ayaka’s more amateur attempt at character design.
Ayato’s animations are also expertedly done. His moves are smooth, controlled, and fluid (he got a Hydro vision, get it?), and it really circles back to his diplomatic role as the head of the Yashiro Commission. He looks like a total gentleman, but when in combat, he acts as the expert swordsman that he is.
Voiceover
Video: Yanfei’s character demo
Because visually, characters’s appearance rely on their anime-influenced models in Genshin, voiceover plays a crucial role to infuse a character with personality. My all-time favorite is Yanfei — in Japanese, she is voiced by 花守 ゆみり (Yumiri Hanamori).
Yumiri has really created an iconic voice for Yanfei that sounds fitting for a legal expert — collected, calm, and not easily bothered — but she’s also confident, optimistic, and easy-going with just the right amount of smugness. Yumiri doesn’t necessarily sound like JP Yanfei to begin with, yet all of these elements are encompassed in Yanfei’s voice, it’s no small feat and really shows Yumiri’s excellent range and professional skills.
In the game, some of my other favorite JP voices include those from Raiden Shogun (沢城 みゆき), Yae Miko (佐倉 綾音), Yelan (遠藤 綾), Thoma (森田 成一), Beidou (小清水 亜美), and Dainsleif, whose voice actor 津田 健次郎 also voiced for Sam Porter Bridges in Death Stranding’s JP dub.
Backstory
The backstory for a character comes in the form of paragraphs of text as well as voicelines. It usually touches on a character’s background, upbringing, passion/ambition, and perhaps most importantly — how they earned their Vision. A Vision is said to be validation from a god when a distinguished individual pushes themselves to the limit, facing an impossible challenge, so it is interesting to read about how a character faced their darkest moment, and grew past it.
The paragraphs and voicelines unlock over time as the player builds “friendship” with a character by using a character in combat, and the progression here feels natural. It’s like how having a real-life friendship develop, and you (as the Traveler) become more open with one another.
Gameplay
Last but not least, acquiring and building a new character means more gameplay possibilities, for both combat and world exploration. Because Genshin encourages the players to utilize teams (and all 4 slots), having different characters in a team can create synergies and getting a new character can invite a player to experiment, which really echoes with Genshin’s open nature.
Almost all characters can be used as damage dealers (commonly referred as “DPS” by the Genshin community), while a subset of them also possess support capabilities like healing, shielding, battery (providing Energy for teammates), and amplifying damage. There are endless ways to build a team, and it’s one of the areas I really enjoy in Genshin.
A Mini Case Study on Character: Raiden Shogun
[FLICKER SENSITIVITY WARNING]
Video: Raiden Shogun’s character demo
Here, we look at Raiden Shogun, probably one of the most liked and well-rounded characters in Genshin and a great example to analyze.
Raiden has a very purple look, because she is the Electro Archon, ruling over the Inazuma region, which also has many purple and indigo-adjacent hues.
Diving deeper into her design, her outfit also has hints of amber and gold, giving her outfit a sense of sophistication and royalty. As a stoic, distant shogun (Japanese for ruler/dictator), she wears a piece of armor on her arm, signifying her authority and millitant methods. Yet she also wears a flower headpiece, tracing back to her time shared with her loved ones. Her long, deep purple braid is beautiful, yet doesn’t slow down her combat, as she unleashes precise slashes at enemies, showing her as an experienced warrior. Overall, Raiden Shogun is a beautifully and meticulously designed character that really embodies both beauty and violence. I can honestly say that I love her the most in the entire game.
But we’re not done. Raiden’s is voiced by 沢城みゆき (Miyuki Sawashiro) in Japanese, and as an industry veteran, she does a fantastic job shaping Raiden into a lively and impressive character. The default Raiden speaks in a soft but cold voice, and her combat voicelines emphasizes her stern and distant nature. My favorite is “稲光、すなわち永遠なり” (Inabikari, sunawachi Eien nari, or “lightning shines for eternity”). Powerful and commanding, Raiden Shogun also sounds determined to defend her people’s dreams and ambitions, and her vision of eternity.
I’m going to skip on Raiden’s backstory (no spoilers here), but her combat capabilities are easily top-tier. Unlike many premium damage dealers in Genshin, Raiden is incredibly flexible, and can be built as either a high-damage carry, a support to recharge her teammates, or both. In terms of weapons, while she has certain preferences, she can fully utilize many accessible options to realize a good chunk of her damage potential.
As a bonus, the demo music, Termination of Desires, is my absolute favorite out of all character demo soundtracks. Different from slower, tamer instrumental music in Genshin’s promo media, Termination of Desires reworks the Inazuma OST with distorted, edgy elements of electronica. Featuring crushing percussions, pounding trap bass, and an intense drum-and-bass section towards the end, this track is a perfect extension to the visuals of Raiden Shogun.
Overall, the characters in Genshin Impact are definitely the game’s main attraction. Even for someone like myself who isn’t super interested in anime art, I have definitely fallen in love with the characters I have.
CROSS-PLATFORM
Genshin is developed with Unity, which is widely used for the development of many mobile games and indie games, and this is the basis for Genshin’s excellent scalability. It stands out as one of the more visually striking games on mobile platforms, and gets even better on consoles and PC. I would personally recommend iPhone and iPad over Android phones for mobile gaming because the graphics quality is a bit better on iOS.
And because your game progress is stored on Genshin’s servers and not locally, you can easily pick up the game while in transit or waiting in a line, and continue on a PS or PC when you’re home, as long as it’s the same account. Compared to most games I played, I never had to worry about backing up saves or cloud-sync conflicts.
Of course, playing on a console or PC means you have access to more precise and tactile input methods (i.e., a controller, or keyboard+mouse) for a more comfortable and intuitive experience, besides, of course, much better graphics and general performance than on any mobile device.
I definitely find the PC experience superior to mobile. The touch buttons can be quite cramped on phones, in comparison, but controllers are supported on both iPhone and iPad and still, the combat is pretty streamlined.
FREE-TO-PLAY
Yeah, so, Genshin is technically free-to-play (or what the community calls ‘F2P’).
The launcher can be downloaded for free from Hoyoverse’s website. The registration is free. Upon logging into your account for the first time, you will receive ten Acquiant Wishes and you can pull on the Beginner’s Wish banner for a guaranteed Noelle. Free characters like Amber, Kaeya, and Barbara will be available simply as a player progresses through the story, and Xiangling can be acquired as reward for completing Spiral Abyss floor 3, a relatively easy challenge. By this point, an average player probably hasn’t even spent a dime.
Meanwhile, the gacha, store, and battle pass systems aren’t even available right away, only unlocking after reaching a certain Adventure Rank. Throughout my experience from Adventure Rank 1 to 55, the in-app purchase (IAP) aspect of the game was never intrusive or in-your-face. There’s also no ads, save for Genshin’s own character and update announcements.
What about content? You won’t get differential treatment from Genshin whether you spend or not, as all existing and future quests, map areas, and events will be available to everyone.
Characters are some of the premium content in Genshin, yet even high-rarity characters can be acquired with no dollar cost. That is because the currency used to acquire characters through gacha system (Wish), Primogems, can be obtained for free from opening chests in the open world, completing challenges like Spiral Abyss, participating in Limited Events, character trials, completing Daily Commissions, and etc.
Because the map area is available to everyone (and chests don’t respawn), theoretically the number of Primogems through exploration is also the same to all players. When new maps are added, new chests will also become available. Same goes for events and Spiral Abyss rewards being sources for Primogems.
Is Genshin even fun playing for free? The answer is an absolute yes. A gamer who plays casually can definitely get away with free characters and the craftable weapons. There’s zero barrier to completing the entire game with just the starter characters, and since Genshin is non-competitive, by default a player shouldn’t feel pressured to spend.
Of course, being a gacha game, playing without paying does have some caveats (termed by F2P players as “F2Pain” lol), which will be discussed later in the “Gacha System” section.
TBC
So this wraps up Part 1.
For everything I’ve discussed from the open world to huge cast of playable characters, Genshin Impact is definitely a game I’d recommend people to try. While they might very well reach different conclusions than myself, the experience is worth having.
In Part 2, I will write about some areas of improvement and a look into the future of Genshin. Just a fair warning — because it’ll focus more on the cons, the Part 2 might read a bit negative. But it is what it is — Genshin isn’t all sunshine and rainbows, but I still think it’d be fair to give it a chance, especially if one is looking for a relaxing, casual game to kill some time. ∎