Genshin Impact

Gacha system

By completing certain quests or participating in select limited-time events, players can unlock additional playable characters.^[23] However, most characters are obtained through the character banners of the game's gacha system, called "Wishes",^[24][25] 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.^[26] A pity system guarantees that players will receive rare items after a set number of pulls.^[27]

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).^[28][b] 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.^[28]

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 with an energy cost.^[30] These require players to amass sufficient elemental energy to use them.^[31][28] 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.^[32] Certain elemental abilities are also required to solve puzzles within the overworld.^[9]

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^[33] 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.^[34] Similar to the main game, elemental reactions are included as a mechanic of the gamemode.^[35] Players are able to challenge NPCs, playable characters, and other real players in co-op mode.^[34]

Miliastra Wonderland

A sandbox and user-generated game creation gameplay system called Miliastra Wonderland was released in the game's "Luna II" update^[c] in October 2025.^[37] 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.^[38][37]

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.^[39] Underground lies the ruins of Khaenri'ah, a mysterious nation destroyed by Celestia 500 years ago.^[40]

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.^[41][42] 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.^[43]

The protagonists are the Traveler and Paimon, the Traveler's guide and companion.^[44][45] 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.^[46]

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,^[47] and the Fatui, a delegation of diplomats from Snezhnaya^[48] who pursue an aggressive foreign policy throughout Teyvat. The Traveler's twin is the leader of the Abyss Order,^[49][47] while the Fatui are led by the Eleven Harbingers, powerful lieutenants of the Tsaritsa (the Cryo Archon) who have been given special authority to carry out her will.^[48]

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 Stormterror threatens the city. Aided by the Knights of Favonius (the order of knights that protects Mondstadt) and the bard Venti (secretly the Anemo Archon Barbatos), the Traveler 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 the 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.

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 journeys to Inazuma, a nation confined under the Raiden Shogun's Sakoku Decree. The Traveler faces the Shogun, joins the resistance, and eventually confronts Signora and the Raiden Shogun herself, which results in the death of Signora, the end of the oppressive decree, and the realization of deeper Fatui involvement.

In Sumeru, the governing Akademiya seeks to turn Scaramouche, a puppet created by the Raiden Shogun, into a god with the help of Il Dottore, a Fatui Harbinger. With the Dendro Archon Nahida's aid, the Traveler foils their plot, 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, Neuvillette (Fontaine's chief justice) directs them toward Natlan, a nation of warriors that is facing a threat from the Abyss. Upon arriving in Natlan, the Traveler assists the Natlanese in defeating the Abyssal threat endangering the nation.

In Nod-Krai, the Traveler's group pursues the Moon Marrow (a core of energy from the dead body of one of Teyvat's 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 Columbina (a moon goddess and a former Fatui Harbringer), Arlecchino (another Fatui Harbinger), 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 are presumed to have killed him in the process.

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.^[63][64] 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.^[65] 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.^[65] In Liyue, Chen combined elements of Chinese folk music, such as traditional instruments and a pentatonic scale, with Western Romantic harmonies and orchestral arrangements.^[66] The battle themes are polyphonic and are inspired by orchestration elements from composers such as Beethoven.^[65] 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.^[67]

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.^[68] 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.^[69][70] In May 2021, two-factor authentication was introduced for logins from new devices.^[71][72]

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.^[73][74] 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.^[74][75] Additionally, some Japanese players using iOS devices observed that the game accessed the contents of players' clipboards during startup. miHoYo announced that both issues were the result of coding errors and had been addressed and fixed.^[76]

Pre-release

When the game was first unveiled at the ChinaJoy convention in 2019, it was criticized for its perceived similarities to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, a game held in high regard by the development team and cited as one of the main inspirations for Genshin Impact.^[102] Zelda fans at the convention gave the Sony booth the middle finger, with one player destroying his PlayStation 4 console in protest.^[103] Kamui Ye of IGN China highlighted similarities between the two games such as the overworld, art style and game mechanics while also emphasizing Genshin Impact's unique identity and features.^[104]

Post-release

Genshin Impact received "generally favorable reviews" according to review aggregator Metacritic,^[91][92] and an 87% rating on OpenCritic.^[94] The world-building and design were praised by multiple critics, with IGN's Travis Northup describing Teyvat as "a world that is absolutely bursting at the seams with possibilities", and Hardcore Gamer's Jordan Helm calling it "one big environmental puzzle".^[32][98] The game's commercial success has been attributed to its visual design and use of Chinese cultural references.^[105]: 261 In particular, Liyue was picked out by Kotaku's Sisi Jiang for being "one of the most exciting regions that I've visited in a video game in years", who discussed how the region "shows an idealized portrayal of Chinese social relations that exists in localized pockets".^[106] Fans raised concerns over whitewashing and cultural appropriation in regards to the character designs for Sumeru and Natlan.^{[107][108][109][110]}

The gameplay itself was also generally well-received. Daniel Tack of Game Informer characterized Genshin Impact as an incredible experience, writing that "[t]he gameplay loop of collection, upgrading, and customization is captivating and compelling".^[97] Pocket Gamer's Dave Aubrey commended the execution of gameplay, while Destructoid's Chris Carter called the combat system "one of the most interesting things" about the game.^[9][101] Kaity Kline of NPR opined that the game had an abundance of content despite being free to play.^[111] Gene Park of The Washington Post lauded the game as revolutionary for the genre, allowing players to "imagine a mobile gaming world with titles with quality that matches the industry's top-tier experiences".^[112] Polygon's Khee Hoon Chan also praised the game for differentiating itself from its peers, becoming successful as mobile games rose to mainstream popularity and appealing to players unable to play resource-intensive RPGs.^[113]

The game's English voice acting was received less well by fans and critics; Kotaku's Sisi Jiang characterized it as inaccurate to the original Chinese voice-over.^[114][115] Jiang compared the Chinese voices to "real friends" and said the English dubs sounded like anime tropes.^[115] Some fans disliked the voice acting for certain characters such as Barbara so much that they directed criticism towards the actors who voiced them; Nathan Grayson of Kotaku wrote that the character's voice actress, Laura Stahl, was being harassed "for being good at taking notes from a director."^[116] Several of the game's English voice actors refused to record their lines during the 2024–2025 SAG-AFTRA video game strike, leading to several roles to be recast.^[117] This included the voice actress for Paimon being changed from Corinna Boettger to Penelope Rawlins, a change which was welcomed by Austin Wood of GamesRadar+.^[118] The game also has voice lines available in Japanese and Korean.^[114] The Japanese voice cast is routinely marketed as "star-studded".^[119] Korean reviewers such as Park Gwang-seok of Inven described the Korean dub as "impeccable" and "of a high level of completion".^[120]

Genshin Impact has been criticized for its endgame content, its gacha monetization system, and limitations on players not willing to engage in microtransactions.^[121] Ari Notis of Kotaku, for instance, wrote that although the game provides a solid experience, it also has "some of the typical bullshit that comes along with a zero-dollar price tag" and that the gacha system can lead to a "cycle that belongs more in Reno, Nevada, than a magical fantasy land of gods and wizards".^[122] Heidi Kemps of GameSpot echoed this criticism, writing that the game is "hampered a bit by the restrictions its free-to-play model imposes".^[14] Steven Messner of PC Gamer said that playing the endgame becomes "a slog", and that the resin system "feels so unnecessary".^[121] Warning players about the predatory nature of the monetization, Gene Park of The Washington Post opined that the game could lead players to gamble with the game's gacha system because it was well-designed from an aesthetic standpoint.^[25] Siliconera's Stephanie Liu expressed disappointment in the lack of alternative outfits available for purchase in Genshin Impact compared to similar games.^[123] Matthew Adams of the British Journal of Chinese Studies opined that the game's gacha system significantly reshapes personhood and social identities within digital communities.^[124]

The Genius Invokation TCG minigame received positive reviews upon launch. Marco Wutz of USA Today compared the non-standalone card games with Gwent from The Witcher 3, and opined that it could expand the game's audience.^[125] Siliconera critic Stephanie Liu said that the minigame rekindled her excitement from the early days of the game.^[126] Youxiputao editors Guopu and Grey Pigeon also contended that Genius Invokation TCG can "make up for the shortcomings of the game's long-term experience" and "strengthen the relationship between players".^[127] Liu praised Genius Invokation TCG's balanced design and simplicity, stating that it "should remain fair" given that all players are given the same cards to work around.^[126] Jiang also said that she was addicted to it and looked forward to miHoYo releasing more cards in the future.^[34]

When Miliastra Wonderland launched in 2025, it received largely positive reviews. Robin Bea, writing for Inverse, called it "one of the biggest features" the game had. She and Wood also compared it to Roblox and The Sims.^[38][8] Wood praised the fact that players would get their own battle pass specific to Miliastra Wonderland for free if they bought the game's regular Battle pass, and compared the amount of avatar customization options with the limited amount of skins that have been released for the game's main cast of characters.^[38]

Commercial performance

On mobile platforms, Genshin Impact saw 23 million downloads and grossed approximately US$60 million within a week of its release.^[113][128] Within two weeks, revenue exceeded US$100 million, recouping the game's development and marketing budget.^[129] Its strong performance continued through October 2020, when it was the highest-grossing mobile game worldwide.^[130] The largest shares of its revenue came from China, Japan, South Korea, and the United States, with 69.5 percent of mobile revenue generated outside China.^[131][132] In the United States, its release marked the largest launch of a mobile role-playing game to date.^[132]

From release through the end of March 2021, Genshin Impact grossed over US$1 billion on mobile platforms, the third highest revenue from a mobile game during that time frame after Honor of Kings and PUBG Mobile. This made it one of the highest-grossing mobile games of all time and the fastest to reach that milestone on Google Play and the App Store.^[133] By the game's first anniversary, the mobile version of the game had grossed US$2 billion,^[134] a feat that Michael Baggs of the BBC called "unheard of".^[135][136] It ranked as the world's third highest-grossing mobile game of the year, according to an end-of-year analysis by Sensor Tower.^[137][138] The mobile version grossed a further US$567 million between January and March 2022.^[139] By January 2026, however, the game ranked fourth in Sensor Tower's mobile revenue growth rankings, and did not appear in its list of the top ten highest-grossing games for that month.^[140]

Pocket Gamer estimated that across all platforms, the game surpassed about US$3.6 billion in revenue by the end of 2022.^[141] By the game's fourth anniversary in 2024, the game had reached US$6.3 billion in total revenue,^[142][143] averaging US$1.6 billion in annual earnings on the App Store and Google Play since its release.^[143] As of 2025, the game averaged around 57.3 million monthly users.^[142][144]

Cultural impact

Genshin Impact's commercial success has led to it being argued as a symbol of China's soft power.^[145][146] Song Tang of The Diplomat writes that players can learn about traditional Chinese culture fairly easily while playing the game, and also comments that its "increasingly close relationship" with the Chinese government confirms its role as a soft power tool.^[146] Ben Dooley and Paul Mazur of The New York Times said in a 2022 article that the game is a "sign to many insiders" that the Japanese video game industry was facing many challenges from abroad, and that Genshin Impact was "beating Japan at its own (video) game".^[145]

Additionally, the game's success has also led to the rise of the term "Genshin killer" to refer to other anime-style action role-playing games that have the potential to compete with Genshin Impact. Games that have been called this by reviewers in the past include Solo Leveling: ARISE^[147] and Wuthering Waves.^[148]

Accolades

Impact of regulations

On October 6, 2020, journalist and Twitch streamer Kazuma Hashimoto published a video on Twitter demonstrating that political terms considered controversial in China, such as "Hong Kong", "Tibet", and "Taiwan", were censored in Genshin Impact's in-game chat.^{[166][167][168]} As miHoYo is based in China, it is subject to China's censorship policies, which include complying with an extensive list of prohibited words.^[166][169] Extending outside of political language, innocuous terms such as "enemies" and "words" were also censored.^[167][169]

In September 2021, the Chinese government stated that video game companies should avoid "obscene and violent content and those breeding unhealthy tendencies, such as money-worship and effeminacy."^[105]: 261 That month, over 200 Chinese video game companies signed a self-censorship pact, agreeing to remove content that would fall foul of government regulations on gaming.^[170] HoYoverse released an update introducing outfits for many playable characters that were more modest than their original designs in January 2022.^{[171][105]: 260–261} These alternate outfits were optional on global servers but mandatory in China.^[105]: 261 In response, Joseph Allen of TechRaptor discussed whether this was an instance of content censorship.^[172] They speculated that this was likely done to appease the Chinese Communist Party.^[172]

In 2025, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced that miHoYo had agreed to a settlement of US$20,000,000 over its use of loot boxes and misleading players about their odds of winning limited-time prizes such as characters and weapons.^[173] According to Samuel Levine, the director of the FTC's Bureau of Consumer Protection, players spent "hundreds of dollars on prizes they stood little chance of winning".^[173] Writing for The Verge, Makena Kelly and Wes Davis noted that loot boxes have been compared to a form of legal gambling.^[173][174] The complaint also accused the developers of marketing themselves to children through methods such as social media posts and collecting their personal information in violation of the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA).^[175] Under the terms of the settlement, miHoYo was required to delete data for children under age 15 unless parental consent had been obtained, to "disclose exchange rates for multi-tiered virtual currency",^[173] and to refrain from selling loot boxes to teens under 16 without parental consent.^[176][175] In response, miHoYo stated it agreed to the settlement because it valued the trust of its fans and that it would "increase [its] in-game disclosures around virtual currency and rewards for players in the U.S. in the coming months."^[175][177] The company implemented these changes in early May for Genshin Impact, in late May for Honkai: Star Rail and Tears of Themis, and in late June for Honkai Impact 3rd and Zenless Zone Zero.^[177]