Game Review: Genshin Impact

By Nora Taing

Genshin Impact is a free, newly released game that has slowly been taking over my life. The game’s company, Mihoyo, had their official release on September 28, 2020. The game works cross-platform, which means it is playable on PC, PS4, Android, and iOS platforms. The great thing about this is that you can play on your PC and later hop on with your phone, so you can continue right where you left off. Mihoyo is a promising game company and has gained much anticipation from the fans of Honkai Impact 3rd, which is another popular game that I have played. I loved the art style of Honkai Impact 3rd, so I was ecstatic when I heard that Mihoyo was releasing Genshin Impact.

Actual cutscene from the game.

(Your main character & emergency food)

Genshin Impact is an open-world-action RPG (role-play game). The open world aspect of the game allows you to explore a huge map in the game freely, without being constricted by the storyline. I tend to get sidetracked a lot because I wander off to collect ingredients for cooking and open chests in the game. The game does encourage you to explore the map since you level up and unlock new areas by doing so. Genshin Impact is also considered a gacha game, which means that players spend in-game currency to open boxes to obtain characters and weapons of varying rarity (1 star being the worst to 5 stars being the best). Players test their luck in hopes that they get a character that they want because, in this game, you collect them and can switch to multiple characters. Each character has an element that they wield such as fire, lightning, wind, water, etc. They also use different weapons such as bow, sword, spear, etc. The freedom to build your team based on the playstyle or combos that you can create makes this game interesting.

Genshin Impact is mostly single-player, but you can play with your friends when you reach Adventure level 16. This is when you unlock co-op mode. so you can have friends visit your world or you visit them. Together, you and your friends can fight world bosses, explore, and complete dungeons. There are some restrictions when in co-op mode, such as the inability to complete quests, which can be annoying. One suggestion I have to make gameplay more fun, is to include a trading feature to trade items and money with your friends. As of right now, there is no way to make your character interact by doing emotes to express your emotions. I like to role play with my friends and it’s tough to express happiness, sadness, etc. I am sure that Mihoyo will add these things in the future.

Screenshot in-game.

The combat system of this game is fun, especially when you have to dodge and beware of the fighting styles of the monsters. Genshin Impact has a unique combat system compared to other RPG games. Due to the inclusion of elements, players can combine these elements to create special effects and buffs. For example, if you combine a water attack with an ice attack using different characters, you get a frozen effect that makes your enemies unable to move for a short period of time. Special abilities include a fire tornado when you combine wind and fire elements using the respective skills. The monsters you fight will also have their mechanisms of how you can effectively wipe them out. For example, a golem has weak spots on its head and back. If you shoot those points with an archer, they will stumble making them invulnerable. Genshin Impact’s combat style is more entertaining than most games where you just wack at mobs the whole time until they perish.

I give Genshin Impact a rating of 9/10 as of now. The game was just released, so Mihoyo can put updates into the game to make it more enjoyable. The story, art, characters, and music really impacts how players feel about the game. These aspects are so high quality that it is unbelievable that the game is free. I have a lot of experience playing RPG games, and I typically play them for a bit before dropping it later on. With Genshin Impact, there are so many things that you can focus on, so you’d be entertained for a while.

Please give this game a try! Mihoyo worked very hard to produce such a beautiful game. Happy gaming!