Anime-Styled F2P Action MMORPG Genshin Impact Launching Later This Year

Free-to-play, cel-shaded action MMORPG Genshin Impact will be making its way to the West in 2020. The game takes place in the land of Teyvat, "a fantasy world where the seven elements flow and converge." Your character is a traveler from a distant land who's awoken in Teyvat and are looking for the Archons of the seven elements, who once granted mortals amazing powers.

Genshin Impact is described by Shanghai-based developer miHoYo -- which has the tagline "Tech otakus save the world" -- as an "Open-world ARPG game," though the gameplay snippets in the videos look more like what we'd classify as an "RPG with action combat" rather than a strict "ARPG" like Path of Exile. You'll have a cute companion, known as a Paimon, to help you on your way as you journey through Teyvat's "varied landscapes, culturally-diverse towns, and treacherous dungeons."

miHoYo is currently taking beta signups for the game, which will see players explore Liyue Harbor and its "unique architectural style, bountiful landscape and rich natural heritage." The previous beta test focused on Monstadt, the City of Wind. Genshin Impact is expected to have a full launch in late 2020 on "PlayStation, Nintendo Switch, PC, iOS and Android."