Genshin Impact’s 5.0 update brought players to the new area of Natland, which is probably the most gorgeous version of the game yet. Inauma was pretty good when it first came out, especially the walk to the castle tower. Sumeru raised the bar again. But Natland shattered such expectations. This is the first time I played Genshin Impact just to look around.
This might sound strange to two groups of people – those who focus on action, and those who have been marveling at the beauty of the original heart for years – but I think Natlan has a certain energy that takes it to another level. The painted murals on both sides of the cliffs contrast with the brown stones and the green grass covering the top… it’s just amazing.
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A lot of the world design in Natlan has also been innovated from previous updates. One of the first major locations you travel to is a town belonging to the Children of Echoes tribe, located in the northeast corner of the map. It’s a small settlement built between two huge slabs of rubble. There’s a path on the ground that leads straight through, but to actually reach the people there you have to walk up a hand-built bridge, which forces your camera to get a perfect image of the location. Over the years, the HoYoverse team has gotten especially good at composition, which is hard to do in an open-world exploration game like this.
This massive expansion for Genshin Impact has you scaling a lot of large rock faces, which can be a bit tiring if you’re using the standard climbing mechanics, especially for new players who’ve just finished the main story content straight away. Luckily, that’s where Lizard Form comes in. You gain your first Lizard Form within five minutes of entering Natlan, and it brings a much-needed update to the game’s traversal system. For a while now, climbing and gliding in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild has lost its luster. It’s not the game’s fault, it’s just been that long!
Lizardmen provide a healing salve for any weariness and frustration that this aspect of the game brings. Tepetlisaurus lets you burrow underground, but more importantly, you can use this skill to quickly shoot up to giant mountains in certain places! Without this, actually seeing all of the beautiful new vistas and scenery in the 5.0 update would be more effort than it’s worth. Yumkasaurus lets you fly very far into the sky, and Koholasaurus finally makes water travel a pleasure, rather than a headache.
That’s the visual feast that is Genshin 5.0 on a macro level, but I firmly believe that the HoYoverse team has outdone themselves with the character combat effects, too! At Gamescom, I was able to play Kinich early on, and his retro video game moveset jumped off the screen with such style and intensity that I almost didn’t want to play anyone else. The other characters introduced here, like Mualani and Kachina, also show signs of improvement over the new characters in previous major updates. Genshin Impact’s version 5.0 update is a visual upgrade in both body and soul.
And there are giant dinosaurs in it. This must mean something.
Genshin Impact version 5.0 update is now available! You can download it on PC, consoles, and mobile platforms.
