Review + Thoughts: First impression on Genshin Impact

Review + Thoughts: First impression on Genshin Impact

*Update 1: You cannot pet or interact with the CUTE FLUFFY DOGGOS around Mondstat!

*Update 2: Genshin Impact is now sitting on my backlog, I lost interest after having difficulties maneuvering with my keyboard.

Imagine yourself thrown into a massive, beautiful world of endless curiosities, endless magic and endless possibilities. Genshin Impact does all that paired with gorgeous artstyle, satisfying combat and a solid story. Playing this game feels like I’m living in an anime. Isekai, maybe?

Boots crunching on wildflowers as you walk, the vast blue sky looms above you, lushes of greens sparkling with dew drops greet you beyond the yonder. The world of Genshin Impact is gorgeously magical. I couldn’t tear my eyes away from its enchanting beauty for my reality is dull and grey. I want to live in the game.

Genshin Impact is undoubtedly the largest open-world game I have ever experienced. The thought of being able to explore the edge of the world is terrifying yet so exhilarating. But like a moth drawn to flame, I couldn’t stop wanting more of it.

In this review, I will be sharing my first impressions on the game, although I’m still far from wherever others stop (I’m never a PC gamer so playing this is extremely tedious). But this game is too beautiful and thrilling to not talk about. I want to talk about it everyday, indulge myself in the world of Teyvat. 

First Impression on Genshin Impact

Game

From my little understanding of this game, since I have much left to explore, you, a mysterious traveler, were attacked by God where your twin was captured. You awake by a beach with a quest set in mind— to save your twin. Before you start the game, you get to select as a female/male player, basically selecting which twin you are. Along the game, you will be introduced to more characters which you can switch to using them as you like. This means you’re not only controlling one character until the end, but you may switch to any of your party members and walk them around.

Storytelling

While this story is still under development, only 2 world areas are revealed. There is still so much left in the story but so far, along the story, you were to meet friends, skill up, assemble your party and explore the world freely. As the plot goes on, more and more characters will be introduced along with finding out the truth behind the attack and your stolen twin. So far, the story is threading on a light surface where not much is revealed yet. The enjoyment of the game comes from the ability to define your own story at this point.

Battle

Hack & slash. My favorite combat mechanic is just to hack away the enemies. When your player is granted an element, you’ll be able to use it during battle as well. Conjuring gale to blow your enemies off or combine various elements for a combo attack (fire + wind to create a massive burning whirlwind). There are so many things you can do with the battle system.

Characters/Voice acting

You know how much I love properly animated and voiced characters. Additional points for having famous voice actors/seiyuu to bring the character to life. I squealed when I found out Kohsuke Toriumi was voicing one of the characters in the game. As game characters define how much you can relate and invest in the game, Genshin Impact did a wonderful job at casting the right seiyuus for the right characters which actually helps a lot with getting accustomed to the game.

Art style

I love myself some anime-esque art style in games. This is a fair reason why I enjoy visual novels so much. I love seeing 2D characters animated to look like I am watching an anime instead of a blurry mess of a pixel. The character designs of Genshin Impact was what drew me to the game initially and now I’m extremely hooked on the beautiful artwork. The character design, monsters, items and landscape is so much like living in an anime world. Gorgeously fictional.

Micro-transactions

Gacha games are very addicting, like in many mobile otome games, we pay a lot of cash to try our luck at getting impressive loots. Genshin Impact uses a gacha system to lure its players with lucrative loots, special weapons and unlockable characters. This gacha system hounds on those who are vulnerable to wanting better characters and in-game materials like weapons, closet, consumables, etc. As a F2P game, you can still complete the game (from what I've read) but it will take a lot of hours grinding and hoping for luck.

Co-op playing

Run the world, explore the map, defeat monsters together with your friends. Unlocking only at Adventure Rank Lvl.16, you can pair up with your real team/friends to play Genshin Impact together! Only up to 4 players or a minimum of 2 players, this game became so much more fun. I can decide if I want to play leisurely with my friends over a party on Discord or a more serious gameplay where we have to discuss how to pair our elemental skills together. Read more here.

My thoughts

Genshin Impact is a free-to-play (aside from the gacha) game that everyone has to experience even if it is not your cup of tea. Immerse yourself in the world of Teyvat where endless possibilities and adventure guides you on a journey to finding your twin. Enjoy all the goods that Mihoyo (developer) has to offer in this beautiful, picturesque game.

While I’d love to comment so much more about his game, I am in no place to be making reviews as I’m still an Adventurer Level 8! That’s really early in-game. Once again, this post is a first impression review. I may enjoy the game now, but moving forward, my thoughts may/may not change.

Till then,
Melody