What Is Genshin Impact: Complete Beginner’s Guide
Genshin Impact is an open world action RPG developed by HoYoverse. The game takes place on the vast continent of Teyvat, where seven elemental powers shape everything: the story, the environment, the characters, and the combat system. You play as the Traveler, an otherworldly being who searches for a lost sibling and uncovers the mysteries of this land. From the first minutes, the game offers a mix of exploration, real-time battles, puzzles, unique regions, and a growing roster of playable heroes.
The world of Teyvat is divided into several nations. Each nation represents one of the seven elements and is inspired by a real-world culture. Mondstadt resembles a European medieval city focused on freedom, while Liyue draws from Chinese traditions and mountain landscapes. Inazuma takes inspiration from Japanese culture and themes of eternity, Sumeru blends Middle Eastern and South Asian aesthetics, and Fontaine introduces a technologically advanced society. Each region has its own quests, characters, music, atmosphere, and secrets.
Exploration is one of the strongest aspects of Genshin Impact. The game allows you to climb cliffs, glide across valleys, swim through lakes, discover ruins, and unlock hidden locations. Players constantly encounter puzzles, world challenges, bosses, resources, and treasures. Many secrets require using elements creatively, such as lighting torches, freezing water, moving wind currents, or activating stone mechanisms. As you explore, you unlock teleport points and Statues of the Seven, which allow fast travel and reward you with stamina upgrades.
The combat system relies on seven elements: Pyro, Hydro, Electro, Cryo, Anemo, Geo, and Dendro. Every character belongs to one element and uses abilities that apply that element to enemies. When different elements interact, they create reactions such as Vaporize, Melt, Electro-Charged, Superconduct, Bloom, Swirl, and Crystallize. These reactions significantly increase damage, create shields, spread elements across enemies, or trigger chain explosions. Mastering reactions is essential for building effective teams and maximizing damage.
Combat takes place in real time. Players can dodge attacks, aim charged shots with bows, manage cooldowns, and release powerful Elemental Bursts. The game encourages switching between characters to combine abilities quickly and create strong reaction chains. Even simple fights can become strategic if you use the right timing, positioning, and character synergy. Boss fights and higher-level challenges require careful planning, understanding patterns, and proper team composition.
Characters are central to Genshin Impact. Each hero has a backstory, a specific role in battle, a unique skill set, and distinctive animations. Characters are divided by weapon type: swords, claymores, polearms, bows, and catalysts. They also fit into combat roles such as main damage dealer, sub-DPS, healer, shielder, or support. Building a balanced four-character party is essential. A typical team includes a primary damage dealer, a support who provides elemental application, a defensive character, and another support or reaction trigger.
Progression is tied to leveling characters, ascending them, unlocking talents, improving artifacts, and upgrading weapons. Artifacts significantly affect stats and performance, but their randomness makes building strong sets a long-term process. Players experiment with different combinations to maximize attack, critical damage, elemental mastery, or energy recharge depending on the character's role.
Genshin Impact also offers many activities beyond combat. Story quests follow the Traveler’s journey across different nations, while character quests explore individual heroes more deeply. World quests reveal local legends and mysteries. Domains provide artifact and material farming opportunities, weekly bosses offer rare ascension materials, and world bosses help progress characters. Limited-time events introduce mini-games, combat trials, puzzles, and unique temporary activities that expand the game’s world and lore.
The game uses a free-to-play model with a gacha system called Wishes. Players can obtain new characters and weapons through banners. While five-star items are rare, the game provides many ways to earn premium currency through quests, exploration, achievements, and events. The Battle Pass and monthly Blessing offer additional rewards but are optional. Importantly, the game can be completed using free characters if they are properly built.
Genshin Impact remains popular due to its consistent updates, new regions, evolving story, and polished presentation. Each major patch adds new quests, bosses, puzzles, and characters, giving players reasons to return regularly. The combination of exploration, story depth, elemental combat, and artistic design makes Genshin Impact a unique and long-lasting experience for different types of players. Whether you enjoy discovering secrets, building strong teams, or following an expansive narrative, the game provides multiple ways to enjoy its world.