Let's get this out of the way: Genshin Impact and its beautiful, expansive anime world of Teyvat clearly draw inspiration from The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, and I mean a whole heck of a lot. From the art style to the stamina-based "climb anything" mechanic to the gliding, it’s impossible not to be reminded of Link’s open-world adventures in Hyrule while exploring. But this isn't just some copycat, as Genshin Impact's fantastical world, wide array of diverse playable characters, and deep RPG systems are all unique and awesome enough to let it stand on its own two feet – and every one of the more than 120 hours I've spent in Teyvat has been an absolute blast.

Genshin Impact is a free-to-play action-adventure RPG where you play a vague and mysterious “traveler” from another world who arrives in the land of Teyvat before being attacked by a sorceress or God or...something, and your twin is captured. After waking up on a beach at level one and with zero loot, you set off on a quest to find your lost sibling that involves a whole lot of picking fruit, crafting items, and fighting deities, but surprisingly little in the way of actually searching for your twin. Because, just like during Link's rush to save Zelda, completing these quests where you *checks notes* feed ducks is way more important.

 

 

   

Genshin Impact’s story is one of its weaker points, using just about every anime character trope and story cliche in the book. Characters will re-explain the same magical jargon like they’re getting paid by the word, and the story meanders from one amusing misadventure to another with little cohesion. That poor pacing certainly isn’t helped by the XP-gating that happens between each act, where you’ll need to hit an increasingly more difficult to reach Adventurer Rank to advance to the next quest.

But since you'll spend most of your time roaming the world and making your own stories as you rank up instead of listening to people explain whatever the heck an Anemoculus is, that messy structure isn't a dealbreaker. And, with a few exceptions, the cast of quirky characters (a whopping 23 of which are playable) are a lot of fun to interact with and play as, even if I occasionally rolled my eyes when they made repeated and very uncalled for horny comments for no reason at all – yay, anime.

Teyvat Traveler

The real star here is Teyvat itself, a world that is absolutely bursting at the seams with possibilities. Every nook and cranny is loaded with collectibles to power your characters up with, chests to discover and pull loot from, puzzles to solve, enemies to take down, challenges to complete, dungeons to tackle, relentless bosses to fight, and quests to pursue. It’s actually almost distressing how much there is to do. In any given area in the massive world map, there always seemed to be about five or more things in my immediate field of view to pursue, each with their own challenges and rewards. Sometimes it's difficult just to stay on task and complete major quests simply because there’s such an embarrassment of riches available to you as you explore the world. A locked chest that catches the corner of your eye might lead to an impromptu quest or multi-step puzzle. Following a fluttering blue fairy might lead to a massive combat encounter or even a lengthy boss fight. It’s a disgustingly addictive chain reaction of things to do in the best possible way.