Game Review: Genshin Impact

April 25, 2026

Game Review: Genshin Impact

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"The dragon who defended Mondstadt for a millennium finally faces his perturbation. What does freedom really mean, when demanded of you by a god?"

- Dainsleif, Act. Prologue: The Outlander Who Caught The Wind

Hello World!

Today, I'll be introducing one of my favorite games, Genshin Impact! If you are even remotely interested in video games, there's a good chance that you have heard of it before, as it has received several awards in the past, including "Player's Voice" at the 2023 Game Awards.

Since the game itself is very complex and multi-faceted, here's a brief description taken from the game's official website:

Experience an immersive single-player campaign. As a traveler from another world, you will embark on a journey to reunite with your long-lost sibling and unravel the mysteries of Teyvat, and yourself. Fly across the open world, swim through crystal-clear waters, and climb towering mountains. Stray off the beaten path to discover all the hidden secrets of a world full of wonder and mystery. Charge head-on into battles solo, or invite friends to join the fight against powerful monsters with cross-play for PC, iOS, Android, PS, and Xbox.

Now, I will show you some of the numerous aspects of Genshin Impact that have kept me playing for five years!

1. Regions

My favorite aspect of Genshin is the world-building. Since the game prides itself on its extensive open-world, there are countless beautiful spots scattered all across Teyvat, a few of which I compiled on this list. To a novice, this list by itself might already seem excessive in length, but veteran players know that this compilation isn't even the tip of the iceberg. Out of consideration for casual readers, I highlighted my absolute favorites with a ♡. Click the unmute button for the full experience!

Disclaimer: Everything I show you in the following blog post is taken from the game directly, unless otherwise specified! I don't want to make you any false promises :)

Mondstadt

Mondstadt City (character: Diluc)

♡

Stormterror's Lair (Jean)

Dragonspine (Albedo)
♡

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Liyue

Liyue City (Zhongli)

♡

Chenyu (Shenhe)

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Inazuma

Inazuma City (Raiden Shogun)

Watatsumi Coral Palace (Kokomi)

♡

Akakumo Peak (Ayato)

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Sumeru

Sumeru City (Nahida)

Aranara Forest (Tighnari)

♡

Sumeru Desert (Dehya)

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Fontaine

Fontaine City Boat Tour (Furina)

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Natlan

Ancient Sacred Mountain (Mualani)

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Nod-Krai

Piramida City (Tartaglia)

Statue of the New Moon (Columbina)

♡

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2. Character Design

Of course, a significant part of Genshin's appeal is the game's character design. Players can obtain characters either through a gacha wish system, events/challenges or by progressing the story. Skins can be bought in the game's store or won by completing event tasks. Below I've picked a few of my favorite character designs and animations!

Hu Tao

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Clorinde

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Columbina

︶⊹︶︶୨୧︶︶⊹︶

Honorable Mentions

L to R: Ganyu, Lauma, Navia, Arlecchino, Ningguang

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3. Gameplay

Additionally to the game's sprawling open world, Genshin has many other game modes that keep players engaged and serve as DPS checks for veterans (like me!).

Spiral Abyss

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Stygian Onslaught

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4. Cutscenes and Music score

Lastly, I wanted to end the showcase part of this blog post linking you different story quest cutscenes and one of Genshin's most beautiful aspects, the game's soundtrack. I have yet to encounter a Genshin player that wasn't completely enamoured with the music in this game. Please give it a listen!

Cutscenes

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Music

Genshin is known for its cultural diversity when it comes to world building, especially music. This track features Chinese opera singing, detailing a character's backstory. It makes me tear up whenever I hear it and was my first exposure to Chinese Opera.

Featuring singer Aurora, the entire text is sung in Latin. My favorite part starts from 2:50, please give it a listen, it gives me chills every time.

Every character has their own introduction trailer, along with their own unique soundtrack.

To this day one of the most elegant and stunning character soundtracks, in my opinion.

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Now that I've extensively talked about the good aspects of Genshin, here are two negative sides of the game.

No skip button This is an issue that players have been complaining about since the game's launch. Due to the volume of the playable content, many players, including myself, often don't find the time nor the patience to dedicate hours to story quests, which are numerous. If you think "hours" is an exaggeration: one quest line (Aranara quest) took players reportedly between 16 hours and 2 1/2 weeks to finish!

Difficulty of endgame content for f2p-players Endgame content, such as the Spiral Abyss and Stygian Onslaught, can be extremely challenging for so called "free-to-play" (abbreviated as f2p) players that refrain from obtaining characters through the gacha system or spending money on faster upgrades or better equipment.

Final Review

I give this game a solid 9/10, partially because I'm very susceptible to nostalgia and I've been playing this game so long that I basically grew up with it. But especially the lack of a skip button for story quests makes it hard to fully enjoy the game as somebody who likes the open-world aspect more than the story. Also, the sheer amount of in-game content can make it hard for new players to not get burned out, I can ony imagine it could be overwhelming unless you get really invested (which is what happened with me).