Genshin Impact has been around on the PlayStation 5 since 2021, and has now appeared on the Xbox Series of consoles, free-to-play and through Game Pass, no less.
For those of you not familiar with the world of Genshin Impact, it is an action role playing game from Shanghai miHoYo Tianming Technology and COGNOSPHERE PTE, but with so much time having passed since the game first appeared on the competitor platform, is this a case of too little, too late as it appears on Microsoft’s big black box? Or is this the game we have been waiting for?
We’ll kick off by examining the story of the game, as this is the backbone of any good RPG.
We play as one of a pair of interstellar twins, the best kind of twins, arriving on the world of Teyvat, separated from our sibling. Genshin Impact plays from the point of view of one of the twins, either a boy or a girl, and the broad overarching narrative is that of a search for the missing twin. However, as is always the case, as we are hunting for our missing family member, there is a lot of other stuff to do, and friends and teammates to make along the way. The story branches in many different ways, with main story missions being only a small part of what is to come. In fact, the sheer amount of side missions and quests to engage in is vast.
And this is just as well, as in a move I haven’t seen before in an RPG, some of the story missions are locked until we reach a certain level – thus forcing exploration and grind (to an extent) in order to advance the story. This isn’t a problem, mostly as I am a sucker for a side mission and usually end up way over levelled as a result, but being locked out of missions does occasionally feel a little odd. Still, it’s not like there isn’t anything else to do, including exploring and getting into various scrapes, so the time and the levels seem to fly by.
Presentation is also very good. The action found in Genshin Impact is presented in the standard, third person over the shoulder view, and the world of Teyvat is very nicely drawn and realised. The graphics have a distinct anime look, with the characters being over stylised, running a bit of a cutesy look, almost kawaii in appearance. Even the monsters that try to fill you in are cute in their own way, and the slimes in particular just look like they need a cuddle.
However, there is a certain amount of pop-in to be seen, as we glide around the place especially, but to be honest this is to be expected with a game of this size and scale. It borrows from Breath of the Wild quite heavily, and while this is a good game to base your product on, it is fun playing “Spot the Zelda mechanics” as you go! However, there is a price to pay for that freedom – the camera does get confused sometimes, especially when fighting in a tight corner. Being only able to see the back of your character’s head or the inside of a wall isn’t that great in the heat of the action.
The fight effects are all very nice as well, with each recruitable character being attuned to an element, called on at will. Lisa uses Electro, for example, and Amber uses fire to great effect. Matching your attack to an enemy’s elemental weakness is a great tactic and the learning curve for this is extremely pleasing. It’s helped by the fact that the attacks look great, and the sound of the battle also adds to the immersion, with the characters all having various lines that are muttered in the heat of battle. The rest of the sound design is also very good, with a lot of fully voiced acting going on, although Paimon is so sickly sweet, it all becomes grating after a while.
So, we arrive at the door of the gameplay part of the review now, and here the news is also good, with a pleasing “grindiness” (if that’s not a word, then it needs to be). Doing anything in the game earns us EXP, even opening chests, and so as we do so, exploring new areas and new shops, we can outfit our team as befits the situation. Each weapon and artifact can then be upgraded, as long as we have the things that we need to do so, and this in itself can become quite absorbing.
Wandering around, getting into fights and solving puzzles found across the landscape is also enjoyable, mostly as there is literally always something to be doing. But this also feeds into the whole grind of the game. See, as we wander around, Genshin Impact will warn us if we are entering an area that we may not be prepared for, and that means advancement is highly dangerous and risky. One way of reducing the risk is to play in co-op mode – having someone along to share the aggro is a great survival strategy
It all comes together to ensure that Genshin Impact is a good game; not a perfect one, but far from bad. There are a ton of things to get involved in, the co-op gameplay is appealing, and the overall loop will really suck you in, providing a proper challenge.
Running free-to-play, what have you got to lose?
Genshin Impact Arrives on Xbox Series X|S, Bringing a Free-to-Play Open-World Adventure – https://www.thexboxhub.com/genshin-impact-arrives-on-xbox-series-xs-bringing-a-free-to-play-open-world-adventure/
Download Genshin Impact for free – https://www.xbox.com/en-gb/games/store/genshin-impact/9N7TFFRRZCC9/
