It’s not everyday you get to see a somewhat decent clone of a prestigious AAA title, but if you ever do, you can almost certainly bet it’s from a Chinese studio.
It’s not just any Chinese studio, mind you. miHoYo already has eight years in the business of video game development, specifically for mobile phones, and now it seeks to replicate the success of Zelda: Breath of the Wild with the announcement of Genshin Impact. Check out the trailer below and see it for yourself.
It’s not too bad looking, I have to admit. You can tell that Breath of the Wild is this game’s inspiration, with its sprawling open world comprised of lush, green areas, the way the characters traverse using gliding mechanics, and its enormous sense of scale. The key difference with Genshin Impact is that you fight against a giant talking dragon, while you play as anime characters with very anime-looking abilities. The trailer promises a deep, engaging story as well.
In terms of story, Genshin Impact revolves around the world of Tevyat, ruled by elder elemental gods called “The Seven.” The overarching theme revolves around the corruption of the world, and your character is tasked with keeping the balance in order to hold the world together in one piece.
miHoYo also announced a closed beta test incoming for both PC and iOS users, which you can sign up for right now. I already did, and I have to say that it was one of the weirdest and most honest beta test questionnaires I have ever answered. There are questions regarding your comfortability with pay-to-win mechanics, as well as in-game purchases, which leads me to believe that this will be implemented at some point in development. miHoYo’s previous releases were all for mobile phones, so it will be interesting to see how some of those mechanics will translate to the PC, where such practices are very much frowned upon.
Genshin Impact will be released in Spring 2020 for PC and mobile devices. No news yet if it’s arriving on consoles, so stay tuned here with us for more information once it drops.
