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Genshin Impact is celebrating its 3rd anniversary with events, rewards, and prizes. After three years, HoYoverse’s flagship gacha title is as popular as ever and still improving with every patch. Looking back at the launch, Genshin almost feels like an entirely different game. With more content, new systems, and tons of added characters, it’s incredible to see the progress the series has made. For any Travelers feeling nostalgic, here are five ways Genshin Impact has changed after three years.
Genshin’s Teyvat Started Much Smaller Before Its 3rd Anniversary
Early in the days of Genshin Impact, the game map was significantly smaller. Nowadays, players have five unique regions to explore in Teyvat. This includes Mondstadt, Liyue, Inazuma, Sumeru, and Fontaine. In the beginning, on the other hand, players only had the first two regions, Mondstadt and Liyue. Additionally, parts of these starter regions weren’t even included in Genshin yet. Zones like Dragonspine and the Chasm were unavailable at launch despite feeling like staple areas of the provinces, respectively.
Although the original map was much smaller than it is today, the initial adventures of Teyvat still hold a special place in my heart. It’s hard to imagine Genshin Impact without all the sprawling landscapes to explore. Still, at the same time, it shows just how far the game has come leading up to its 3rd anniversary.
The Character Roster Has Grown Massively
Of course, one of the most important elements of Genshin Impact is the characters. As the main source of monetization, every new character is treated as a massive occasion in the Genshin community. With over 70 characters to play, Genshin’s roster has become so large that at least one character is bound to appeal to each player. Though it may be hard to believe, there were only 22 characters to choose from in the beginning.
Players only had two options for 5-star limited banner characters: Klee and Venti. Nowadays, it’s standard to run two banners side by side, though, in Genshin’s early days, only one banner would run at a time. This change didn’t come about until Genshin Version 2.2. Early characters in Genshin, though fewer in number, still had a special twinge of nostalgia that is hard to replace.
Quality-of-Life Improvements Make Genshin Easier To Play
Genshin Impact, though a strong game all around, has had a fair share of issues leading to its 3rd anniversary. From annoying map problems to strangely limited inventory size, Genshin had many shortcomings that are no longer present in the game today. Although the game has a long way to go with possible improvements, in-game features and the overall gameplay experience have been much more enjoyable since launch.
This is especially true for the map adjustments added recently in Genshin, which allow players to see different caves and subterranean zones on the map. Hopefully, Genshin will keep pushing for these changes and make it even better over the next three years.
Basic Systems Have Been Improved Compared to Launch
A few systems in Genshin have been changed in the time leading to its 3rd anniversary. While this may not be the biggest detail or the most noticeable, these improvements have kept the game fresh over the years. Very recently, the Daily Commission system, which has remained largely unchanged since launch, has received an overhaul.
On top of this, new character poses in the party builder screen, changes to the weapon banner pity system, and an increase to the Resin cap. The party builder screen has received beautiful new backgrounds and amazing new character poses. For weapon banners, players can now choose which weapon they want to receive for pity after a certain number of roles. Finally, the Resin cap was increased from a pitiful 120 to 180, showing that HoYoverse severely underestimated how much players would want to play Genshin at launch.
Added Forms of Content Makes Genshin Feel Alive Even After Three Years Launch
Finally, a series of smaller additions over the years have truly fleshed out Genshin as a wonderful game. This includes the Serenitea Pot, allowing players to customize a personalized home, and Hangout Events, which involve spending extra time with select 4-star characters. Base-building, although unexpected, makes for a fun distraction in Genshin and can lead to some great rewards to earn once you’re done grinding for the day. Hangouts seem like a given for the genre as well, especially due to Genshin’s character-focused playstyle.
Developing these characters we’ve grown to love even further is an amazing choice by HoYoverse. All of these content expansions make Genshin feel so much more alive than it did on launch. Most impressive of all is the arguable inclusion of a whole collectible card game, Genius Invokation TCG. Based on all these added elements, it’s easy to see the level of care and passion that goes into developing Genshin Impact leading to its 3rd anniversary.
