With Genshin Impact’s first major update, ‘A New Star Approaches’, arriving on November 11, we naturally wanted to know what miHoYo has planned for its open world adventure beyond that – and discovered the developer is working to a years-long timescale, and how player behaviour will change where the game goes next.Speaking to IGN, producer and CEO Hugh Tsai, explained that 1.1 is all about “polishing off the Liyue story” that began at Genshin Impact’s launch, “while also continuing to enrich and improve players’ general experience in the game.” As for what comes after that, Tsai explains that “The addition of Dragonspine in Version 1.2 will mark the first major map expansion since the game’s release. New gameplay will also be added at that time, but we can’t reveal any specific details on that just yet. Stay tuned!” We also know that version 1.3 will add the Lantern Rite Festival event.
But what about the overall philosophy for additions to Genshin Impact? Well, it seems that how the game progresses, and the stories told along the way, are somewhat up to the players themselves: “Ultimately, how we will advance the Genshin Impact story is not set in stone. We will consider where players are up to in their journey through [the game world] Teyvat when planning out new content, and either advance the main story or add stand-alone stories on the side. The bottom line, though, is that whatever we do will focus on telling the story of the Traveler’s journey through Teyvat.”
It’s clear that the overall goal is to add all seven major regions of Teyvat. The game launched with two, and Dragonspine will mark the third, but it’ll be some time before the entirety of the world will be open to players: “At present, our team is still very much focused on releasing and refining the content for Teyvat. As we’ve said previously, it will take several years to cover all seven regions of Teyvat and their related cultures, stories, and other game content in full depth.”
I ask if there are plans for what happens when Teyvat is complete. The game opens with the suggestion that there are multiple dimensions or planes of existence in the universe of Genshin Impact – could we travel between them down the line? “All we can say,” says Tsai, “is wait and see!”
Story and locations are just a portion of what Genshin Impact offers, however – it’s built on a base of action as well as exploration, and I ask Tsai if miHoYo sees that foundation as completely finished, or if we could see more action elements – perhaps even more elemental types and interactions between them – added over time.
“Lots of the feedback we’ve received from players have been asking for expansions to the co-op mode and in-game interactions. Regarding the co-op part, we plan to keep enriching players’ co-op experience through in-game events, such as the recently launched Elemental Crucible challenge, the Unreconciled Stars event in the upcoming Version 1.1 update, and further content to be announced in due course.
“However, expanding on the fundamental rules that underlie how everything in Teyvat operates is not such a simple task. We would need to ensure that any new content fits seamlessly within the existing rules, while also continuing to ensure a fairly high degree of playability. This poses significant challenges to our design team.”
With that in mind, I ask if there’s any kind of finish line in mind for miHoYo – is there a “final” version of Genshin Impact that they’re working towards? “We do not have a hard-and-fast timeline at this stage, and our focus at present is on continuing to update the game and release new content to keep improving players’ experience. It comes down to our team’s faith in and passion for Genshin Impact on the one hand, and the ongoing support of players around the world on the other. As long as Genshin Impact can continue to deliver great experiences and quality entertainment, this otherworldly journey will go on.”
We said “incredible open-world and addictive exploration make Genshin Impact anime-zing adventure” in our 9/10 review. If you’re playing right now, check out our interactive map of Teyvat to find its hidden secrets,a nd learn everything you need to know in our Genshin Impact wiki.
Joe Skrebels is IGN’s Executive Editor of News. Follow him on Twitter. Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to newstips@ign.com.Source