A curious game by the name of Genshin Impact, heavily inspired by The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, was announced Friday night. Developed by Shanghai studio miHoYo, Genshin Impact is an open world action game with stylized Zelda-like environments and anime characters. In Genshin Impact's first trailer, miHoYo teases a huge explorable fantasy world, an epic story of dragons and magic, and lots of action. Finally, Genshin Impact's release in spring 2020 on PC and iOS was teased.

The Breath of the Wild influence isn't overtly mentioned by miHoYo, but is especially clear from a viewing of Genshin Impact's announcement trailer. The final shot where the main protagonist looks out over the world is particularly similar to Breath of the Wild's announcement trailer, with Link looking out on Hyrule from the plateau. The scene with the fire in the grass is also similar to Breath of the Wild.

For those unfamiliar, miHoYo is best known for its mobile game series Honkai Impact. The sci-fi series features third-person 3D action gameplay and a similar cell-shaded anime-style, with a mission-based structure. Honkai Impact is extremely popular in Asia and the most recent game in the series, Honkai Impact 3rd, was released in the west. Genshin Impact looks to build off of its predecessor's success worldwide.

A big question looms, however, as to how much Genshin Impact's design is going to be taken from Honkai Impact. Honkai is filled with gacha content and microtransactions, randomized rewards and time-limiting systems. It seems likely Genshin may as well, given that the supposedly single-player game is planning a technical beta at the end of June. Single-player games don't require betas, but those with online gacha and microtransaction systems do.

While there's clearly a lot left to be revealed about Genshin Impact, there's no argument that it makes a very good first impression. Barring any microtransaction-based limitations on progress and exploration, there's a lot to love about the idea of an open world fantasy game with an epic story. Hopefully, miHoYo plans to capitalize on those Zelda design principles and isn't just capitalizing on the aesthetic. Expect to hear more on Genshin Impact in the weeks to come, or visit the game's official website to look into its upcoming beta.

Genshin Impact releases Spring 2020 on both PC and iOS devices.