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Genshin Impact

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Genshin Impact
File:Genshin Impact logo.png
Developer(s)miHoYo
Publisher(s)miHoYo
Composer(s)Yu-Peng Chen
EngineUnity
Platform(s)
Release
  • Windows, PS4, Android, iOS
  • September 28, 2020
  • Switch, PS5
  • TBA
Genre(s)Action role-playing
Mode(s)Single-player, multiplayer

Genshin Impact[1] is a free-to-play action role-playing game developed and published by miHoYo.[2][3] The game features a fantasy-based open world environment and action based battle system, using elemental magic, character switching and uses gacha game monetization for players to obtain rare characters, weapons, and other resources.[4][5] A multiplayer mode allows up to four players to play together in the world and also tackle certain dungeons within the game.[6] It was released for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, Android and iOS on September 28, 2020.[7] The game is also planned for the Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 5.[8]

Genshin Impact takes place on the fictional world of Teyvat, which is home to several nations. Each nation is associated with an element and worships a god associated with that element. A pair of twins arrive on Teyvat in the distant past, but are barred from leaving by an unknown god. After trapping one, she seals the other for some time. After the sealed twin, who is referred to as the "Traveler", awakens, they travel across Teyvat with their newfound companion, Paimon, to look for their twin.

The game received fairly positive reception at release, with journalists praising the open world direction and the combat; however, criticisms were raised at its monetization. The game grossed over $100 million in twelve days, recouping its entire development and marketing budget.

Gameplay

File:Genshin Impact screenshot.jpg
The player may freely explore an open-world map with tools. The green gauge displays the character's health and current level.

Genshin Impact is an action role-playing game that features an open-world map, which the player may freely explore. The player may play as one character from a party of four other characters. Switching between characters can be done quickly and during combat, allowing the player to use several different combinations of skills and attacks at once. Characters may have their strengths enhanced in a variety of ways, such as increasing a character's level, as well as improving artifacts and the weapons that the character equips. Other players can join in and participate in the content together. In addition to exploration the player can attempt various challenges for rewards. Scattered across Teyvat are highly powerful enemies and domains which reward highly valuable resources, but claiming them uses up a currency called resin, which slowly regenerates over time.

The player can control their character and perform actions such as running, climbing, swimming, and gliding. These actions are limited by stamina, which is the same for each character. Some characters possess abilities that can alter the environment, such as create updrafts or freezing water that can aid the player in traversing terrain. Many teleportation nodes exist throughout the world that players can warp to, and there are statues that heal and revive characters as well as provide benefits such as increasing player stamina if the proper item is offered. Items such as food and ore may be procured from the open world, while enemies and treasure chests drop other types of resources which may used in enhancing a character's strength. Players can obtain food from hunting animals, gathering wild fruit and vegetables, or inspecting certain areas. Most foods can be turned into dishes via cooking. Some dishes regenerate characters' health, while others boost various statistics.[9] Mining can be done by attacking and destroying mining nodes to produce ore, though certain characters' attacks will be more effective in procuring ore. Ore can be refined and then used to enhance weapon strength, or create weapons.

Each character has two unique combat skills: an elemental skill and an elemental burst. The elemental skill can be used at any time except for the cooldown period immediately after use, while the elemental burst has an energy cost, requiring the user to amass sufficient elemental energy first by defeating enemies or inflicting elemental statuses.[10][11] Characters have control over one of seven natural elements: Cryo, Dendro, Pyro, Hydro, Anemo, Electro and Geo, which correspond to ice, life, fire, water, air, electricity, and earth respectively. These elements can interact in different ways; for example, if a Hydro attack hits a target, the enemy will be inflicted with the "Wet" status, and if they are hit with a Cryo attack, it will inflict "Cold". These two statuses combine into the "Frozen" status, which temporarily prevents the target from performing any actions or until the player deals enough physical damage to the enemy. Switching between characters during combat and executing those skills allows those elemental interactions to take place. Certain elemental abilities may be required to solve puzzles within the overworld, such as lighting torches.

A multiplayer mode is available in the form of co-op. Up to 4 players can play together in the overworld, and join Domains. Player matching can either be done by requesting to join with another player, or if the player wishes to do a Domain with other players, they will be automatically matched up with others who are looking to tackle the same objective. The game features cross-platform play, so players on any platform can play with each other.

By completing quests to advance the story, the player is able to unlock three additional playable characters, and additional characters can be obtained via a gacha mechanic. Several premium in-game currencies, obtainable through in-app purchases and playing the game, can be used to obtain characters and weapons.

Story

Setting

Genshin Impact takes place on the world of Teyvat, which is divided into several nations and regions. Currently, there are two nations within the game that the player can visit: Mondstadt and Liyue. Mondstadt, known as the city of freedom, worships Barbatos, the Anemo Archon and sits on an island in the middle of a lake. Mondstadt's region occupies the northeastern half of the map, and in the southeastern half of the map lies the nation of Liyue, which worships the Geo Archon Rex Lapis and is the largest market harbor in Teyvat. Each nation takes inspiration from a real world region, incorporating regional aesthetics. Mondstadt uses central European influences while Liyue uses many common Chinese elements, such as the Stone Forest.

Each nation is associated with and worships an Archon, of which there are seven. Each Archon is tied to one of the game's elements, which is reflected in their nation's element as well. An Archon's strength is tied to how firmly they control their nation. Certain individuals chosen by the Archons are given a Vision — magical gemstones that give their bearers the ability to control an element. In gameplay, each playable character (except the Traveler) is a Vision wielder.

Plot

The game starts as two twins traveling across the stars arrive in Teyvat and find that it is ablaze with the fires of war. However, as they attempt to leave, they encounter and fight a mysterious god. The god captures one of the twins and seals away the other one, depending on the choice of the player. Some undisclosed amount of time later, the sealed twin awakens, and meets Paimon while fishing. On their way, they encounter a dragon named Stormterror, who later attacks the town of Mondstadt. After saving the town, the twin meets Jean, the leader of the Knights of Favonius, joins the Knights and is sent to numerous temples to restore stability to the region. It is discovered that the dragon's true name is Dvalin, and that he was once a guardian of Mondstadt. The Traveler encounters a bard named Venti, who is actually Barbatos, the archon presiding over Mondstadt. Venti develops a plan to quell Dvalin's rage, for which they need to steal a holy lyre, that by playing it to Dvalin would calm his rage. However, they are beaten to it by a member of the Fatui, a group of secret agents from the nation of Snezhnaya, and are framed for the robbery. The Traveler and Venti take refuge with bar owner Diluc, where they are reunited with Jean, who is working unofficially with the group to avoid destroying diplomatic relations with Snezhnaya. The group retrieves the lyre from a nearby Fatui hideout, and repairs it. Venti plays the lyre to summon Dvalin, but it is revealed he is under the influences of the Abyss Mages, sorcerers who are a part of the Abyss Order that despise humanity. The group pursues Dvalin to his hideout, and frees him from the Abyss Mages' influence. After returning the lyre, the Traveler and Venti are ambushed by the Fatui, and Venti's Gnosis, a conduit that allows Venti to use magic, is stolen. The Traveler resolves to meet all seven of the archons, and Venti advises the Traveler to travel to Liyue to meet Rex Lapis, the god presiding over the city, as he may have information on the other twins' whereabouts. However, Rex Lapis is assassinated, and the twin petitions the adepti, spiritual guardians of Liyue, for help. Once they return to Liyue, they contact several officials to meet the body of Rex Lapis, which has been hidden away for unknown reasons. Helping prepare the ritual for the fallen archon, they receive an invitation to meet the Liyue Qixing, the person in charge of the commerce within Liyue.

Development

miHoYo announced work on a new project using the Unity development platform at the end of January 2017, three months after the initial release of Honkai Impact 3rd. The company stated its intention for the new project was to strengthen the company's R&D capabilities and produce higher-quality games. The project in question was Genshin Impact.

Genshin Impact was announced in June 2019, with a release target of 2020, on both Windows and iOS. The reveal trailer showed an open world heavily inspired by The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild in terms of presentation and gameplay. The similarities sparked controversy and protests at Genshin Impact's booth at 2019's ChinaJoy convention among some fans of Breath of the Wild.[12] A beta test was to be run at the end of June.[13][14] The game had a budget, for both development and marketing, of around $100 million.[15] At Sony's ChinaJoy 2019 event the game was announced as also being published for PlayStation 4.[16] A Nintendo Switch version was announced, but currently has an unannounced release date.[8]

On August 6, 2020, miHoYo announced that the PlayStation 4 release is set in autumn 2020.[17] Later it was announced that the PlayStation 4 release is back on the same September 28 schedule.[18] The game's developers sought to create a game that was distinct from Honkai Impact 3rd in terms of its quest and combat systems as well as its random events and mode of exploration.[19]

Localization

Genshin Impact is available in Traditional and Simplified Chinese, Japanese, Korean, English, French, German, Spanish, Portuguese, Russian, Thai, Vietnamese and Indonesian, with voiceovers available in Japanese, Chinese, Korean and English. The Japanese version notably features Japanese audio dialogue by many famous Japanese voice artists, such as Rie Tanaka.[20][21] Players can choose user interface and voice-over languages independently. Musicians and staff of HOYO-MiX, the London Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra created the music for Genshin Impact.[22] Genshin Impact takes a different title in Chinese, Japanese and Korean, being simply shortened to the first word of the international title (i.e., Yuánshén 原神 in Chinese, Genshin 原神 in Japanese and Wonsin 원신 in Korean). The different pronunciations simply reflect the local way of pronouncing the original Chinese title, which means "primordial gods".

Reception

Genshin Impact received generally favorable reviews for PC and PS4, according to review aggregator Metacritic.[23][24] Game Informer's Daniel Tack praised the open world direction and design of the game,[26] and Destructoid's Chris Carter called the combat system "one of the most interesting things about Genshin Impact".[25] Gene Park of The Washington Post notes that the game wears its inspiration from Breath of the Wild "proudly,"[32] but also criticized its gacha system.[33] Paul Tassi of Forbes noted that to progress past a certain point one must "spend an absurd amount of money to get around the last few timegates of the game."[34]

Revenue

Prior to its release, the game saw 21.3 million preregistrations - of which, 16 million were from China. According to experts in the video games industry, Genshin Impact was the biggest international release of a Chinese video game.[15] [35]

In the first four days after it was released, it is estimated that Genshin Impact had over 17 million downloads. In the week following it was released, it was the second highest-grossing mobile game for that time period, generating approximately $60 million. [35] It is estimated that the game grossed over $100 million worldwide in less than two weeks, its largest revenue coming from China, Japan, South Korea, and the United States.[36] PC Gamer reports that the game grossed over $100 million in twelve days, recouping its budget.[37]

Controversy and Censorship

On October 6, 2020, journalist and Twitch streamer Kazuma Hashimoto published a video on social media site Twitter demonstrating how Chinese political terms such as"'Hong Kong" and "Taiwan" are censored within the in-game chat.[38] As the developer of the game, miHoYo, is based in China, they are subject to China's censorship policy, which includes complying with a list of banned words that cannot be used in game or via chat. [38] Other terms not related to Chinese politics are banned as well, such as "Putin", "Hitler", and "Stalin".[39] Several threads on the game's subreddit discussed the censorship, with various users noting that innocuous terms such as "enemies" and "words" were also being censored.[40]

References

  1. ^ 原神 in Chinese
  2. ^ "Breath of the Wild-Inspired Genshin Impact Free-To-Play RPG Is Out Now". ScreenRant. September 29, 2020. Retrieved September 29, 2020.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  3. ^ "米哈游-TECH OTAKUS SAVE THE WORLD". mihayo.com (in Chinese). Retrieved October 22, 2019.
  4. ^ Fenlon, Wes (September 28, 2020). "Genshin Impact, an ambitious Chinese RPG inspired by Breath of the Wild, is out today". PC Gamer. Retrieved September 29, 2020.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  5. ^ "Genshin Impact due out by October for PC, iOS, and Android; second closed beta test for PS4 begins July 30". Gematsu. July 22, 2020. Retrieved September 29, 2020.
  6. ^ Messner, Steven (October 2, 2020). "Genshin Impact co-op guide: How to adventure with other players". PC Gamer. Retrieved October 10, 2020.
  7. ^ "Genshin Impact Now Available Worldwide on PlayStation 4, PC, Android, and iOS,". www.gamasutra.com. Gamasutra. Retrieved September 29, 2020.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  8. ^ a b "Descargar Genshin Impact | PC, APK, Android, IOS, Switch, PS4". Mundo Genshin Impact (in Spanish). May 2, 2020. Retrieved September 7, 2020.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  9. ^ "《原神》测试版试玩：国产手游离3A最近的一次". shouyou.gamersky.com (in Chinese). June 21, 2019. p. 3. Retrieved October 22, 2019.
  10. ^ "《原神》测试版试玩：国产手游离3A最近的一次". shouyou.gamersky.com (in Chinese). June 21, 2019. p. 2. Retrieved October 22, 2019.
  11. ^ "Genshin Impact". Facebook. Retrieved October 22, 2019.
  12. ^ Bankhurst, Adam (August 5, 2019). "Chinese Zelda Fans Protest Alleged The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild Rip-Off Genshin Impact". IGN. Retrieved September 7, 2020.
  13. ^ Young, Rory (June 8, 2019). "Zelda-Inspired Open World Action Game 'Genshin Impact' Announced". Game Rant. Retrieved September 7, 2020.
  14. ^ Herndandez, Patricia (June 21, 2019). "That Breath of the Wild anime 'clone' actually looks impressive". Polygon. Retrieved September 7, 2020.
  15. ^ a b "Genshin Impact is biggest international launch of a Chinese game ever". South China Morning Post. September 30, 2020.
  16. ^ Romano, Sal (August 1, 2019). "Genshin Impact coming to PS4 in 2020". Gematsu. Retrieved September 7, 2020.
  17. ^ Zhenzhong (August 6, 2020). "Genshin Impact hits PS4 this fall". PlayStation.Blog. Retrieved September 7, 2020.
  18. ^ "On September 28, let's go on an adventure!". genshin.mihoyo.com. August 17, 2020. Retrieved September 7, 2020.
  19. ^ "A Thank You to Our Travelers, and What is Yet to Come". genshin.mihoyo.com. June 27, 2019. Retrieved October 22, 2019.
  20. ^ "Newsflash about Genshin Impact's First Set of Japanese Character Voices". genshin.mihoyo.com. August 20, 2019. Retrieved October 22, 2019.
  21. ^ "Genshin Impact Japanese Voice Talent News · Second Announcement". genshin.mihoyo.com. September 15, 2019. Retrieved October 22, 2019.
  22. ^ "Producing the Sounds of Liyue | Genshin Impact: Behind the Scenes". Youtube. Retrieved October 10, 2020.
  23. ^ a b "Genshin Impact for PC Reviews". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved October 11, 2020.
  24. ^ a b "Genshin Impact for PlayStation 4 Reviews". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved October 15, 2020.
  25. ^ a b Carter, Chris. "Review: Genshin Impact". Destructoid. Retrieved October 6, 2020.
  26. ^ a b Tack, Daniel. "Genshin Impact Review — Into The Great Wide Open". Game Informer. Retrieved October 6, 2020.
  27. ^ Kemps, Heidi. "Genshin Impact Review – Direct Hit". GameSpot. Retrieved October 15, 2020.
  28. ^ Helm, Jordan (October 6, 2020). "Review: Genshin Impact". Hardcore Gamer. Retrieved October 10, 2020.
  29. ^ "Genshin Impact Review". IGN. Retrieved October 14, 2020.
  30. ^ "Test du jeu Genshin Impact". Jeuxvideo.com (in French). Retrieved October 10, 2020.
  31. ^ Aubrey, Dave. "Genshin Impact review - "A true AAA gacha game"". www.pocketgamer.com. Retrieved October 10, 2020.
  32. ^ Park, Gene. "'Genshin Impact' tries an interesting live service trick: Make a good game at launch". Washington Post. Retrieved October 7, 2020.
  33. ^ Park, Gene. "I spent $130 in 'Genshin Impact.' If you might do this, maybe don't play it". Washington Post. Retrieved October 10, 2020.
  34. ^ Tassi, Paul. "Alright, I Feel Like I Beat 'Genshin Impact' (For Now)". Forbes. Retrieved October 10, 2020.
  35. ^ a b Chapple, Craig. "Genshin Impact Generates $60 Million in First Week as it Becomes World's No. 2 Grossing Mobile Game". Sensor Tower Blog. Retrieved October 10, 2020.
  36. ^ Webb, Jack (October 12, 2020). "Genshin Impact has earned over $100 million despite being free". Evening Standard. Retrieved October 12, 2020.
  37. ^ Bolding, Jonathan (October 11, 2020). "Grossing over $100m, Genshin Impact recoups development costs in two weeks". PC Gamer. Retrieved October 14, 2020.
  38. ^ a b Yin-Poole, Wesley (October 7, 2020). "Genshin Impact censors "Taiwan" and "Hong Kong"". Eurogamer. Retrieved October 8, 2020.
  39. ^ Prescott, Shaun (October 7, 2020). "Genshin Impact's chat filter removes 'Taiwan' and 'Hong Kong,' but also 'Putin,' 'Hitler,' and 'words'". PC Gamer.
  40. ^ Walker, Ian. "Genshin Impact Is Censoring Words Like 'Taiwan' And 'Hong Kong'". Kotaku. Retrieved October 8, 2020.
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