Sights To See, Monsters To Kill

Genshin Impact

- Tim Augustin

This looks familiar, doesn’t it?

It’s really, really difficult to talk about developer miHoYo’s Genshin Impact without referencing how similar it looks to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. A fan even went so far as to destroy his PlayStation 4 console in protest over said similarities, and I actually understand why. If you’ve only seen this game in pictures and videos, Genshin Impact looks like nothing more than a Breath of the Wild rip-off.

Both games feature the same cel-shaded visuals. Both games let you jump off of mountains and use gliders (here, they are wings). Both games let you cook food in pots for combat buffs or health regeneration. Both games feature the same energetic piano music when you explore the open world. Both games have a crescent-shaped stamina bar, and let you swim any river and climb any mountain.

Once you actually get your hands on it however, it becomes clear that this game is a different beast altogether. Many of this game’s mechanics allow it to proudly stand apart - from its heavy focus on story and lengthy quests, to its combat design and levelling systems. And for the price of none, I had a lot more fun with it than I thought I would.

AT A GLANCE

DEVELOPER Mihoyo

PUBLISHER Mihoyo

GENRE Open-world, Action, RPG

PLATFORM PC, PS4, Nintendo Switch, Android, iOS

PLAYERS Single, Co-op