Few games, very few, know how to surrender with such grace – and success – as Genshin Impact to the clichés and formulas copied over and over again from oriental RPGs. And yet, miHoYo’s proposal not only manages to break collateral prejudices, but it also knows how to fill you with reasons to return to its exquisite open world of anime and fantasy . Even before you close the game session.
Because, as we will see, Genshin Impact is the definitive proof that the sum of the factors is more than the whole separately. A full-blown Chinese blockbuster , the success of which knows no borders and is played on almost all systems, including mobile devices, at an unbeatable price: free . Which does not mean, logically, that payment options are offered.
At the end of the day, everything good about Genshin Impact, and it is not exactly little, is in sight in its early stages. The roleplaying proposal of miHoYo is exquisitely simple to approach in the playable , endless in terms of content and, for a tip, treats the player in each game with beautiful environments and heroes that radiate character while giving new shades of color to the experience in your set.
A flawless open world RPG and also free? While, like any open-world game designed to invite us to lose ourselves aimlessly and, in the process, invest huge amounts of hours in upgrades and collectibles, the truth is that Genshin Impact unfolds its true greatness once the presentations and pasts are made. its initial tranches.
What’s more, as in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of The Wild -one of its greatest references-, it can be said that the authentic gaming experience, the one that will accompany us for dozens of hours, will start once we have learned to fight, Climb and glide in the air
Because the comparisons between the two games are not only inevitable, but they are very well founded.
And, in the midst of that process of acclimatization to its open world, Genshin Impact opens the door to monetization . Inviting the player to buy random items through the classic – and very profitable – summons system. Which brings us to the question of rigor: to what extent does Genshin Impact’s gacha system tarnish the gaming experience?
The short answer – and bluntly – is that, in the end, it all comes down to two factors: the time and consistency we have to keep up with events without being tempted to use shortcuts and how much you want to have that character with so many rarity stars that it inevitably sends siren songs at you from the play store.
That said, the overall gaming experience is what makes miHoYo’s game stand out from other free-to-play games that follow the same philosophy. A manual Freemium, of course, but also a manganime-tinged RPG that refuses to go unnoticed on its own merits in times when we are condemned to suffer a digital Diogenes.
After all, we are talking about the Trojan horse with which the emerging Made in China video game industry is preparing to conquer the West and the world.
Of gods, adventurers and their connection with the elements of nature
The traveler wakes up after a long sleep. The last thing he remembers is that, in his journey through the worlds, he was forced to face a strange divinity along with his twin brother. Neither separately nor by joining forces did they have the remotest chance of winning.
With a simple gesture , that deity made our protagonist’s brother disappear. It vanished in a matter of seconds. Now, the traveler was alone and completely exposed to the will of that mysterious being who proceeded to take the reins of a determined combat.
Paimon, a tiny, quirky creature with magical powers, interrupts the traveler’s memories by presenting himself with contagious joy. Somehow our hero survived the deity and has regained consciousness on the shores of Mondstadt , one of the kingdoms of Teyvat. It is the first time that the traveler visits those lands.
Teyvat is composed of seven huge kingdoms , each of them devoted to a deity and, in turn, each of these deities is closely linked to an element: wind, fire, water, nature, earth, the electricity and ice . So, in a way, the cities of each kingdom internalize and display these matters in their culture.
Determined to reunite with his lost twin, the traveler is guided by Paimon to the Adventurer’s Guild headquarters in the city of Mondstadt itself. Without being aware that circumstances will force him to take part in a threat that suddenly manifests itself in the city.
Entrusting himself, as a result of this, to new assignments and adventures. And, in the process, forging bonds of friendship with powerful new allies.
Genshin Impact the colossal free RPG that cost 100 million dollars
As a game, Genshin Impact is a melting pot of influences that are manifested in the same RPG experience. Ideas blatantly borrowed from specific video games and lined up in a generous open world that exudes beauty of its own.
Thus, we find that:
- The mobility and exploration system of our characters, as well as the open world is practically identical to that of Link in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild . From climbing to swimming, passing through airslides.
- For its part, the areas of the huge open world are contrasted with dungeons and missions in closed environments without losing the feeling of freedom at any time. What’s more, these are designed to be replayed multiple times.
- On the other hand, the matches are dynamic, in real time and have their own system of relay combos. We can make use of magic and even integrate it into combat with strategic dyes combining elements and using the environments to our advantage.
- The design of the characters and the unlocking of them through a Gatcha system follows the line of what was seen in Fire Emblem Heroes, combining the aesthetics of the manganimes with different influences that go from the classic heroic fantasy to the magical girls.
- Crafting also has a special role and is reminiscent of Destiny in many ways. Not only will we have to obtain, improve and even forge weapons, equipment and objects, but, in the long run, this aspect will gain nuances.
What is interesting about all the above, and many other influences, is how the whole is well assembled and well channeled in the same experience in which the plot has a relevance that is rarely seen in a free-to-play game.
And to show you, here are 40 minutes of Genshin Impact in which the adventure begins to take its course and, in the process, you see the enormous variety that it offers as a game.
Special mention to the location of the game. Although there are four voice variants with enormous work, typical of a great production, Genshin Impact offers in-game huge glossaries of data, stories, legends and a huge display for the creation of the world itself. All of them masterfully localized to more than a dozen languages.
In fact, as we play with new characters, we will learn more about their past in the encyclopedia that we will write ourselves . Leading to unlock new gestures, phrases and poses that we can use in a photo mode that invites us to capture and immortalize the spectacular views that emerge from the game.
A great production sensation that even encompasses the game’s own soundtrack, recorded and performed by the London Philharmonic Orchestra and the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra . Rounding out even more the exquisite artistic impulse of the set with exceptional pieces.
After all, we are talking about a production that has cost more than 100 million dollars. A story set in the open world that, by the way, sounds that good.
And, although, as an open world, its design constantly invites us to discover what lies beyond the next hill, look for chests more or less hidden among the streets of the city or what the views from the highest mountain are like; There is one aspect that Genshin Impact places a special emphasis on: its way of giving voice and personality to its cities and characters.
- The urban centers and small villages are full of details, which give them their own identity, but their design is also really functional. If we need to go to a store, a specific place or simply talk to someone, we will not have to take more detours than necessary.
- However, what is not so frequent is to see how even all the NPCs have a phrase that integrates them into that living ecosystem. Although, as we will see, it is in the characters that we can use or with whom we interact where Genshin Impact really knows how to shine.
As is to be expected, and being logical with its monetization model, Genshin Impact is a game in constant expansion . The internet connection is not optional, but there are always events, updates and news in the form of new content that will keep us entertained while the story continues to take shape.
Which inevitably brings us to the most delicate point of Genshin Impact : the system of gacha and purchases with real money with which this overproduction is sustained.
Genshin Impact and the miHoYo Freemium experience
Let’s talk about hard facts and figures. Genshin Impact was an instant hit, and if the investment of more than $ 100 million is, in itself, a huge figure for any video game or major publisher, the miHoYo title only needed two weeks to cover its costs . Remember, it is a free-to-play game.
If we focus solely on the Android and iOS version of the game, Genshin Impact achieved 23 million downloads in seven days and raised $ 60 million. Most of the income, logically, comes from China. However, 69% of them came from beyond the great wall. And that alone makes it a milestone in itself for the Chinese video game industry.
The key to success stems from a concept very similar to Minecraft or Fortnite: Genshin Impac t is not only an RPG, it is a game platform that gives access to the open world from practically any device , as miHoYo stated to the Noisypixel medium.
Genshin Impact was conceived as a multiplatform game from the beginning, with development for mobile devices, PC and PlayStation 4 simultaneously. Each platform has its own distinct features and benefits, and we have endeavored to optimize the game to take advantage of the benefits of each platform.
The superior hardware capabilities of the PC and PlayStation 4 allowed us to push the boundaries to deliver a truly immersive experience, for example by leveraging the PS4’s GPU to enable dynamic shadows for terrain, buildings, and characters.
In fact, its arrival on Switch and PS5 is part of miHoYo’s short-term plans. Of course, regardless of the new generation version, Genshin Impact is already played on the new Sony desktop thanks to backward compatibility.
That said, what is it like to play Genshin Impact on mobile? From the outset, the quality it gives off depends on the model we use.
However, as you can see in the image below, the interface hardly varies with respect to PC and the contents and menus are exactly the same. Making these systems become new windows to the same world.
From the beginning miHoYo developed the game keeping in mind that it had to work on multiple platforms and that gave it a total advantage, not only in adapting the open world and gameplay, but in inviting us to return to Teyvat for more. adventures and who knows? the possibility of releasing a new hero if luck is with us.
Because, beyond its beauty and its success in merging different styles of play in an experience as varied as it is entertaining, it is worth bearing in mind that, in practice, the player who continues his game on mobile phones continues to progress the adventure and, more or less directly, accessing the gacha of the game.
In this regard, China was one of the pioneers in establishing that video games had to break down the statistics of success when obtaining the most sweet-to-eat characters and items. And Genshin offers facilities guaranteeing at least one good reward for every ten attempts at least. Something that in miHoYo define as a friendly free-to-play.
We have strived to make Genshin Impact a friendly and accessible free-to-play experience. Players will be able to choose if and how they want to spend the money.
Players will be able to unlock 4 main characters to explore the world simply by progressing through the story. Players can also obtain materials, equipment, weapons, and other characters by completing challenges and missions.
Of course, the wish system is also available for players who want access to more characters and equipment.
However, it is inevitable that we return to the initial question: to what extent does the game test our ability to avoid going through the box ?
It’s no surprise that Genshin Impact becomes more and more demanding as we progress further in the story. After all, being Freemium almost implies having to function as a game as a service as well.
In addition to the character level, there is an Adventure Level that determines the plot and the level of challenge that lies ahead of us. A kind of difficulty regulator at the service of the player’s own progress. Logically, the higher the risk, the better the rewards with one notable exception: the speed with which we unlock content in the gacha .
And that’s when the question is resolved: although it is possible to enjoy all the possibilities of the open world, including the sensations of adventure and discovery, without going through the game store, the truth is that obtaining new heroes is an integral part of the game. Genshin Impact’s own experience.
The reason? miHoYo has been really inspired when it comes to creating an open world and how to interact with it. But he has also placed the same emphasis on creating heroes and adventurers who are as interesting as they are attractive to those who have been in the game for tons of hours. Above all, when we are given the opportunity to test them in challenges and events.
In addition to the backgrounds of each character, each of the heroes has a very specific role. There are magicians, archers, swordsmen and each one integrates an element that not only works in combat, but also in the world itself. So that:
- A character of fire will be able to burn the scenes with vegetation and wooden weapons and one of ice can slow down enemies or freeze water, for example.
- But it is also possible to create interesting combinations during combat. Wet enemies and then electrocute them or take advantage of wet parts of a dungeon to extend the range of a volley.
Through the personality, the design of each character, their background and their elemental and fighting qualities, miHoYo successfully makes us interested in trying our luck at gacha . However, wishes and random spins are not the only thing we are invited to spend real money on.
In fact, its endgame – at least, until the opening of the new kingdoms – can be frustrating. Ultimately, to keep putting in hours is to end up with the inevitable decision to keep moving fast by tackling with real money or to make more and more use of patience and perseverance.
In any case, the decision is in the hands of the player. Which does not mean that in December 2020 a Genshin Impact that had only been available for a few months slipped into the ranking of the most profitable games released on mobile phones in history.
Genshin Impact: the biggest Chinese video game release to date
Genshin Impact came out to PS4, PC and mobile devices giving access to only two of the seven kingdoms of Teyvat, which means two things: that we continue talking about the game so many months after its launch implies its true replayability and, in addition, there is a huge display of content to come.
All in all, the miHoYo game has already achieved a major milestone: its strong numbers and popularity, even during the beta phase, have made it the best-released Chinese video game in the world.
And not only that, Genshin Impact was crowned the best game of the year 2020 in both the Apple Store and Google Play awards. Little joke.
It is clear that the first comparisons with The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild played in its favor. Their way of embracing open world concepts and exploring are very, very similar.
However, being really fair, that’s just one of the nuances of the game. And from myHoYo they were fully aware of it.
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is one of the most popular and respected titles in the industry, and one that our employees hold in high regard. In a post our team distributed to players last year, we mentioned that The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild was one of our inspirations for creating Genshin Impact as an open-world action RPG.
That said, it is important to note that once you start playing, you will find that the Genshin Impact experience is very different from that of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. Genshin Impact features a completely original story and characters, and the central game revolves around assembling a group of multiple characters and participating in a combat system based on interactions between different elements.
While the way in which the Hyrule hero’s movements have been adapted to the game is more than evident, the big difference around Genshin Impact lies in the loyalty system and in the range of playable characters itself.
And, of course, that it was also free served to attract even more attention in a market where it is no longer exactly difficult to come across anime-like RPGs.
Genshin Impact’s single player mode allows players to experience the entire game on their own. As an open world action RPG game, the central aspect of the game experience beyond the main story is exploring the open world.
At the same time, the game also has in-depth side stories for individual characters and random events to enrich the game experience. In the future, our plan is to expand the game even further, with additions to the main story and side stories, as well as new game modes.
For now, the content, updates and improvements that Genshin Impact has received since its original launch continue to be interesting enough that millions of travelers around the world have left the search for their lost twin on standby indefinitely and continue their adventures.
Recruiting new allies and constantly improving, game by game, your favorite characters.
Genshin Impact is not a perfect game, nor is it an experimental or gritty experience. And it doesn’t need to be. However, what he does, he does very well : he is ambitious, he knows how to bring to his own ground great successes of true references and, in the process, he invites us to discover an open world that, in addition, is a candy to behold.
