Genshin Impact’s 5.0 update, which takes players to the new region of Natlan, is probably the greatest game yet. Inauma was pretty nice when it released, especially the path to Tenshukaku. Sumeru raised the bar even higher. But Natlan has exceeded such expectations. For the first time, I’m playing Genshin Impact just to look around.
And that might sound odd to two groups of people – both the people focused on the action and the people who have been wide-eyed at Genshin’s beautiful vistas for years – but I find Natlan has a certain vibrancy that takes the whole thing to a new level. Painted murals sprawling along the sides of the cliffs, contrasting with the brown of the stone and the green grass covering the top… it’s brilliant.
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Much of the world design in Natlan is also a departure from previous updates. One of the first main locations you head to is a small town of the Children of Echoes tribe in the northeastern part of the map. It’s a small settlement built into the stone between two giant, cracked stones. There’s a path on the ground that leads right through, but to actually reach the people there, you have to walk up hand-crafted bridges, forcing your camera to capture that picture-perfect image of the place. Over the years, the HoYoverse team has gotten particularly good at setting the frame, which is difficult in games like this that are a lot about open-world exploration.
This major expansion for Genshin Impact has you climbing a lot of large rock walls, which can prove a bit tedious if you’re using the standard climbing mechanics, especially for newer players who have just raced through the main story to catch up. Thankfully, that’s where the Saurian forms come in. You get your first one within five minutes of entering Natlan, and it brings a much-needed refresh to the game’s movement systems. Climbing and gliding in Breath of the Wild have lost their luster for some time now. This isn’t due to a bug in the game, it’s just been around for a while!
Dinosaurs are a salutary antidote to fatigue and frustration in this aspect of the game. The Tepetlisaurus lets you burrow underground, but more importantly, in certain places you can use this technique to quickly rocket up the side of massive mountains! Without this technique, it would honestly be too much effort to see all the beautiful new vistas and landscapes in the 5.0 update. The Yumkasaurus lets you travel great distances in the sky, while the Koholasaurus finally makes traveling over water a pleasure rather than a huge nuisance.
So that’s the visual splendor of Genshin 5.0 on a macro level, but I firmly believe the team at HoYoverse has outdone themselves in terms of character combat effects too! I got to play Kinich early at Gamescom, and his retro video game moveset jumps off the screen at me so much and with so much intensity that I hardly wanted to play anyone else. Other characters introduced here, like Mualani and Kachina, also show signs of improvement over new characters from previous major updates. Genshin Impact’s version 5.0 update is a visual step forward, both physically and mentally.
And there are giant dinosaurs. That has to mean something.
Genshin Impact version 5.0 update is now available! You can download it on PC, console, and mobile platforms.
