Is Genshin Impact Worth Playing in 2024?


Genshin Impact sits frequently sits in the top 10 in the google play store in the Adventure category. Its Reddit community is almost approaching 1 million members which is easily the largest gacha community out there!

Mona trying her hand at Genshin Impact.

If you’re wondering what the fuss is about, then consider this: unlike many other gacha games, Genshin Impact is an exploration-based game in which you actually have to actively play! The game is hugely popular and for now, it’s the only one of its kind as most modern gachas are hub-based or some sort of auto-MMO.

So is Genshin Impact worth playing? Genshin Impact should be a game that all gamers should try out even if they’re not into the gacha category of games. All the systems in Genshin Impact work together to create a very cohesive experience. The game plays and feels like a single-player game which is a big compliment when it comes to gacha games because rather than letting the player fiddle around with menus and in-game systems – the game immerses the player in its world and story. However, because of its more active gameplay style – some players may feel the game is a bit too grindy and time-consuming in the later parts of the game.

Is Genshin Impact a Good Fit For You?

Genshin Impact is one of the few games that I can hop back into from time to time and not feel overwhelmed with stuff to do, events to complete, or characters to obtain. The game doesn’t shove anything in your face, it just invites you to continue to explore the world and experience what it has to offer. Therefore, I always keep Genshin Impact around as one of my ‘side’ gachas that I like to play.

The game world is gorgeous and exploration is a joy.

The game has actually become a lot of player’s main gacha game. Though for me, it has some things holding it back that keeps it from becoming my main gacha game.

What Players Might Like About Genshin ImpactWhat Might Put Players Off About Genshin Impact
-An action-oriented gacha that you actually have to actively play. No auto-combat or any auto systems. The combat is skill-based that requires dodging and accuracy.

-The game allows you to control 4 characters that you can switch out at any time to use their skills and abilities. This introduces a lot of variety and different team combinations to try out in combat.

-The beginning to mid-game phase is really the best part of Genshin Impact. Going through the story, and general exploration is a joy to do. It’s fun to wander around and see what you can discover.

-The world and characters have a very pleasing recognizable style, design, and aesthetic.

-The story quests in the game are fully voice-acted and presented in a very pleasing manner.

-A fully PvE game so that you can take your own time to complete the story and quests. No competition means that there’s no pressure to rush any content.

-Characters are fairly balanced and almost all of them are useful in their own way. Most of the time, using all 5 stars in your team might not be optimal depending on who you have. It’s better to build a balanced team of DPS, SUPPORT, HEALER, SUB-DPS.
-the fact that it has no auto systems in mobile can turn some players off. Most mobile players these days have a lot of gacha games to play. Therefore, having some auto-systems in place helps them multitask.

-The game effectively has 2 gachas. One for the character and another one for the weapon. Therefore to get the ‘ideal’ set-up, is not likely for a f2p player. However, it is possible with more time invested in the game.

-The later parts of the game are less about exploration and more about min-maxing teams to do the harder content of the game. Therefore, there’s going to be a lot of instance grinding for gear (artifacts) and character upgrade materials.

-For players that enjoy PvP, there is no way to duel or fight with other players in the game at this time.

-Although the game has co-op functionality to play with other players and to have fun in the world, there’s little reason to team up most of the time.

-Currency rewards and quest rewards feel a bit lacking compared to other games. Even big events, birthdays, and anniversaries – the game barely gives out the premium currencies. It takes a long time to gather enough to pull. Luckily the guaranteed 5-star pull is carried between each banner.

-There’s no daily pull available, so the chances for players to get ‘lucky’ is from a free pull or rewards is nonexistent.

-Duplicate limit breaking from pulling the same characters (called constellations in the game) might be giving a little bit too much of a boost for the characters. Therefore, there is some incentive to max out certain characters over others. However, this negative is minimized seeing as it’s a PVE game but it’s something to keep an eye on.
Table 1. Genshin Impact Notes and Comments

Genshin Impact is really an ideal PVE game – It’s definitely a game that you can take as seriously as you want. However, it’s unfortunate that the game doesn’t stick to its strengths in the later stages of the game. The game would have benefitted from some sort of endgame that revolves more around the world bosses and more exploration rather than instanced challenges (the Abyss). And without PvP, there’s not much keeping the player grinding to keep improving gear.

Can You Catch Up With Older Veteran Genshin Players?

Veteran Genshin Impact players have a wider roster of characters and gear available to them. As of this time, there’s not many catch-up mechanics in the game. To be fair, the game doesn’t need it since it’s a story-based experience.

Focus on pulling the characters that are a benefit to your team, rather than pulling for the aesthetics if you want to progress but you’re not going to listen to me.

However, for the newer players to get the same characters and to get similar rosters as veteran players, might take a while because almost all of the highest tier characters are on a limited-time banner that gets rotated in and out every month.

The standard banner always contains a certain set of 5-star units and weapons that never changes. There’s also no free pull. Therefore, there’s little chance for any player to get “lucky” in the game – it’s better just to save up your currency for a character than you really want.

Is Genshin Impact Free To Play Friendly?

Yes, Genshin Impact is free-to-play friendly as the content doesn’t require any gacha specific stuff to complete it. Players will also be able to obtain what they want in time whether it’s 5-star characters or weapons. However, considering the “ideal” set-up in Genshin Impact will also need a 5-star weapon (which is also obtained from the gacha), it’s going to take a mighty long time to reach that point.

Focus on the 5-star characters rather than the weapons. When you’re finally satisfied with your roster, only then start trying for the weapon banners.

Unlike Epic Seven, however, where it’s relatively easy to obtain the “ideal” character and artifact combination – it’s going to take a bit more time and patience in Genshin Impact. This is because Genshin Impact has 2 time-limited event banners in which both have their own separate pity counters.

Pity (guaranteed 5-star) occurs in all banners on the 90th pull. However, it’s not guaranteed to be the featured character or weapon (it’s only after pulling a 5-star once, that you’re guaranteed that the next 5-star you pull to be the featured character or weapon).

Therefore if you’re extremely unlucky – you have to pull up to 180 times to be guaranteed that featured character or weapon. Now if this extremely unlucky person wants both the ideal weapon and character combination – then he might have to pull up to 360 times (!!) to have to get that ideal combination.

So if you’re going to play Genshin Impact as a free-to-play player, expect not to have the best-in-slot of weapons with the characters. It’s better just to go for the characters as the 4-star weapons are good enough.

  • Limited-Time Event Character Banner: you can pull characters (up to 5-stars) and 3-4 star weapons. If you get lucky enough to pull a 5-star character you have a 50% percent chance of getting the featured character. If you don’t get the featured character, then you’ll be guaranteed to get the featured character the next 5-star you pull.
  • Limited-Time Event Weapon Banner: same as above but with weapons. Weapons (up to 5-stars) and 3-4 star characters. If you’re able to pull a 5-star weapon, it has a 50% chance of being one of the featured weapons. If not, then you’ll get the featured 5-star weapon the next time you’re able to pull it.
  • Standard Banner: this is the permanent banner that has equal odds of getting any character and weapon. This banner doesn’t contain any of the limited 5-star event banner characters or weapons.

As said before, the rewards in the game are really not that much – so you’re left waiting a long time to try your luck at something. As a gacha, half of the fun is from seeing what you get. Genshin gets almost everything right but the rate at which you get the premium currency and pulls is frankly too low.

I do have to give it to Genshin Impact for their characters. They all have quite unique character designs that aren’t found anywhere else.

For example, Arknights is a PVE only game and has a relatively low rate to gather premium currency but it has systems to mitigate that. Every day, you get more than a couple of chances at getting the highest-star rated heroes from using the recruiting system – for free! So I hope Genshin Impact ups the rewards in the future or implements some sort of system for the free players to get more chances for a shot at some of the special weapons/characters.

How Are The Genshin Impact Events and Community?

Genshin Impact’s community is huge. There’s always a place to talk and discuss the game. There is an endless amount of content created for the game daily on every platform, so it’s easy to find Genshin Impact-related content to consume.

Every major patch will have a big stream to preview upcoming changes and additions.

Every big change or major update, the game usually presents a stream for players to hype up the upcoming changes. However, the infrequency of communication between players and developers leaves a lot to be desired.

What is the Endgame in Genshin Impact?

The endgame in Genshin Impact is when the game starts to show more of its gacha roots for good and for bad. The game starts to introduce harder and harder challenges in the form of the Spiral Abyss. Which is basically just floors of monsters and bosses that you want to get through in a certain amount of time.

In the Spiral Abyss, it’s required that you have 8 characters built up because it requires 2 teams to complete. As the player progresses, the challenges get harder and the enemies get more hp. Therefore, keeping your characters geared up in the form of artifacts – in addition to upgrading them and having the right team combination is essential to completing the Spiral Abyss.

Most of this content will be draining your Resin (which is stamina to enter these dungeons for upgrade materials). Therefore, most of the endgame is about draining these resources to continue to enter these dungeons to get to a point where you’re able to clear the next floor of the Spiral Abyss.

Personally, I don’t mind this gameplay loop for a PvP game but since it’s Genshin Impact – a gacha more about exploration and PvE, it feels like a missed opportunity in this current stage of the game. This missed opportunity is exacerbated by the fact that even though Genshin has co-op functionality, it doesn’t allow teaming up with your friends in this part of the game.

Genshin Impact Verdict

Genshin Impact is a cohesive experience, especially in the early parts of the game. It’s a great fit for newer gacha players and people that want to take it a bit more casual with their time going through the content and enjoying the world of Teyvat.

While the end-game can be a bit grindy and repetitive, it’s a game that is easy to pop back in due to Genshin Impact not overwhelming the players with stuff to do when they log in.

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