Genshin Impact developer further downplays comparisons with Breath of the Wild

By Aaron Mamiit Published April 25, 2023

The developers of Genshin Impact doubled down on their take that the game is not a copycat of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild for the Nintendo Switch, despite player accusations of such ever since the game’s initial trailers.

Recommended Videos

Game developer miHoYo repeated that Breath of the Wild was one of its inspirations in creating Genshin Impact as an open-world RPG, in an interview with FreeMMOStation. “The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is one of the most popular and respected titles in the industry, and one which our staff hold in high regard,” the studio said.

Genshin Impact, however, is “very different” than Breath of the Wild once you play the game, miHoYo said, with multiple characters in a party and Musou-style gameplay. In comparison, players only control Link in Breath of the Wild.

In August 2019 at ChinaJoy, the largest gaming and digital entertainment expo in Asia, a Breath of the Wild fan protested Genshin Impact‘s similarities with the Nintendo Switch game by smashing a PlayStation 4 Pro to the ground.

Genshin Impact is set to launch on September 28 for the PlayStation 4, PC, iOS, and Android. It remains to be seen whether comparisons with Breath of the Wild will die down or intensify once players get their hands on the game.

In the interview, miHoYo also revealed that a Nintendo Switch version of Genshin Impact is in development, and that there are no plans of releasing the game for the Xbox One. The studio also said that it was focusing on the single-player and co-op modes of the game, not on a player-vs-player feature.

Topics

Contributor

Aaron received an NES and a copy of Super Mario Bros. for Christmas when he was four years old, and he has been fascinated…

Gaming

Nintendo’s next console may feature DLSS and ray-tracing support

Mario high-fives Nintendo Live guests.

New reports affirm the rumors that Nintendo has started to show its next-generation console -- referred to colloquially by fans as Nintendo Switch 2 -- behind closed doors at a recent video game industry expo. It reportedly featured tech demos highlighting features like Nvidia DLSS support and ray tracing.
Gamescom 2023 was held in Cologne, Germany, between August 23 and August 27. Nintendo attended the European game industry event, and shortly thereafter, rumors emerged that Nintendo had shown its next console behind closed doors. Now, new reports from Eurogamer and VGC are corroborating these claims.
Specifically, both sources say that Nintendo showed tech demos for its next game console in private during meetings with some other game developers at Gamescom. Both sources confirmed that an upgraded version of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild was shown off on this "Switch 2" hardware.
VGC also had a source who claimed that the impressive The Matrix Awakens Unreal Engine 5 tech demo -- used to promote Epic Games' new engine and the power of the PS5 and Xbox Series X back in 2021 -- was also shown to developers and seemed to confirm that the new Nintendo system will support Nvidia's upscaling DLSS tech as well as ray-tracing. Keep in mind that tech demos for systems often don't make the transition to full-game releases.

We don't know much else about what was shown, although VGC claims that this system will be usable in a portable mode like the Nintendo Switch is. Currently, the launch window for Nintendo's next new piece of hardware is expected to be sometime in fall 2024, although Eurogamer's source stated that "Nintendo is keen to launch the system sooner if possible."
Nintendo has not commented on these rumors, and is unlikely to ahead of an official console reveal. Still, the idea that the next Nintendo console is nearly upon us should be exciting for fans of one of the video game industry's most storied companies.

Gaming

Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom’s box art contains a cute Easter egg for collectors

Link on island in the sky in Tears of the Kingdom.

If you own physical copies of both The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom, here's a cute Easter egg for you. Put both boxes side by side with Tears of the Kingdom on the right. If you don't own the games, here's what that looks like.

Do you notice any link between those two covers (and no, I'm not talking about Link himself). Look closely at where those two covers meet and you'll notice that Tears of the Kingdom's box continues the art of Breath of the Wild's.

Gaming

Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom’s shrines are even better than Breath of the Wild’s

Link stands in front of a shrine in The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom.

As a puzzle game fan, my favorite part of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is its shrines. These mini-dungeons often act as ingenious little puzzle chambers that test my understanding of the game’s abilities and physics. I was thrilled when I loaded up The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom and immediately found that the development team kept that idea intact for the sequel. I’d have over 150 new shrines to hunt down, including a handful that were unlocked via navigation puzzles in the open world.

It’s not just the fact that shrines return, though, that got me excited; it’s the fact that they’re even better this time around. That’s thanks in large part to how they interact with the sequel’s crafting systems, serving a larger purpose beyond giving Link some scattered challenges to solve.
Driving permit exams
Tears of the Kingdom’s shrines aren’t much different from Breath of the Wild’s on paper. Each one functions like a Portal test chamber built around a specific gameplay mechanic or theme. One has players solving puzzles using buoyancy physics, while another has them ascending their way to the top of a rotating cube. Even combat-focused shrines have specific gimmicks this time, testing players’ mastery of specific item fusions or environmental interactions.