“So, who hasn’t done their daily commissions yet?” A friend asks all of us in our Discord server group as we log in to the game, Genshin Impact.

“I haven’t!” someone replies as we start our daily Genshin adventures with each other. We explore the various locations throughout the game as we glide, climb or teleport to places open on the map. We enter the world of various side stories and main stories with new characters almost every time. We battle monsters on the daily with some co-op help from friends every now and then. (I’m looking at you, Wolf of the North.)

I’m not exactly what you call a gamer, playing otome games (romance-driven video games with female protagonists) most of the time, but I do appreciate adventure games as I used to play an online one as a kid called Adventure Quest Worlds. Not exactly the same, but it was a fun game to 8-year-old me.

So what exactly is this game called Genshin Impact that many people have been crazy about? Is it actually worth the hype it brings? Well, for now I’ll tell you about my journey with the whole game so far.

Genshin Impact is an open world game set in Teyvat. It’s a game wherein you not only do the main story as your quest, but also side quests and side stories to understand the world better.

I started playing Genshin around less than a month after its release. I wasn’t really interested in games, in general, but my friends did seem very interested, so I started playing as well.

As soon as I created an account and started the game, I found it very intriguing. I was, at first, going to try only for the pretty art style as I wanted to draw inspiration from it. But I got more than I asked for and I’m really happy about that.

So what exactly makes this game special? To me, at least, one thing would be the pretty art style my friends had dragged me in with. The characters are so cool and I like what they wear and what they look like a lot. Another thing would be the lore of the game; so many things are interconnected and they make the game so beautifully tailored.

‘Gacha’ games

If you like gacha games, you’ll also appreciate Genshin… but probably will get hurt by the gacha rates for 5 stars (Diluc, come home please). The gacha makes wanting to get the five stars painful and fun, though. Another thing would be that even nonplayer characters (NPCs) are given attention to detail. So many of the NPCs have their own stories included in the world quests and it’s so touching and sad to hear some of their stories.

Speaking of characters and NPCs, we all have our picks for our main heroes and favorite characters. If I were to pick a character, it would have to be Keqing, a five star. Not only does she have an interesting character, but she is also now my main hero in my party. She’s very pretty, and is known as the Yuheng of the Liyue Qixing. She’s a sword user and has an electro vision.

There are seven elements in the game and five different classes for what weapons they use. But I’ll leave you to research what the rest are and what makes them so interesting.

Genshin also sort of becomes an escape from the world and the pandemic; it’s amazing. It’s a game not all may appreciate, because of the monster fighting and character level up grinding, but it really is a wonderful game.

I came for the pretty art style, but I’m not leaving anytime soon. The game only has two out of the many countries you’ll be traveling to in the game so far. The many wonders of the theories for the lore will probably keep you interested as you wait, because I know it makes me think quite often.

Try this game that has captured the hearts of many. I play it on my laptop but it’s available on a number of devices. Oh, I have to go now, it’s time to go gliding with my friends to start on a new quest! —CONTRIBUTED INQ

Isobelle Cleofas is a 17-year-old student from Quezon City.