Genshin Impact, basically Breath of the Wild for mobile, is getting another closed beta this month

Heading to mobile, PC, and consoles later this year

By Cameron Bald

|13 hours ago

iOS + Android

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Genshin Impact

Genshin Impact's latest PC, iOS, and Android closed beta is set to begin later this month on March 19th. According to Gematsu, those who signed up to take part should be notified shortly. 

To say this one looks good would be an understatement. But there's a slight problem: Some people, including attendees of last year's ChinaJoy event, believe that Genshin Impact hews a little too closely to Nintendo's beloved The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.

When Mihoyo unveiled Genshin Impact for PS4, many noted the game was inspired by BOTW. Some fans of BOTW are upset that Sony is promoting this game because of the similarities + they think it’s shameless of Sony. This man smashed his PS4 at ChinaJoy in protest. pic.twitter.com/jwJqwREgaz — Daniel Ahmad (@ZhugeEX) August 3, 2019

It's hard not to spot numerous similarities between their world and enemy designs. In some cases, it's outright glaring. Sure, the addition of popular mechanics like a stamina meter and cooking system could be put down to coincidence, but when added together, it does feel like calling it "Breath of the Wild-inspired" doesn't tell the full story.

As much as you could rag on Genshin Impact for taking liberally from BOTW, the reality of the matter is that it still looks really darn impressive, doubly so considering it's targeting mobile devices.

The anime-style character designs, addition of more typical RPG levelling systems, and vastly different combat mechanics might be enough to separate the two and allow Genshin to shake the ripoff label, though that remains to be seen.

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The game's first closed beta took players to Mondstadt, the "City of Wind". This latest test unlocks the stunning Liyue region. Check out the trailer above to get a proper feel for the area. All told, I'm getting slightly reduced BOTW vibes from the latest footage, so I'd advise giving the PS4 gameplay trailer a watch to see some of the more overt similarities.

Genshin Impact is set to launch for PC, consoles, iOS, and Android later this year. If the mobile version arrives in a half-decent state, it could well be one of the biggest games of 2020.