You might remember last year when a Chinese game studio called miHoYo revealed their Breath of the Wild clone to the world. Some have taken it as a cool version of the amazing Nintendo game and can't wait to play it. Some got very angry and crashed a PlayStation 4 because it looked alarmingly like the Switch game from Legend of Zelda. Genshin Impact is a free-to-play, fantasy, open-world action role-playing game coming out for PS4, PC and iOS on September 28. But will the development studio give those angry fans the ultimate slap in the face and release it on Switch to directly compete with the game they think they've cloned? Yes.
While the exact release date of Genshin Impact for the Nintendo Switch is still unknown, miHoYo notes that it will arrive on the platform at a later date. Since the game is free to play, there really is no reason why players shouldn't try it out. If you've played hundreds or thousands of hours of Breath of the Wild, including the DLC, and you still don't have enough, Genshin Impact might be scratching that itch. Art style and gameplay are clearly heavily influenced, but when it comes to a game that opened up new mechanics, new ideas and more for open world games and Zelda, which still sits at a score of 97 Metacritic, why can't another studio copy this game? They clearly did something right, and while we don't know how good Genshin Impact is until it's released on the 28th, free games that pique your curiosity are still worth a try. Don't dismiss this game as just a clone though, the game is known to have "elemental interaction-based strategic combat" which the new trailer says looks interesting and could be a lot of fun. There are a lot of things that will remind you of Breath of the Wild, but Genshin Impact seems to be doing its own thing with some unique features compared to its massively successful counterpart. miHoYo probably knew that gamers would see trailers for this game and not give it a chance, so posting it for free gives them a chance to get gamers hooked without assuming it's "just another clone". Look for Genshin Impact on PlayStation 4, PC, and iOS on September 28, as well as Nintendo Switch at a later date.
