What’s up everyone! Today I’m giving my first impressions on the new role-playing game Genshin Impact! I will be looking at the first impressions of the animation, music, story, characters, and gameplay.

Genshin Impact is a free-to-play role-playing game made by the publishers at miHoYo. A quick synopsis: you are traveling different worlds with your twin when you are stopped by a “god”. She separates you sending you to a new place you’ve never been before. Your ultimate mission is to reunite with your twin while also mastering the elemental powers of this world.

Animation

The animation is pretty seamless. For a free RPG making it open world was a pretty big surprise. Before it was released there were rumors hovering around that the game was going to be Breath of the wild with a JRPG skin over it. Animation wise I would have to say that while Genshin Impact looks amazing, it is not in the same arena as Breath of the Wild. And that’s not a bad thing. Breath of the wild had years and the backing of Nintendo, so it should be in a class on it’s own. However Genshin Impact is nothing to snuff your nose at, with it’s bright colors and realistic settings. Now I will say that sometimes there is a buffering but that could be chopped up to a wonky internet connection, not necessarily the game itself. Overall there is a nice smoothness about the game. Running, jumping and climbing all look realistic and logical. The outfit and hair of your character will sway in the wind. The weather adds a nice simple touch to the scenery and the NPCs make the towns and cities really feel lived in. Overall the animation gets a solid 8 out of 10 for me.

Music

Next is one of my favorite aspects to rate about a game, the music. First off, there is a lot more music in this game than in Breath of the Wild. This was often a critique of the LoZ game, that miHoYo made sure to avoid in Genshin’s execution. You have a light and airy tune as you travel in Mondstadt where Anemo (wind) is the present element. You can hear how wind was an influence of this area as the music seems to glide from tune to tune. in the wild, there is a beautiful piano piece that plays when you’re near one of their god statues. As you roam from place to place and encounter enemies, another clarinet heavy piece will play. There’s also a discordant horn note that is played whenever reinforcements are approaching. Not gonna lie, it literally makes me feel unease in my soul, which I guess is the point of it. In the city of Mondstadt there is a fun city theme that plays which reminds me of something you could hear to backdrop the bustling city of Paris or insert any other largely populated European city. I say all this to prepare you for the contrast that is Liyue.

Liyue’s music has its roots steeped in Chinese and Japanese influence. The cadences and melodies all take me to music in classically Asian influenced films, movies and games. One animated film that comes to mind whenever I’m Liyue is Kung Fu Panda. Sure I admit this is probably not what the developers were wanting their game to be compared too, but I can’t help but feel a sort of happiness or “upbeat-ness” while I’m in Liyue. It’s a port city and is gives you a mixture of busy city and a fishermen town. I feel like it’s a mixture of Beijing and Tokyo. The music is laced with the erhu giving it a real traditional Chinese vibe. I love the music so far in the game and I can’t wait to hear how different it is going to be as we move from place to place. Music is a 9 out of 10.

Story

So far the story is progressing at a very nice pace, which is already a plus for me. I am liking how the story is unfolding as you complete story missions and daily missions. Without using spoilers, there is a nice twist I believe is coming as we get through the Liyue section that while it could be seen as predictable, I am looking forward to it. In Mondstadt there were many opprotunities to do missions that centered around a character in your party, and I am hoping this will continue as I progress through Liyue. I also thoroughly enjoyed Stormterror. It was both challenging and exciting. Genshin has a habit of making things pretty easy for the player. I don’t know if this is just while I’m in Mondstat, but we haven’t been that hard as I have traversed through the wild in Liyue. As I continue the story I will be sure to let you know how I fell about them. A 7 out of 10.

Characters

This is probably my second favorite thing to talk about when it comes to a new game. The characters! So first up is your character. You get to choose between a male and female twin. If you choose the guy, you’ll be looking for your sister, and vice versa if you choose the girl. I have chosen the girl so I am currently looking for my twin brother.

The first person(?) you meet is Paimon, you actually find her while you’re fishing. She’s just in a lake. Drowning? Swimming? Who knows? You soon learn that Paimon is kind of, well weird. But nonetheless she acts as a sort of moderator between you and the people you encounter. She also is a sort of expository character that if you want to know what is going on, just let her do her talking. She talks way too much for me though. I would take Navi from Ocarina of Time any day before I’d choose Paimon.

Next are the characters you can used to build up your party. The first three are free and then the other ones you can spend some in game currency to win them or buy them with real people money. First up is Amber a Favonius knight who lives to protect her city. She’s grown up there and knows the only way to protect the city of Mondstat is to not underestimae the courage of the Knights of Favonius. s Her element is pyro (fire) and she’s an archer by trade.

Then we have Captain Keya of of the Knight of Favonius. He is cool, calm, and collected just like his is element cryo (ice). He likes to do his own things to get the results he’s looking for. He’s very smart, mostly outwits those around him. I enjoy having him around because his freezing move tend to be clutch in more than one battle. Not a lot more to add to him, but he’s a solid character to have on your party.

Lastly is Lisa. She is a brilliant librarian who has valuable information to give as you complete your quests in Mondstadt. She is very flirtatious and never really wants to do any work. There’s a fun side quest you do as you help her collect books that are past due. While you are going from shop to shop you are basically taking her on a makeshift date. All the while you have to decide on things that she would like in the process. Everyone is unnerved by her talent and ability, not wanting to be in her path if she’s upset. She controls the electro element and uses a grimoire or other object to channel her power through.

There are other characters available, but since I have not played with them in-depth I am going to leave them off of this analysis. I like the characters we have so far. I have heard that there is a bit of trouble in maxing out your characters. I’m not at this point in my gameplay, but I’ll be sure to let you know if this is the case. I don’t particularly like that my character doesn’t talk in her profile section. I like this section because it allows you to get to know your party members and yourself. I like the characters I have currently. I look forward to seeing all the different types of characters the developers come up with. 8 out of 10.

Gameplay

Lastly, is the gameplay. Honestly, I really didn’t care for the gameplay of Genshin for a little while. Towards the beginning of my game, I had a difficult time remembering which button did what. How do I get to my inventory? Where can I see my profile? Why do I have to use the right analog stick? It was pretty complicated. This would be the only negative thing I would have to say about the game. It is worth playing if you are a beginner, I would just say give yourself a couple of time to get it right. Once you have the hang of the controls you can move and interact in the way you really like the interface and inteactions with NPCS. I would give gamelplay a solid 7 out of 10.

Alright you have reached the end! Thanks for hanging in there with me! So here are my finally scores for each category:

Animation	8
Music	9
Story	7
Characters	8
Gameplay	7

The total is : 39/50 which is a solid C rank. Genshin Impact definitely has the potential to be a great game. It is, I would say, a great beginner game if you’ve never played an RPG before. It’s worth playing this game.

So there you have it my first impressions of Genshin Impact! Tell me what you think in the comments or over on Instagram. Peace!