Genshin Impact, the new action role-playing game by miHoYo, has been downloaded more than 10 million times since its release just over a week ago on September 28. It's undeniable that the game has made waves, and while the player retention statistics from those absurd numbers remains to be seen, it's safe to say that the game will continue to be a massive success for developers miHoYo.
Action RPGs are pretty popular, with The Witcher and The Elder Scrolls series as obvious examples of this trend. However, unlike these Western triple-A titles, Genshin Impact is a free-to-play game developed in China. To trend so massively in the West, with Twitch streamers, YouTubers and millions of players all jumping on the hype-train for this game, it's clearly doing something right.
The first, and fairly obvious, reason for the number of people downloading and playing this game is that it costs absolutely nothing to pick it up. Unlike major triple-A games, which are usually priced at $60 and are planned to be $70 with the new generation of consoles, anyone can download and play Genshin Impact. This model also helped build up the popularity of battle royales, such as Fortnite and Apex Legends, so it is interesting to see it find success here as well.
Beyond the game being free to play, it has also been released on a wide variety of platforms. In addition to mobile, Genshin Impact is also available on PlayStation 4 and PC. This is perhaps particularly important for the game's success in the West, where mobile gaming is still often derided as a low-quality and cash-grabbing experience. This is doubly relevant considering the game's gacha mechanics, which have often been treated with suspicion in the West.
While being free-to-play and widely available brings lots people in, the game's story, style and gameplay cannot be discounted. Unlike many other gacha, free-to-play games, Genshin Impact has an interesting, in-depth story that lasts more than a few acts. All the way up to the higher Adventure Ranks and the end-game, the game provides players with new story content. The characters are done well too, though people who dislike anime-style dialogue and storylines may find it all a little grating.
The game's style is simple but elegant. Evocative of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, but a bit brighter and more anime, the game's environments, enemies and characters are diverse and often beautiful. This means that simply walking and gliding around the map is a pleasure, which is good, because exploration is a large part of the game. The menus, damage counters and other aspects of the UI borrow elements from MMOs, but still remain clean and easy to use, probably since the game also released on mobile platforms.
Genshin Impact's gameplay is similarly simple, but fun and rewarding, particularly the massive combos that players can create with switching out and juggling spells between their characters. When players aren't fighting, there is plenty to explore and find on the map, including secret quests and interactive environments. Fans of MMOs will likely find the grind of finding, combining and upgrading resources familiar, and there are plenty of dungeons, special events, world quests and other sources of material to upgrade the various weapons, characters and artifacts.
All this stands completely alone from the games premium gacha side. Many people seem rightly concerned with gambling mechanics in games, but premium characters and weapons, while certainly stronger than their free-to-play counterparts, are only really necessary for the most challenging of the endgame content. Even then, players determined and knowledgeable enough can definitely complete these sections. Knowing combos, min-maxing gear and using characters effectively is just as important as the strength and quality of gear itself.
Because of this, most players will likely able to be entirely ignore the gacha side of the game. Plus, unlike other freemium games, Genshin Impact does not force its gacha system into players' faces. With great story, style and gameplay and little to no necessity for players to pay any money to enjoy almost all of the content currently available, it's no wonder Genshin Impact has taken over the gaming world.