Genshin Impact

Overview

Genshin Impact  ( GHEN-shin; Chinese: 原神; pinyin: Yuánshén; lit. 'Primordial God') is a 2020 action role-playing video game developed and published by miHoYo. It is distributed outside China by miHoYo's international subsidiary Cognosphere, also known as HoYoverse. At its core, the game features an anime style, open-world environment, an action-focused battle system consisting of elemental magic with character-switching, and a mythical main story. Genshin Impact is a free-to-play game monetized through gacha mechanics, which is updated regularly using the games as a service model. It was originally released for Android, iOS, PlayStation 4, and Windows, followed by the PlayStation 5 in 2021, and Xbox Series X/S in 2024. In China, a native port for HarmonyOS NEXT was released in September 2025. Support for PlayStation 4 was removed in April 2026. Genshin Impact takes inspiration from a variety of sources, including the game The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, anime, Gnosticism, and an array of real-world cultures and mythologies. The game takes place in the fantasy world of Teyvat, home to seven nations each tied to a different element and ruled by individual gods called "Archons". The story follows the Traveler, an interstellar adventurer who is separated from their twin sibling after the two land in Teyvat. Together with their guide Paimon, the Traveler journeys across the nations of Teyvat in search of their lost sibling. Along the way, the two make friends with Teyvat's people, become involved in the affairs of its nations, and unravel the mysteries of the land. Genshin Impact has received generally positive reviews, with critics praising its combat mechanics and open-world system, but some criticism has been directed at its endgame and its monetization model. The game has also been involved in controversies over censorship of content related to Chinese politics, as well as privacy and security concerns. The game performed very well commercially; by its fourth anniversary in 2024, the game had reached US$6.3 billion in total revenue. It has received several awards, including Best Mobile Game at the Game Awards 2021 and Still Playing Award at the 2023 Golden Joystick Awards.

Gameplay

Genshin Impact is an open-world video game that allows players to control one of four characters in a party. Players can quickly switch between the four characters during combat. Characters can have their abilities enhanced in various ways, mainly through gaining experience points and improving their artifacts and weapons. In Genshin Impact, players can explore the open-world map freely. In addition to exploration, players can attempt various challenges for rewards. Bosses and challenges that reward highly valuable resources are scattered across Teyvat, but claiming them consumes a currency called Original Resin, which slowly regenerates over time up to a limit. Completing these challenges grants players progress towards increasing their Adventure Rank, which unlocks new quests and challenges. The World Level increases at Adventure Ranks 20, 25, 30, 35, 40, 45, 50, 55, and 58, which raises the strength of the world's enemies and the rarity of rewards given by defeating them. Players can perform actions such as running, climbing, swimming, and gliding. Some characters possess abilities that can alter the environment, such as freezing water to create an ice path that helps traverse terrain. Many teleportation points exist to which players can warp in a form of fast travel; among these are landmarks known as Statues of The Seven that can heal and revive characters and provide benefits such as increased player stamina. Items such as food and other materials can be procured from the open world. Furthermore, special battle instances called "Domains" reward materials that increase character and weapon strength. Meals cooked from ingredients gathered from collectable or purchasable materials can provide desirable effects, such as increased damage, health regeneration, damage reduction, or boosting other various stats. Players can also procure ores that can be refined and then used to create weapons or enhance their strength. A multiplayer mode is available in the form of co-op, where up to four players can play together. Player matching can be done by requesting to connect with another player or through an automatic search. The game features cross-platform play, so players on any platform can play with each other. This mode unlocks when players reach Adventure Rank 16.

Gacha system

By completing certain quests or participating in select limited-time events, players can unlock additional playable characters. However, most characters are obtained through the character banners of the game's gacha system, called "Wishes", and the same applies for weapons. An in-game currency called "Primogems", obtainable through in-app purchases or gameplay rewards, is required to "pull" on the game's banners. A pity system guarantees that players will receive rare items after a set number of pulls.

Elemental combat

Playable characters have control over one of seven elements: Anemo (air), Geo (earth), Pyro (fire), Hydro (water), Cryo (ice), Electro (electricity), and Dendro (plants). When these elements react with one another, they produce various effects. For instance, if a Hydro attack hits a target, the enemy will be inflicted with the "Wet" status effect, and if they are hit with a subsequent Cryo attack, these two status effects combine to freeze the opponent, temporarily preventing them from performing any actions. Each character also has two unique combat abilities: an "Elemental Skill" and an "Elemental Burst". Elemental Skills are attacks with a set cooldown, while Elemental Bursts are ultimate attacks usually with an energy cost. These require players to amass sufficient elemental energy to use them. Players can increase the party's combat capabilities by manipulating the Skills and Bursts of a given party's characters as well as the surroundings to target enemies' type weaknesses. Certain elemental abilities are also required to solve puzzles within Teyvat.

Genius Invokation TCG

A tabletop-based collectible card game called Genius Invokation TCG was released in the game's Version 3.3 update in December 2022 as an additional gamemode involving turn-based battles. Equipped with a deck of three characters and thirty supporting cards, players win by knocking down all of their opponent's character cards. Each round requires a dice roll that forces players to use their cards within the limitations of their roll. Similar to the main game, elemental reactions are included as a mechanic of the gamemode. Players are able to challenge NPCs, playable characters, and other real players in co-op mode.

Miliastra Wonderland

A sandbox and game creation gameplay system called Miliastra Wonderland was released in the game's "Luna II" update in October 2025. The system lets players create and share their work using an array of assets, terrain, and enemies already within Genshin Impact from the perspective of the Wonderland Manekin, a new customizable character obtained by unlocking Miliastra Wonderland.

Setting and characters

Genshin Impact takes place in the world of Teyvat, composed of seven major nations, each ruled by a god called an "Archon" and tied to a different element and ideal. The floating island of Celestia hangs above Teyvat, described as home to the gods as well as mortals who have ascended to godhood. Underground lies the ruins of Khaenri'ah, a mysterious nation destroyed by Celestia 500 years ago. Regardless of which nation they hail from, individuals who have great ambitions may be granted a Vision, a magical gemstone that allows them to control a specific element and gives them the potential to ascend to godhood and reside in Celestia. Archons, on the other hand, possess a Gnosis, a device similar to a Vision that affirms their authority as an Archon and allows them to "resonate" with Celestia. The protagonists are the Traveler and Paimon, the Traveler's guide and companion. The Traveler and their twin sibling traveled across planets before being separated in Teyvat, forcing the Traveler to go on a journey to find them. Players may choose to play as either Aether (the brother) or Lumine (the sister), though their username is used throughout most of the game. The primary antagonists are the Abyss Order, a legion of monsters made up of corrupted Khaenri'ahns who seek to overthrow the existing world order, and the Fatui, a delegation of diplomats from Snezhnaya who pursue an aggressive foreign policy throughout Teyvat. The Traveler's twin is the leader of the Abyss Order, while the Fatui are led by the Eleven Harbingers, powerful lieutenants of the Tsaritsa Anastasya (the Cryo Archon) who have been given special authority to carry out her will.

Plot

A pair of interworld-traveling twins, Aether and Lumine, arrive in Teyvat just as Khaenri'ah collapses. A mysterious god calling herself the "Sustainer of Heavenly Principles" attacks, separates them, and seals the playable twin for five centuries. When the Traveler awakens, they rescue Paimon, who becomes their guide as they search for their lost sibling. Their journey begins in the city of Mondstadt, where the corrupted dragon Dvalin, known as Stormterror to Mondstadter, threatens the city. Aided by the Knights of Favonius, the order of knights that protects Mondstadt, and the bard Venti who is secretly the Anemo Archon Barbatos, the Traveler discovers Abyss Order attempted to manipulate Dvalin to attack the city and purifies the dragon, only for La Signora, a Fatui Harbinger, to steal Venti's Gnosis. Following Venti's advice, they travel to Liyue to witness Geo Archon Rex Lapis's annual rite where he gives the people of Liyue guidance for the coming year, but instead he appears to have been assassinated. They work with Zhongli, the local funeral parlor's consultant, and the Fatui Harbinger Tartaglia to uncover the motive. However, the Traveler discovers that Tartaglia has been orchestrating events to obtain the Geo Gnosis, even summoning an ancient god Osial in an attempt to force Rex Lapis's hand. After the crisis, Zhongli reveals he was Rex Lapis all along and, satisfied humans do not need his guidance after fending off Osial, has retired after exchanging his Gnosis with the Tsaritsa Anastasya. Back in Mondstadt, the Traveler meets a man named Dainsleif and discovers that their twin now leads the Abyss Order. Refusing to reunite, their twin disappears. The Traveler then sails to Inazuma, an island nation confined under the Raiden Shogun's Sakoku Decree. The Traveler faces the Shogun, joins a resistance movement against her, and eventually confronts Signora and the Raiden Shogun herself, ultimately resulting in the death of Signora, exchanging the Electro Gnosis for the Traveler's safety, the end of the oppressive decree, and the realization of deeper Fatui involvement. The Traveler then journeys to Sumeru where the governing Akademiya seeks to turn Scaramouche, a Fatui Harbinger and puppet created by the Raiden Shogun, into a god with the help of Harbinger Il Dottore to overthrow the Dendro Archon Nahida. With her aid, the Traveler foils their plot, recovering the Electro Gnosis in the process, enters the world tree Irminsul, and witnesses the erasure of the previous Dendro Archon's existence from Teyvat to prevent the Abyss corroding Irminsul. Dottore later bargains away the Dendro and Electro Gnoses from Nahida. The Traveler learns that they are one of the Descenders, a group of four people who have come from outside Teyvat, but that their sibling is not a Descender. They also learn that their sibling is Khaenri'ahn royalty. In Fontaine, the Traveler and their companions unravel a prophecy foretelling the nation's demise via a flood and reveal that Furina had been lying to the people of Fontaine about being the Hydro Archon when she is in fact a human. After preventing the flood from destroying Fontaine, chief justice Neuvillette directs them toward Natlan, a nation of warriors that is facing a threat from the Abyss, while the Hydro Gnosis was given to the Fatui Harbinger Arlecchino in exchange for their cooperation. Upon arriving in Natlan, the Traveler assists the Pyro Archon Mavuika and the Natlanese in defeating the Abyssal threat endangering the nation. While investigating an attack against Natlan by the Abyss Order, the Traveler reunites with Dainsleif and discovers that the latter invasion was orchestrated by their sibling to weave new Ley Lines for Khaenri'ah's restoration via a device called the Loom of Fate. After helping an amnesiac humanoid robot named Ineffa recover her memories, she returns to Nod-Krai along with the Traveler and Paimon. There, the Traveler's group pursues the Moon Marrows (the cores of energy from the dead body of the moon goddesses) and learns about the Wild Hunt, an Abyssal monster group controlled by Rerir, a dangerous Sinner from Khaenri'ah who is trying to regain form after being split into pieces. After battles, illusions, and alliances with former Fatui Harbinger and moon goddess Columbina, Harbinger Sandrone, and others, they outmaneuver Rerir, trap him through memory manipulation, and finally banish him from Teyvat. After this, Dottore ambushes and steals two Moon Marrows from Columbina after a festival and creates an artificial Moon Marrow to become a god. The Traveler and their allies successfully thwart Dottore's plans, retrieving the two Moon Marrows and presumably killing him in the process. The Traveler and Paimon return to Sumeru after receiving a letter from Collei about a strange dream and find a mass evacuation from the forest to the desert under Nahida's orders. They discover that Irminsul is being fatally damaged by another segment of Dottore's Omega build, and Sumeru is simultaneously under attack by the Fatui and being isolated from the rest of Teyvat; with help from the Seven Pillars and a remodeled Aaru, the people of Sumeru launch a counteroffensive, but Irminsul cannot be saved. Forced to destroy it, Nahida uses the Pyro Gnosis, which she borrowed from Mavuika via the Traveler, to burn the tree to its roots, killing Dottore permanently and transferring the data from Irminsul into Aaru. The Traveler and Paimon then head to Snezhnaya to take a train to Snezhnograd, the nation's capital city, where they learn about an energy consumption reduction policy called Project Stuzha and the reasons for collecting the Gnoses. After encountering Ronova, the godlike Ruler of Death, in a theater and later research headquarters, the Traveler joins forces with the Fatui to defeat her, who had been exploiting loopholes to temporary kill researchers alongside Rhinedottir, a powerful witch and the Ruler of Life. With Anastasya, the Tsaritsa and Cryo Archon, secretly manipulating time and space around Rhinedottir using several Gnoses in a meeting, the Traveler and the Fatui manage to mortally wound Ronova whose authority is stripped for abuse of power. Before seemingly dying, Ronova damages a Celestial Nail in eastern Snezhnaya, triggering reactions across the various Celestial Nails stationed around Teyvat.

Development

At the time of Genshin Impact's initial development in January 2017, the game company miHoYo was focusing on Honkai Impact 3rd, a game that they planned to release a sequel for within a few years. In April 2017, version 1.4 of Honkai Impact 3rd was released, which had a strong impact on the team and led them to create an open-world concept for Genshin Impact.

Genshin Impact's development team reached nearly 300 people by February 2021. One estimate put the total number of people working on the game that month at 700, approximately 29% of miHoYo's entire staff. The developers stated that the greatest challenge was integrating the ideas and concepts of all contributors into the game and conveying each character's background through their visual design. The developers were also affected by the COVID-19 pandemic; due to local restrictions, the developers were required to work remotely, reportedly with equipment that a member of miHoYo's global publishing team described as insufficient for the demands of the role. To construct the game's world and lore, the team consulted various real-world mythological sources, ultimately choosing Gnosticism as the core foundation for the game's setting and narrative. The game's elemental reaction system was inspired by actual chemical reactions. The game used elements from real-world cultures in its world-building; for instance, Liyue is based on ancient China, and Fontaine on Industrial Revolution-era Europe. miHoYo first revealed Genshin Impact to the public in June 2019 at E3 2019. The game had a development and marketing budget of around US$100 million. Between the announcement and release, closed beta tests were held, allowing invited players to explore and interact with the open world.

Music

A music team headed by Yu-Peng Chen from HOYO-MiX composed the game's original score, which was performed by the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra, and the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra. HoYoverse stated that the goal of the soundtrack was to immerse players within the game and provide what Chen describes as emotional and beautiful melodies. Chen composed the score based on the cultural influences of different regions; for example, in Mondstadt, Chen used woodwind instruments to reflect Mondstadt's association with wind and freedom. In Liyue, Chen combined elements of Chinese folk music, such as traditional instruments and a pentatonic scale, with Western Romantic harmonies and orchestral arrangements. The battle themes are polyphonic and are inspired by orchestration elements from composers such as Beethoven. On September 12, 2023, Yu-Peng Chen announced on Bilibili that he was leaving miHoYo and the HOYO-MiX team, after having worked on the music of the game and its expansions since its release.

Account security concerns

Genshin Impact has been criticized for initially lacking security features commonly found on other sites, such as two-factor authentication. On October 19, 2020, a security flaw was discovered on the miHoYo website that exposed the phone numbers used by players for password recovery. However, the issue was not resolved until November 9, 2020, three weeks after it was first reported. In the wake of security exposures, miHoYo issued notices advising players to be careful about sharing account details and to bind their accounts to an email address and phone number. In May 2021, two-factor authentication was introduced for logins from new devices. Like many other online games, Genshin Impact uses an anti-cheat system implemented by a kernel driver, designed to prevent code injection, memory inspection, and other forms of process manipulation. Shortly after release, players discovered that the game's anti-cheat system remained active after the game was closed or uninstalled, prompting concerns that the game had installed spyware. Additionally, some Japanese players using iOS devices observed that the game accessed the contents of their clipboards during startup. miHoYo announced that both issues were the result of coding errors and had been addressed and fixed.

Release

Closed beta testing for the game began on June 21, 2019. In August of the same year, miHoYo announced at ChinaJoy that Genshin Impact would be released on the PlayStation 4. On January 4, 2020, miHoYo officially announced a Nintendo Switch version, though no further release information was provided and the game remained unreleased on the platform due to hardware limitations. A second closed beta test for players using iOS, Android, and PC was launched on March 19, 2020. In August 2020, it was announced that the game would be released on September 28 of that year for iOS, Android, and PC. On November 11, 2020, the game was made available on PlayStation 5 through backwards compatibility, allowing it to run on that console's hardware using code from the PlayStation 4 version; a dedicated version for the PlayStation 5 was released on April 28, 2021. miHoYo announced a November 20 release date for the game on the Xbox Series X and Series S consoles on August 20, 2024. Shortly after the game's release, miHoYo announced a schedule of content updates for the following months, with future patches planned to introduce additional events and new areas to explore. At the time of release, only two of the game's seven main areas had been made available, and miHoYo anticipated that the game's story would take several years to complete. In August 2025, HoYoverse announced that support for the PlayStation 4 would end on April 8, 2026, citing hardware performance limitations and application size. The ability to download the game was removed on September 10, 2025, and in-game purchases were discontinued on February 25, 2026.