Genshin Impact is a masterpiece that delivers on every front except—the endgame!
September 28, 2020—Genshin Impact was released on the PlayStation, PC, Android and iOS platforms. I have been following the game since its first CBT, and as a Senior Guides Writer, I was eager to try it on day one to see the guide's potential it had.
I installed the game on my PC and started playing it. In the first few minutes, I was hooked on the game, and seeing the number of puzzles, items, and other things that were perfect for guides, I started playing it nonstop.
Genshin Impact was my first gacha game experience, and I was enjoying it, thanks to the unique story, quests (Archon and world quests), music, fast pace action-packed gameplay with the unique elemental reaction and resonance mechanics and a big freaking open world filled with POIs, puzzles, treasures and many things to explore and find.
Everything was good until I reached the end game! Mondstadt—done! Liyue—done! Spiral Abyss—done! As a live-service game, Genshin Impact lacked one of the most important things—the end game.
For Genshin Impact, the Spiral Abyss was the end-game where you can test your builds, team comps and get somewhat rewarded for it. But it was not enough as even with the starter team, with the right weapon, artifacts and team comps, you could clear the end-game.
Then, what was the meaning of collecting and raising that many characters? I soon realized that this is how these gacha games work, and it was totally different from the experiences I had before while playing games like Diablo, Destiny, and others.
As a result, I started playing Genshin Impact only when a new update came out. Now, at the time of writing, in September this year, Genshin Impact will be four years old, yet there is no end-game content or even a roadmap for it.
I love the game and the efforts Hoyoverse is putting into fleshing out the story and other aspects of the game and raising the quality bar, but the lack of end-game content and basic things like artifact loadouts and other quality-of-life features still makes the experience somewhat underwhelming.
Recently, the events and the new regions, along with several new mechanics, did spark an interest to revisit the game on a daily basis—but it only lasted for a month.
Moreover, Hoyoverse confirmed back in 2022 that they wouldn't be adding any more end-game content as it creates a form of anxiety among the players, whereas they envision Genshin Impact as a more casual game for casual gamers, the main target audience; things are not looking good for players waiting for end game content.
I hope the developers realize that actual end-game content with ever-changing nuances is more important than pushing out filler characters like Chiori and others during filler updates.