Genshin Impact

It is worth being clear about what HoYoverse achieved here, because the gacha framing causes people to dismiss it. Genshin Impact is a large, hand-authored open world with meaningful verticality, a climbing-and-gliding traversal system lifted intelligently from Breath of the Wild, an elemental combat system with real depth, and a production budget visible in every region. That it runs on a phone and costs nothing to install is remarkable.

The combat is the strongest system. Elements combine — electro into hydro, pyro into cryo — producing reactions with distinct damage profiles, and party building becomes an exercise in engineering a reaction loop. At the high end, players optimise rotations frame by frame. At the casual end you set things on fire and it works fine.

The machine underneath

Characters are acquired through limited-time gacha banners with low base rates and a pity counter that guarantees a five-star eventually — but 'eventually' can be an expensive distance away, and the character you want specifically is a further coin flip. Layered on top is the artifact system, where gear stats are randomised across five slots with no deterministic path to a good roll. Resin then caps how many attempts you get per day. Each of these systems is individually defensible; together they are a precision-engineered engagement and spending funnel.

The free path is genuinely viable — patient players clear all story content with a starter roster — and the six-week update cadence delivers real content without charging for it. But go in knowing the shape of the thing. This is a beautiful game that is also a business built on a small number of people spending a very large amount of money.