In a fairly recent turn of events, an all-platform RPG, “Genshin Impact” by miHoYo, styled after “Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild,” took the internet by storm, with its gameplay, and loveable, meme-able characters.

When announced in September, it sparked a lot of controversy with the similarities it shares with “BOTW,” but once released, quickly shook off the prejudice.

Seamus, a sophomore and an avid gamer, who declined to post his last name for privacy reasons, said this about the similarities between “BOTW” and “GI,” “I like them, it’s not an exact replica. The look just makes me more immersed in the experience.”

“GI” and “BOTW” both share similar gameplay experiences. Both are open world and have a gliding mechanic, however, the gameplay differs after that. With having a squad of three, and the ability to switch to each at any time. Multiplayer is fun but can be a bit boring or too big to handle at once. 

Seamus has a short opinion on “GI” multiplayer, which is just glorified singleplayer to an extent, “I like everything about it except having to reach level 16 to do co-op. I also wish you could do some PvP.”

Yes, PvP is currently not part of the game, which is disappointing, but at least co-op exists, important for completing some dungeons. Speaking of dungeons, they are part of the in-game story missions, with the first introduction missions revolving around completing three dungeons, including multiple enemies you are required to fight, to reach an objective and destroy the said objective.

With story missions being a major part of the playability of “GI,” I asked Seamus for his opinion, he said, “They’re pretty plain and average compared to some of the other aspects. There are a lot of cliches but I can get over that.”

Tiresome at times, the cutscenes are amazing with the quality being triple-a level of animation. Although sparse, the rest of the in-game interaction with non-playable characters is just short animations that are repeated countless times, being used by hundreds of NPCs. 

A mobile-focused game, with all the cliche tactics, like loot boxes and “pay to win” items, the base game is fun and easily accessible to all players, whether a tight budget or those who have the bank account of a small country. Personally, I rate “Genshin Impact” an 8/10, the gameplay loop is tiresome at times, but also very addicting, the characters all have a fleshed-out background with personality too, which happens to be a rare occurrence in mobile games these days.