Going green

The Genshin Impact dev team speak with Oscar Taylor-Kent about the changes they’re making to their open-world RPG, from an evolving story to new exploration options, and improvements for PS5

FORMAT PS5, PS4

ETA OUT NOW

PUB HOYOVERSE

DEV HOYOVERSE

PLAYERS MULTI

With tens of millions of active players, live musical concerts, and huge, eye catching booths at gaming events, it’s almost strange to think that Genshin Impact’s imminent anniversary is only its second. The huge, live-service open-world RPG already feels like a constant.

With plans for the future communicated well in advance, version 3.0’s Sumeru update has been expected for some time, but that doesn’t mean it’s been without surprises. Still on the search for their lost sibling after waking up in a strange world, players pick up the trail in Sumeru, under the rule of the Dendro Archon, who represents ‘wisdom’. This new environment might be the most fantastical yet.

“Although Sumeru is a huge, connected landscape, it does not prevent the area from having a rich variety of landforms and ecological diversity,” say the team. It’s a place that feels wonderfully alive and full of variety, housing everything from spinocrocodiles (which you’re encouraged early on to photograph) chilling by the river to rainforests and gigantic, glowing mushroom colonies. It’ll be further expanded over time (next on the list to be added is the region’s vast desert, due to arrive not long after this mag hits shelves).

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