Recently, MeinMMO editor Marie Friske started playing the open-world RPG Genshin Impact – within a short period, the game has become one of her absolute favorites. Especially the interesting characters, the vast game world, and the flexible multiplayer system convinced her.
One evening, I decided to give the RPG and Gacha game Genshin Impact a chance. I had heard a lot about the game and started with high expectations – I was not disappointed.
In Genshin Impact, you play as a traveler, depending on which main character you choose at the beginning. With them, you explore the game world “Teyvat”. You meet various cities like Mondstadt or Liyue and their associated deities, the so-called “Archons.” Each one rules over one of 7 elements:
- Anemo (Wind)
- Geo (Earth)
- Hydro (Water)
- Dendro (Plant)
- Electro (Lightning)
- Pyro (Fire)
- Cryo (Ice)
The deities have endowed selected humans with “Visions” and equipped them with the powers of their element. In gameplay, the characters have different abilities of an element. You create a party from characters with which you can prove yourself while exploring the world and in combat.
Already after the first few hours of gameplay, Genshin Impact completely caught my attention, and I have spent many evenings working through various quests and areas – sometimes until late at night.
Three aspects of the game particularly appeal to me and have ultimately made it a favorite for me:
- The characters
- The game world
- The coop
Here you can see a trailer for version 3.6 of Genshin Impact:
Interesting characters with their own stories
One of the main aspects that defines Genshin Impact is undoubtedly its numerous playable characters. Besides the interesting character design, I am particularly convinced by the complexity of the characters:
In the backgrounds and voice lines reflect various traits, strengths, weaknesses, and complete stories. The latter the player also learns more about over time and experiences through interactions with the characters.
I especially like one character and his story on my journey so far: Zhongli!
Here you can see the character demo for Zhongli:
The reasons for this can be read in the spoiler box, as I am revealing important information that represents major spoilers for the Liyue Archon Quest:
That’s why Zhongli is one of my favorite characters
Zhongli first presents himself to the player as an advisor to the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor, later revealing himself as the Geo Archon “Morax” or “Rex Lapis,” who was believed to be deceased. However, he staged his own death and now exists as Zhongli in his human form in Liyue – no one knows this initially.
Together with him, I as a player do shopping in Liyue. Zhongli generously orders the best goods, only to realize he doesn’t have any money with him. He does this in such a likable way that I only amuse myself about it instead of being annoyed.
In one area Zhongli is truly in his element: he quickly proves to be a source of numerous trivial facts about Liyue and shares them with me during the shopping trip in his philosophical and calm manner. I enjoy listening to him.
At the same time, the character also radiates a certain sadness. Especially when I once witness Zhongli thoughtfully looking at a Geo statue. It becomes evident that the character is internally broken.
Later, Zhongli also reveals the reason why he staged his death, which breaks my heart: he is tired of his existence as a Geo God after all these millennia and has already thought about whether his end has now come. However, he still felt obligated to his city of Liyue and the people, so he did not abandon them.
With his background story and dialogues, he embodies for me in a certain way the finiteness of life’s phases and life itself and shows that nothing remains forever, except for the memory. A harsh but beautiful realization.
In one of Zhongli’s voice lines, which is also my favorite quote from Genshin Impact, this becomes very clear:
“For those that live too long, the friends of days gone by and scenes from their adventures live on in their memories. As such I have no regrets in meeting you friend. Should the day ever come that we are not together, you will continue to shine like gold in my memories.”
Translated, it means:
“For those who live too long, the friends of days gone by and the scenes of their adventures continue to live on in their memories. Therefore I do not regret meeting you, my friend. Should the day come when we are no longer together, you will continue to shine like gold in my memories.”
Genshin is designed as a Gacha game that allows you to obtain playable characters randomly along with weapons. I can certainly understand why some players invest exorbitant amounts of money into the purchase of wishes required to pull characters.
Because I am not spared from temptation either and must admit that it sometimes seems quite tempting to buy additional wishes to increase the chance of getting one of my favorite characters, like Zhongli.
In version 3.3, a new playable character called “Wanderer” was introduced:
However, if one does not shy away from the grind, a good number of Original Resin can be earned completely for free. This is an in-game currency with which one gets wishes. Of course, the time and effort involved are significantly higher – for me, however, that’s just part of the game.
The acquisition of Original Resin is less of a “duty” for me but rather fun gameplay. I personally enjoy the quests in which you get to know the characters and thus the world of Genshin Impact better, such as the Archon Quests or the Legends Quests. If I can also pick up a treasure chest or two on the way to the objective, so much the better.
In the Legends Quests, I find the little trip with the absolute unluckiest character in the game particularly entertaining. We are talking about Bennett, a young adventurer who is followed by misfortune at every turn. At first, I think the character is exaggerating when he claims he has quite a bit of bad luck – but I was so wrong:
From a sudden weather change, miserable chest contents, to inedible food and an unsuccessful shopping trip, everything is included. Hardly any mission do we finish without incident. We were even locked in a ruin once because I made the mistake of letting Bennett operate a single switch.
However, since the adventurer always stays positive and shows gratitude for small good moments, the story is still nice to play and in the end, I am happy that even Bennett has some good luck.
Genshin Impact offers plenty of room for exploration
Treasure chests, puzzles, and enemies are abundant in Genshin Impact. It feels like you find a little extra at every corner within a beautifully designed game world that invites you to explore. Players have a lot of freedom in what they choose to do in Teyvat.
Whether I want to directly complete the next Archon Quest, play my way up in the “Winding Abyss,” or solve puzzles and explore ruins, it is largely up to me.
Also, regarding the multiplayer function, the player can decide when and how they want to use the coop feature.
It is up to you whether you prefer to play coop or solo
As I am also a big fan of single-player games and sometimes just enjoy being out alone, I appreciate this freedom of choice in the multiplayer mode immensely. If I want to play with other players, I can send requests to join or accept requests from other players to explore and fight together.
With up to four players, we can run around together and communicate via chat. This is very helpful if you need a bit of support – however, multiplayer is disabled during the Archon Quests and the Winding Abyss. There, you have to go through alone as a player.
Here you will find a detailed explanation, how the coop works in Genshin Impact.
Conclusion
Genshin Impact is a great RPG for players who enjoy exploring and are not afraid of grinding. And yes, it is also a Gacha game. In my opinion, the game is completely worth it, even without spending a cent. Since in-game currency can be earned, I find the wish system without real money somewhat time-consuming but quite feasible.
Furthermore, I perceive the game as very beginner-friendly. Especially in the quests, a lot of support is offered, and the puzzles are well solvable in terms of difficulty, ensuring that frustration is avoided. Instead, it is a beautiful feel-good game that can be played very well after a stressful day to get lost in a beautiful world.
I will definitely continue to explore Teyvat and am curious where the traveler’s journey will go next.
Here you can find our Genshin Impact guides: All tips and builds at a glance.
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