On September 25th, 2020, the hit game Genshin Impact was released worldwide. Whether you continued playing since then, dropped off the bandwagon early on or decided against trying it, Genshin Impact’s success and popularity can’t be denied. Now that the game has wrapped up its first year on the market, let’s look back at its budding legacy and take a glimpse into the future.

The First Leg of the Journey

Thanks to an excellent marketing campaign, many people flocked to try out Genshin Impact when the game first launched. According to an IGN article reported by Jordan Oloman, Genshin Impact reached 17 million downloads in its first week on mobile alone. With two beautiful nations to explore and a fun combat system to use against enemies, people were getting hooked.

Since the game’s release, the initial roster has expanded from 22 playable characters to 41; that’s almost double the number of characters to choose from, each with a unique playstyle. Many new quests were added, ranging from the continuation of the main story to choose-your-own-adventure style hangouts with some of your favourite characters. A challenging area known as the Dragonspine was added for the game’s toughest players; for players looking for a break from the combat, miHoYo also added customisable with plenty of furniture available to craft for them.

In July, Genshin Impact’s biggest update introduced players to a new nation: the island country of Inazuma. With inspiration taken from shogunate-era Japan, this new land opens a new chapter in the main story. In my opinion, the story just keeps getting better and deeper; what truth will we find at the end of the journey? As more islands are unveiled, new challenges and minigames are also unlocked to keep players coming back for more.

The Gacha Debate

Some people are turned off from the gacha aspect of the game, where characters and some weapons are unlocked from a luck-based draw; getting more chances to pull a character means buying draws with real money. For a while, I was in this boat. If characters are locked behind a luck-based paywall, how much of the game is truly “free-to-play”?

Thankfully, almost all other game content is available for free, and you can enjoy Genshin Impact without paying a single cent. That means hours of exploring the world Teyvat, experiencing the rich story and engaging in combat against challenging enemies are available for all players.

Being concerned about game companies getting greedy with their monetization is fair and a wise thing to do, but I believe Genshin Impact is an enjoyable and complete game that anyone on any budget can immerse themselves in.

What’s Next?

Version 2.2 of Genshin Impact releases tomorrow evening, which includes the final island of Inazuma, new enemies, new minigames and lots of new furniture to add to the player’s house. Plenty more characters  are planned to be added to the game soon, with Pyro user Thoma to be released on November 2nd. miHoYo also have plans to release Geo user Gorou and Electro user Yae Miko as playable characters as well.

According to the official storyline preview, the next nation the traveller goes to will be Sumeru, home of the Dendro god. No playable characters with Dendro powers have been released yet, so players hope the nation’s release will introduce a new element to wield in battle.

Whether you are an active player or not, Genshin Impact is here to stay with many hours of content and more large updates planned. If you’re still sitting on the fence about trying out the game, it has never been a better time to take the plunge.

Danica Best

Danica “Dani” Best is a 20-something Professional Writing student that loves creating stories and worlds almost as much as she loves gaming. If she isn’t writing, working or playing video games, she is probably asleep. Can be lured out with tasty desserts.