Welcome to the colorful world of Teyvat!
Genshin Impact is a game I never expected it could even exist; a free-to-play game that can rival AAA games in terms of quality and scope. Yet here I am playing my 60-ish hour of Genshin Impact, at Adventure Rank 35 and on my way to collect more primogems (in-game most important currency).
So what is Genshin Impact and why is it so popular?
Genshin Impact is a free-to-play openworld action-RPG with various in-game purchase options. The game follows the story of The Traveler in his -or her- journey to reunite again with their twin sibling after an accidental confrontation with a mysterious god. The game introduces the Traveler into two main regions (more regions to be added in future updates) and allows the player to freely explore its massive map fighting mobs of monsters, opening treasure chests, finding collectibles and venturing into dungeons. There’s no denying that Genshin Impact is one of the most beautiful games of recent years, blending anime-inspired artstyle with incredible locations inspired by actual places like the beautiful Sichuan province of China.
The most interesting aspect of the game is finding and interacting with its colorful cast of characters. Each character possess a Vision which decides the character elemental power, having a team of different elements would allow you to unleash insanely powerful -and frankly awesome!- combos, think water and electro. While early battles are easy and straightforward, the mid and end-game battles will require a balanced team of damage dealers, support unite and healers. You get few characters early on through the main story and some more through completing some extra challenges however the most desirable 5 stars characters can only be obtained through the game Wish system.
What are Wishes in Genshin Impact?
Throughout the game you get to collect “Primogems”, each 160 primogems would grant you a chance to pull a wish from the Wish system for a chance to obtain a rare character or weapon. The chances of pulling a 5 star character or weapon are low however the game guarantees a 5 star character or weapon within 90 wishes.
The game also features timed banners in its Wish system which gives you the opportunity to obtain a rare 5 stars character or weapon. Once again the chances are low and you’ll have to make 90 wishes to guarantee a good result.
Primogems can be obtained by simply playing the game, engaging in the daily commissions and through various other in-game activities. Should you feel however the need to get even more Primogems then you can do that through in-game purchase of crystals which can be converted into primogems. The game also offers a monthly subscription known as “Blessings of the Welkin Moon” which gives you a total of 3000 primogems across a month for a much lower price than crystals.
The choice of how many primogems to buy or whether to fully play the game for free or not is up to you yet Genshin Impact offers such an insane value in its fee-to-play model and the promise of future updates adding more regions, characters and quests which means we’ll be playing the game for a long time and it could worth investing into it sooner or later.
Overall:
Genshin Impact is a massive achievement, a surprise that we did not to expect and a potential game changer for the free-to-play domain of gaming. It’s a game that every gamer should at least try it once.
Score: 10/10
Genshin Impact is available on mobile, PC, PS4 and PS5. The review was based on the PS4 version and played on PS4 Pro.
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