Genshin Impact: miHoYo's Hit That Redefined Mobile Open Worlds
Genshin Impact's origins, elemental reactions and party-swap combat, free-to-play gacha, why it's acclaimed and criticized, and how to play it today.
Genshin Impact is an open-world action role-playing game developed by miHoYo, a game company based in Shanghai, China, and released on September 28, 2020. Outside China, it is operated by miHoYo's overseas subsidiary HoYoverse (Cognosphere). It achieved huge success by letting players enjoy anime-style graphics, combat that mixes seven elements, and exploration in which you freely climb and glide across a vast world, all for free.
In this post, we look at the context in which Genshin Impact was made, how its elemental reactions and character-swap combat work, why many people regard it as a significant work, and the criticism it has received. We then cover its influence on the game industry and how to start playing now.
At a Glance
| Item | Details |
|---|---|
| Release | September 28, 2020 (iOS, Android, Windows, PS4) |
| Developer | miHoYo (overseas operation by HoYoverse) |
| Platforms | iOS, Android, Windows, PS5 (2021), Xbox Series X/S (2024), HarmonyOS NEXT in China (2025) |
| Genre | Open-world action RPG, free-to-play (gacha) |
Origins
In January 2017, when development of Genshin Impact began, miHoYo was focused on running Honkai Impact 3rd. The experience of releasing Honkai Impact 3rd version 1.4 in April of that year was a big stimulus to the team, and it led to Genshin Impact's open-world direction. The developers held Nintendo's The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild in high regard, and that game is cited as one of Genshin Impact's main inspirations.
After reviewing various real-world mythologies, the developers built the setting on Gnosticism. The elemental reactions in combat were inspired by real chemical reactions. Real-world cultures are reflected in each nation as well: Liyue is based on ancient China, and Fontaine on Europe during the Industrial Revolution. The music was handled by a team at HOYO-MiX led by Yu-Peng Chen and performed by the London Philharmonic Orchestra, among others. Each region has its own musical color, such as woodwind instruments for Mondstadt, the nation of wind and freedom, and traditional Chinese instruments and the pentatonic scale for Liyue.
Genshin Impact was first unveiled at E3 in June 2019, and its development and marketing budget was about $100 million. By February 2021, the development team had grown to nearly 300 people. At the 2019 ChinaJoy exhibition, it was criticized for resembling Breath of the Wild, but after release its own identity was recognized.
Gameplay
Four-Person Parties and Elemental Reactions
Players build a party of four and fight by swapping between characters with a single button during combat. Each character wields one of seven elements: Anemo (wind), Geo (rock), Pyro (fire), Hydro (water), Cryo (ice), Electro (lightning), and Dendro (nature). When elements collide, reactions occur; for example, if you soak an enemy with a Hydro attack and then use a Cryo attack, the enemy freezes and can't move for a moment. Each character has an Elemental Skill usable on a cooldown and an Elemental Burst that uses accumulated energy, so the order in which you swap characters and use abilities becomes the core of combat.
Open-World Exploration
In the world of Teyvat, you can go almost anywhere by running, climbing walls, swimming, and gliding. Some characters have abilities that change the terrain, such as freezing water to create a path. You can travel quickly using teleport waypoints and Statues of The Seven scattered around, and gather materials to cook or craft weapons. Bosses and domains that give high-value rewards consume "Resin," which slowly refills over time. As your Adventure Rank rises, new quests unlock and enemies in the world grow stronger.
Gacha and Co-op
The game is free, and most characters and weapons are obtained through a gacha called "Wishes." You pull using "Primogems," obtained through purchases or in-game rewards, and there's a pity system that guarantees a rare reward within a set number of pulls. From Adventure Rank 16, a co-op mode also opens where up to four players can play together regardless of device.
Why It's a Classic
Genshin Impact is regarded as a work that showed big-budget open-world games are possible on mobile too. It received generally favorable reviews on Metacritic, and many critics praised Teyvat's world design and combat. The Washington Post called the game revolutionary, to the effect that it lets you imagine industry-leading games on mobile. Its reach to people who found it hard to play high-spec PC or console RPGs was also cited as a factor in its success.
Another hallmark is its steady updates. At launch, only two of the seven nations, Mondstadt and Liyue, were open, and miHoYo announced that completing the story would take several years. Inazuma, Sumeru, Fontaine, and Natlan were then added in turn, and the story is continuing to the northern nation of Snezhnaya. It was also a massive commercial success, reaching cumulative revenue of $6.3 billion by its fourth anniversary in 2024. It won Best Mobile Game at The Game Awards 2021 and the "Still Playing" award at the 2023 Golden Joystick Awards.
Of course, criticism is clear too. Various outlets pointed out that end-game content is lacking and the Resin system needlessly blocks progress, and raised concerns that the gacha structure could encourage overspending. Early after launch, there were also account security issues such as the lack of two-factor authentication, and controversy over the anti-cheat program. When discussing Genshin Impact, these monetization issues should be considered alongside its excellent polish.
Series and Influence
After Genshin Impact's success, the term "Genshin killer" emerged. It refers to anime-style action RPGs that could compete with Genshin Impact, which shows how much the game became a benchmark. miHoYo also expanded the HoYoverse brand with follow-up titles such as Honkai: Star Rail and Zenless Zone Zero.
Outside the game, in September 2022, miHoYo announced it would pursue an anime adaptation in partnership with Japanese animation studio ufotable and released a concept video. Meanwhile, there were also controversies over cultural representation in character designs for some regions, and censorship controversies related to Chinese politics.
There were changes on the platform side as well. The PS5 version came out on April 28, 2021, and the Xbox Series X/S version on November 20, 2024. Conversely, support for the PS4 version ended on April 8, 2026, due to hardware performance and storage issues. The Nintendo Switch version announced in 2020 was not released due to hardware limitations.
How to Play Today
Genshin Impact is free, so you can start right away on whichever device you have: iOS, Android, PC, PS5, or Xbox Series X/S. On any device, you can enjoy co-op mode with players on other devices. Korean voice dubbing is included as well and was praised for its high quality by Korean media. PS4 users need to move to another device because support has ended.
At first, we recommend following the story quests and exploring Mondstadt and Liyue step by step. Some characters can also be obtained through quests or limited-time events. Since the gacha is a chance-based system, it's best to enjoy it within a set budget, and if you split your Resin use by day, you can progress without strain.