Genshin Impact

Adventure game offering an immersion into the thrilling events of the fairy-tale world of Teyvat. Together with a group of brave companions, you will explore the ruins of ancient empires, use forbidden spells, and test your strength in battles with fantasy creatures and incredible bosses. This journey lasts for hundreds of hours.

The graphics do not strive for realism but will be a delight to the eyes. Simple, easily readable object shapes, high-quality drawing, colorful effects, and real-time rendering create a unique artistic style. Characters are well-animated, move naturally, and respond to hits during combat. Lighting and weather change dynamically, bringing the picture and gameplay to life.

Genshin Impact is a single-player story-driven action RPG from a third-person perspective set in a vast open world. A gacha game focused on character collection, assembling them into a team according to their abilities, and endless leveling up.

At the same time, it is a conditionally free grind game, game-service with a long development cycle. Single-player gameplay can be diversified in co-op by inviting one to three friends into your world. Regardless of the chosen mode, the game requires an internet connection to function.

In the first days, players are showered with resources, rewards, and characters, but after a couple of days, the flow of freebies dries up, and leveling slows down significantly.

For the game, the miHoYo studio created the medieval world of Teyvat, well-defined the main rules and laws of the world, the chronology of events, and the current state of affairs in local states. More details can be learned by visiting the in-game library and listening to dialogues.

Teyvat is governed by 7 gods or Archons — Anemo, Geo, Hydro, Pyro, Electro, Dendro, Cryo, embodying known elements. The game map is also divided into 7 regions, whose inhabitants worship only one deity. Each region has a major city (capital) and several settlements, farms, and productions.

The style of the regions is unique due to the medieval culture they embody: Japan, China, India, Russia, Ancient Rome, Germany, and France (including national and climatic features). There is a semblance of ideology: some love order, others — freedom, and others — financial prosperity.

The game world of Genshin Impact is truly spacious and large, you can explore it not just lengthwise and crosswise, but up and down. Teyvat is filled with many activities: daily and weekly tasks, killing enemies and bosses, opening chests and exploring unusual puzzles.

In the spirit of MMO, each region's map is divided into zones with levels, which determines the set of quests and enemies. The greater the difference between the zone level and the character level, the harder it is to kill even a simple mob.

Genshin Impact inherits gameplay and controls from mobile games. One button is responsible for the main attack — pressing it several times results in a combo. Another button is for elemental magic attack. There is also an "ult" that charges over time.

The basic combat mechanics include one-handed and two-handed swords, bows with magical arrows. Characters gain abilities from elements: fire, water, wind, electricity, ice, earth, and living plants. In addition to offensive spells, there are supportive and defensive ones, like a healing aura or summoning a pet. The environment also reacts to magic — you can freeze water or set grass on fire.

During combat, only one character is directly controlled, but you can switch between heroes in the squad instantly and at any time, thereby using all types of weapons, skills, and "ults".

The abilities of different characters can be linked together. Dousing a target with water and hitting it with fire will cause a "steam strike". Freezing a target and hitting it with lightning will result in "shattering". Or you can douse a target with water and hit it with lightning, spreading the damage. Earth powers help in defense and crowd control, while air powers enhance attacks.

Using combos can deal significantly more damage to the target than a basic or magical attack. Especially since some enemies and bosses are immune to physical or magical damage. Movement is complemented by climbing any walls and ledges, dodging dashes, and flying in the air. There is a stamina system.

Assembling a cool build in Genshin Impact that destroys everything in its path is not easy, because classes are tied to certain characters. And they are tied to the gacha system. This is a monetization method where the player gets a random set of items for a specific amount. In Genshin Impact, the chance of getting a five-star (ultra-rare) character is 0.6%, and if you need someone specific, like an earth mage, the chance drops to hundredths of a percent.

Technically, the game can be completed with free characters, which are given out in the first few hours. But storming dungeons or completing cooperative missions with them will be tough; better heroes are needed. For this, many loot boxes will have to be opened, which means hours of grinding or spending real money.

Moreover, the game has many manipulative mechanics that encourage collecting characters or even wanting to get them all. Limited heroes will certainly be a long-awaited surprise. This creates an addiction and makes you invest a lot of money in cute anime waifus.

The story of Genshin Impact is simple and full of clichés. In the prologue, the main character's brother/sister is taken away, after which he puts all his efforts into returning the loved one and defeating the main villain (who is evil because it has to be that way). But the script includes unusual plot twists and well-developed characters.

Вторичные квесты сделаны просто, но порадуют неординарным подходом к их выполнению. Придется проявить смекалку, открыть определенный навык или накопить игровых денег на взятку. Есть в игре и личные задания от персонажей, весьма длительные.

По мере выполнения заданий и исследования игрового мира, игрок получает несколько видов опыта, повышая уровни персонажа, дружбы или приключений. Последний является основным мерилом успеха, открывает дальнейшее продвижение по сюжету, разломы в сложные подземелья и разные возможности.

Весь собираемый контент используется для улучшения уже имеющегося, игрок словно скармливает ненужное оружие или снаряжение своим полезным предметам. Аналогично с персонажами — выбив дубликат его надо «наложить» на уже имеющегося героя, тем самым возвысив его. Это значительно усилит характеристики и откроет дополнительный талант.

Прокачка любого элемента дополнительно разбита на этапы, не получится качать только оружие или героев, всё нужно развивать параллельно, иначе развитие просто остановится.

Открывается на шестнадцатом уровне приключений. Режим кроссплатформенный, в команде могут быть друзья с любого игрового устройства. Персонажи распределяются сообразно числу участников. Кооператив предлагает свой набор квестов:

Успешная игра в кооперативе требует знания своих способностей и связок с другими персонажами, хорошей экипировки. На момент выхода, в Genshin Impact не планировался PvP-режим.

В кооперативе для всей команды недоступна «Витая бездна», сюжетные и дополнительные квесты. Награды за испытания получит только хост, он же может открывать сундуки, собирать коллекционные предметы.