Genshin Impact is an action RPG game taking place in the land of Teyvat where the main character (You can choose a female or male protagonist) got unwillingly trapped in there while travelling with her sister by an unknown god. While in Teyvat, they meet Paimon, befriend her and they both go on a Journey on the 7 nations of Teyvat to find their sibling. The story hasn't disappointed me at all so far and the lore is very extensive and interesting to get into.
Gameplay wise, you start with 4 free characters (including the traveler), but you can unlock 4 more for free if you complete some tasks later in the game, which you can use level them up, level up their weapons, increase their talent/skill level and gather artifacts in order to make them stronger. Currently, there are 5 regions available to explore (plus some extra maps such as the Chasm and Enkanomiya) which are very immense and are always very fun to explore, open treasure chests for items, kill enemies for ascension materials, complete various time challenges and solve a lot of puzzles.
In this game a character can hold only one type of weapon. Sword, Claymore (large sword), Bow, Catalyst or Polearm. The types of characters can be separated to: Main DPS (the main character who is mostly on field and does the most damage), Sub-DPS (a character that has high energy recharge and you mostly use his burst for extra damage), Healer, Shielder and damage buffer. I like how the chaacters are seperated like that and it is always interesting when you figure out your own combinations for your team comps.
Even though the beginning might be a bit tedious for players, at high adventure rank, the game becomes way more fun! You get through those Adventure rank barriers and you unlock the true potential of the game! And there is a lot of stuff to do in the game! You can do side quests which give you certain rewards, Archon quests and Story quests which is basically the main story (and unlike wordl quests, those are fully voice acted in 4 languages with a lot of A-list voice actors such as Yukari Tamura in Japanese that did the voice of Furude Rika and Bernkastel from When They Cry.), you can cook food which can replenish health for your character, revive him if he fell and buff his stats. You can also chase Occuli which can increase your stamina bar permanently (you don't need all of them to maximize your stamina bar) and with this way, you can run fast for a longer duration, climb stuff for a longer time and also do more charged attacks without the bar depleting quickly.
The way you unlock characters is based on the gatcha gambling mechanic and a 50/50 pity wish system. If you want to get a 5* character/item, you have to spend 90 wishes on a limited character banner or standard permanent banner. On the limited character banner, if your first 5 star item is not the one featured, then the next 5 star item will be that character on the banner. Some people may become frustrated that you have to do microtransactions to get your desired 5* item or character faster but I believe Mihoyo is lenient enough to give lots of primogems (currency exhanged for wishes) at events that happen during each year, plus you get primogems from adventure rank rewards, Story Quests, Side Quests and Achievements. I personally don't mind that mechanic and it's rewarding when you finally get what you want!
For new players, I recommend them to finish the Archon Quests first and not level up the starting characters too much unless you like their gameplay for a better experience, exhaust the beginner's wish banner and I approve of spending 5 dollars per month to get the Welkin Moon which gives you 300 primogems plus 90 primogems every day you login (You lose your primogems if you have it active and don't login). Also be careful because this game is very addicting! Gambling wise and time-wasting wise.
