Game Review: Genshin Impact
Genshin Impact is an anime-inspired, open-world RPG with a gacha system. The game is quite similar to the remarkable — The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. And although some may say otherwise, Genshin Impact, despite the inspiration it derives from Breath of the Wild, is certainly not a carbon copy. In fact, on a closer look, the game borrows elements from a variety of other games, such as Kingdom Hearts III, the Tales series, and of course, Xenoblade Chronicles. Some might argue that a game with a plethora of such features is bound to fail. However, Mihoyo definitely proved everyone wrong.
The Gameplay and Features
The world of Genshin Impact is quite vast and dynamic, with new mysteries and locations to be discovered. Similarly, the combat mechanics may seem rudimentary, but they also comprise a certain degree of depth. You can chain elemental combinations to deal more damage, while also utilizing the utility each character’s abilities offer. And though the game may lack the insane depth and complex mechanics that Breath of the Wild is known for, if anything, Genshin Impact’s visuals are far superior to it. Even better, Genshin uses elemental skills for accomplishing numerous mechanics that were tied to BoTW’s Sheikah Slate — freezing water, burning plants, and much more.
Moving on, the game’s progression is the standard RPG experience — players will be leveling up their characters, as well as focusing on increasing their Adventure Rank (AR) for additional stat bonuses, weapons, and accessories. On paper, the Genshin’s loop may not seem as appealing, however, after investing several hours into it, the gameplay does start to become addicting.
Apart from Genshin’s fairly decent narrative, the game has quite a bit to offer. Despite the game being from a mobile development team, this has had a lot of effort put into it. The entire cast for Genshin is fully-voiced by reputable and famous Voice Actors, from the main storyline to the sidequests. And despite the fact that the narrative may seem cliché and redundant, it is still a thrill to experience.
Genshin Impact also features an online multiplayer option, allowing up to four players to play together simultaneously. And even better, since Genshin is available on almost every platform excluding the Nintendo Switch, the chances of partying up with your friends are drastically higher than most games. Nevertheless, the game does have a level cap before players can fully access Genshin’s multiplayer system — players will have to reach Adventure Rank 16 before they can join their friend’s session. This can be roughly estimated to 10 hours’ worth of quest and sidequest clearing. Therefore, before having your friends download the game, we strongly recommend you to hit AR 16 since the game is meant mainly for solo-play.
What is the cost of playing Genshin?
Now, although Genshin Impact is a free-to-play title, the game will evidently push players to spend their money on in-game assets, such as new characters and skins. This mainly refers to Genshin’s gacha system and its core gameplay — utilizing different characters and their skills for going through your game. But, we will admit that the game is playable even without spending any money. The amount of content available for free is undoubtedly amazing. And although you can max out your characters by purchasing levels through ‘Resins’, you can do that by investing some more time and remaining patient.
Should you play Genshin Impact?
If you’re on the lookout for an experience similar to Breath of the Wild on the palms of your hand through your smartphone device, then yes. The game is definitely worth trying out. In fact, the game is actually quite entertaining, even if you have played Breath of the Wild. The micro-transactions may be a deal-breaker, however, the game never really forces the player to spend any money. The choice is yours to make!
Currently, as mentioned before, the game is available on the PlayStation 4 and 5, Android, iOS, as well as a much-anticipated port for the Nintendo Switch. Cross-platform play and save files are also a thing, so you can easily hop from one platform to another.
I have been playing this game for a few months now. Really good graphics. In fact, I had to turn down some of the settings to get it to work with my 18 month old graphics card. You are in your own world in this game, although, after level 21, you can have others join your world via Co-op. As mentioned in the story, it is VERY F2P. There really is no cost to play unless you want to bling up your characters. I will generally pay for some advancements in games but still have not paid a penny into this game. Not sure how the economics will work, but it is a great and addictive play.
I’ve been playing since a few weeks after launch. I paid for the monthly pass one time in January to get one of the weapons (sword) that I’d been having bad drops on but that was largely because I’ve enjoyed the game enough that I didn’t feel bad sending some money their way. There is absolutely no need to spend any money in the game even if you want the new characters when they come out. The pity system allows you to save up fairly efficiently to have enough to get to pity on a character banner in about 2 months. Now, if you are on the character banner the pity isn’t guaranteed for the banner 5 star character but if you lose the 50-50 the next one is guaranteed. So save for the characters you really want and all of the 4 stars will come to you eventually either through an event where you can get a character, from the shop, or just from random luck with your pulls. I’m currently missing 1 of the 4 star characters and I could get him in the shop if I wanted to.
One word of warning though, they are in a bit of a content drought right now and there is some speculation that needing to support mobile players is gating their ability to add new content. I couldn’t even imagine trying to get my phone to play this game.
I’ve been playing this for around a year now and absolutely love it. I don’t think the comparison to BotW is comparable other than the world visuals, but there is a fantastic range of visuals within character design, playstyle and elemental reactions are superb. Gameplay feels like an anime World of Warcraft, however it has both traditional RPG elements as well as Gacha.
From levelling and building teams to create outrageous damage and completing some of the higher level Spires of Abyss content, there is so much within the game. The only thing I feel it is missing is competitiveness between the player base, so if they added an arena aspect.. but in all honesty there is so much to do already.
I’d highly recommend Genshin to anyone. Off to enjoy my rampaging Rosaria build!
When I started playing, the game which first came to mind for me was actually Kingdom Hearts and not BotW in terms of playstyle.