Genshin Impact is a F2P open world action RPG with co-op multiplayer by Chinese developer Mihoyo, available for PS4, PS5, PC, Android and iOS.
A Switch version has also been announced without a specific date as of yet.
Your main character is the Traveller from a far away world. You choose between the twins Lumine (girl) or Aether (boy). The twin you don't pick will still play a major role in the game's story.
You are joined on your journey by a big number of unique characters. These are all the playable characters that have so far been revealed:
With the main character and a team of three other party members you make use of elemental powers and their combination to defeat your enemies. Instead of all party members being present on the combat field at once, and part of them being controlled by the AI, you control all of them. With the press of a button you switch instantly from one character to the other, unleashing devastating combos.
There are seven unique open world regions to travel to and to freely explore. These are the two regions that have been released so far:
Exploration and traversal is closely inspired by Breath of the Wild. You will run, swim, climb and glide to every nook and cranny of the game world to discover enemy camps, hidden treasures, puzzles, dungeons, bosses and more.
Genshin Impact is a story driven game. Apart from an extensive main story, many character and world quests bring the world, lore and characters to life. The story is told in many hours of high quality and fully voiced (in English, Japanese, Chinese and Korean) dialogue scenes and cutscenes.
Everything is accompanied by a beautiful OST by the composer Yu-Peng Chen and by Western and Eastern producers and orchestras that also brought us the film and game OSTs of The Lord of the Rings triology, Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, God of War (2018) and Final Fantasy XV.
Exploration and traversal is closely inspired by Breath of the Wild. You will run, swim, climb and glide to every nook and cranny of the game world to discover enemy camps, hidden treasures, puzzles, dungeons, bosses and more.
Genshin Impact is a story driven game. Apart from an extensive main story, many character and world quests bring the world, lore and characters to life. The story is told in many hours of high quality and fully voiced (in English, Japanese, Chinese and Korean) dialogue scenes and cutscenes.
Everything is accompanied by a beautiful OST by the composer Yu-Peng Chen and by Western and Eastern producers and orchestras that also brought us the film and game OSTs of The Lord of the Rings triology, Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, God of War (2018) and Final Fantasy XV.
On what platforms does this release?
Genshin Impact releases on PS4, PC, Android and iOS. A Switch version has also been announced without a specific date as of yet.
Is this an MMO?
No, this is a single-player focused experience with co-op multiplayer to invite a couple of friends over to your game world.
Do I need to be online all the time?
Yes, you will need to stay in constant contact with Mihoyo's servers.
Does this feature cross play?
Yes, it does feature cross play on all platforms.
Does this feature cross save?
PC, Android and iOS saves are compatible, PS4 saves are not compatible with other platforms.
Is this really F2P? It looks too good to be true.
Yes, it is F2P. Crazy, right?
How is this monetized?
The game is monetized by a character and weapon gacha system.
Hah, I knew it! Will playing this game in the long run cost me an arm and a leg?
No, it is very F2P friendly. The gacha system can be mostly ignored, but even by just playing the game you will earn currency to get into some gacha action to with a bit of luck pull some of the additional characters.
How does the gacha exactly work?
Playing the game, or purchasing them with money, you obtain rare currencies called primogems and genesis crystals. You can exchange these currencies in the game shop for acquaint and intertwined fates. Those fates are used to pull characters and weapons, which share the same pool. Characters are a lot rarer than weapons, there is however a piti system in place in case you have very bad luck pulling characters.
It is also noteworthy that not all characters are obtained just by gacha. Some are obtained by playing the story, by completing game events and some can be obtained by purchasing them in the game shop.
Is this a cheap Breath of the Wild rip-off?
No. It's openess, world exploration and traversal are closely inspired by BotW, everything else, like its world, its lore, its story, its characters and its combat system are its very own thing. This game's production value is also anything but cheap.
What exactly are you, Paimon?
NOT EMERGENCY FOOD!!* Paimon just likes tagging along, guiding the Traveller and helping them out as good as she can while being incredibly adorable.
* Genshin Impact community inside joke. ;)
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Genshin Impact official: https://genshin.mihoyo.com/en
Genshin Impact Twitter: https://twitter.com/GenshinImpact
Genshin Impact Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/GenshinImpact
Genshin Impact Photography Thread: https://www.resetera.com/threads/genshin-impact-photo-thread.299003/
Thanks to DatManOvaDer and Dlanor A. Knox for their great gif work. :)
Thanks to MoonlitBow for coming up with the cool topic title. :)
Thanks to ArcticDonkey for coming up with the note on gacha for newcomers. :)
Genshin Impact is an incredibly fun and rewarding game and is very FTP friendly. All content can be cleared with starting characters and some of the strongest characters are 4*.
It should be noted that the cost of pulling is very high and rates are incredibly low of pulling a 5* character outside of pity. If you're really enjoying the game and don't mind dropping a few bucks, it's generally advised to stick to the $5 Welkin pass or the $10 battle pass.
It can be very tempting to drop money on pulls when posters show off their shiny double off pity 5* pulls, but please be aware that these pulls are extremely rare. Spending real money to chase the hot, new banner character will lead to very real disappointment if they are not in your pity range.
There is no issue spending within your means as long as you're enjoying the game, but be responsible as even spending here and there will really add up over time. If you're considering dropping a large sum of money on pulls for a non-guaranteed 5* here are some general tips:
1) Be prepared to receive nothing for your money. Ask yourself how disappointed you would be.
2) Sleep on it and see if you still want to spend the next day.
3) Set a monthly budget and stick to it.
Now, fun police time over, go do your commissions. :)
Discussion Rules:
Story spoilers or leaked content has to be put in spoiler tags.
Anyone breaking the rules will face the Wrath of the Rock!
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