On August 1st, the upcoming action-adventure title, Genshin Impact received yet another trailer.
The game is developed by the Chinese studio, Mihoyo, best known for their most recent mobile game Honkai Third Impact. Genshin Impact is an open world, anime game boasting a beautiful fantasy world and fast-paced combat, but is an obvious clone of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.
Something that seems to be rubbing quite a few people the wrong way. If not evident by the recent outrage, causing one passionate gamer to hurdle a PlayStation 4 into the ground.
When Mihoyo unveiled Genshin Impact for PS4, many noted the game was inspired by BOTW.
Some fans of BOTW are upset that Sony is promoting this game because of the similarities + they think it’s shameless of Sony.
This man smashed his PS4 at ChinaJoy in protest. pic.twitter.com/jwJqwREgaz
— Daniel Ahmad (@ZhugeEX) August 3, 2019
The graphics, art style, color palette, visual effects, UI, various enemy designs, cooking, and glide ability all seem to be stolen. To the game’s merit, the gameplay seems to have a greater emphasis on action and combos, along with multiple playable characters, its own storyline, different boss fights, and some unique locations.
The development team is small in number and composed of Chinese anime fans, so their output is relatively impressive, albeit creatively bankrupt and ethically questionable. The game was also initially announced for mobile and PC, so getting this game to perform on consoles as well as smartphones will be an impressive feat.
The emphasis on action, anime art style, and story might garner an audience, but I can’t personally support this. Developers should learn from each other, not outright steal their work. I’m not sure what it’s like to be creative in China, but nothing seemed to stop fellow Chinese developer FantaBlade Network from creating ICEY.
Hopefully, MiHoYo will move forward as a studio and create more unique projects in the future.
Check out the trailer for Genshin Impact below.
