Genshin Impact, the Zelda: Breath of the Wild inspired open world game developed by Chinese studio miHoYo, received the Best Game of the Year award from Google Play.
Any title crowned Best Game has to exceed expectations and deliver compelling, accessible, genre-defining experiences. Thankfully, this year’s winner does all this without missing a beat. Our Best Game of 2020 is Genshin Impact.
Bound through rolling fields and bustling cities, soaking up majestic views from towering heights. The vast open world of Teyvat is yours to explore as you gather a team of intrepid travelers and search for knowledge on commanding the elements. Genshin Impact blew us away with its sheer scale and ambition. Recruit characters and fight together in a richly detailed, utterly beautiful world. Combat is fast and fluid, with each fight a spectacle to behold. Quite simply, this is the best game we’ve played this year.
Indeed, Genshin Impact turned out to be an impressive game when you consider it’s a free-to-play title. In Wccftech’s review, Nathan scored it 7 out of 10 with the following summary:
Genshin Impact is a remarkable game in many respects, boasting vibrant visuals, a rich, sprawling world, deep systems, and finely-tuned action. Unfortunately, the game’s free-to-play gacha business model often undermines its own sense of adventure and excitement. Genshin Impact is a good — potentially great — game locked in a loot box it can’t quite escape.
The game, currently available on PC, Android, iOS, and PlayStation 4, also recently got a new update which enhanced it for the PlayStation 5. The game now runs at 3360×2160 and almost steady 60FPS on Sony’s new console.
A Nintendo Switch port of Genshin Impact has been announced earlier this year, but there’s no date for it yet.