Genshin Impact’s War-Torn Natlan Is Somehow Gleeful And Cheery, What A Waste

Gacha games, a genre no one knew about suddenly became the talk of the town with millions of followers. Taking advantage of the popularity boon, multiple titles appeared one after the other. Tower of Fantasy, Honkai Star Rail, Wuthering Waves, and even the recent Zenless Zone Zero. Still, the one that started it all continues to reign supreme.

Genshin Impact, mihoyo’s unprecedented giant and a masterclass of open-world design blew this niche genre wide open. And now, despite solid competition, its open-world prowess remains unmatched. However, is it still the best in certain other factors? I think its underlying problems are too big to ignore now.

A New Region’s Hype

I’m one of the biggest Genshin Impact followers around, but even I’m inclined to agree that its lackluster gameplay mechanics and content shortage are way less than ideal. Yet people continue to play the game, why’s that? It’s solely because Genshin’s open-world philosophy is a little too good.

Genshin impact raised the bar for the open world games.
byu/NarrowBackground inGenshin_Impact

This comes into effect especially when a new region is about to drop. With a completely new theme, design concept, environments, puzzle mechanics, and a renewed sense of discovery, a new region is the most hyped event in the game’s journey.

Look at Sumeru and Fontaine for example. These regions erased all complaints and “cheap Breath of the Wild copy” allegations. And for good reasons; it earned its identity long ago. Sumeru’s dynamic of rich grasslands and barren deserts with hidden secrets, and Fontaine’s underwater exploration have no rival. And now, the next, volcanic region Natlan is around the corner. 

Since When Did War Mean Fun And Games?

Ever since it was revealed that Natlan would be a war-torn, grim region filled with dragons and life-ending volcanic landscapes, my excitement for it was unreal. I couldn’t wait to experience this serious change in tone alongside a new marvel of a world. However, the recent trailer has left me in shambles.

Hoyoverse has introduced the new Natlan region and its inhabitants, and let’s just say I was massively disappointed. The dragons in question are all chibi and cutesy with no sense of dread or seriousness. The war we were promised is replaced with us playing around with these mascot-esque creatures, helping them find their lost “colors” or whatever the hell that even is.

Disappointed with Natlan
byu/JehanKE2326 inGenshin_Impact

Where is the war-torn wasteland? Where are the massive dragons glaring daggers at you? The ominous volcanic wasteland? Even the lava is so goofy here that it loses all sense of danger. Cheerfully playing around with chibi dragons and participating in all happy, giggly minigames and events destroyed the beautifully grim image in my mind, and replaced it with lament looking at this missed opportunity.

Genshin Never Uses Grim Tones In Real Time

This highlights an underlying problem with Genshin’s story delivery I’ve had for a long time now. Genshin never dabbles into the grim and the serious actively on screen. Its lore and past events are filled with wars, tragedy, tyrants, death, and every grim concept on the planet. Yet it never happens on the screen in the present.

Comment
by from discussion
inGenshin_Impact

Even if a tragic event is described, it’s something that happened in the past. There are never emotionally stirring wars, realistic deaths, or even injured characters visually on the screen. Genshin’s determination to keep things mellow and “only indirectly grim” is honestly so much wasted potential. Especially with what they did with Natlan.

Even if the game hasn’t gone this route in the past, Natlan was the perfect setting for this. A war-torn world would’ve had all the opportunities in the world to showcase violence and heart-wrenching scenarios in real time. Instead, we got cheerful fun and games. Such a waste.

Comment
by from discussion
inGenshin_Impact

I know I’ll end up enjoying Natlan’s world design, but never its cheery tone and gleeful circumstances. Natlan may end up appealing in exploration incentive and open-world creativity, but mihoyo seriously needs to consider more grim tones.