Genshin Impact Dev Responds To Breath Of The Wild Clone Comments, Insists It's A "Very Different" Experience

Arriving on Switch at a later date

Last year, as you might recall, a Zelda fan smashed a PlayStation 4 in rage when miHoYo revealed its Breath of the Wild look-a-like, Genshin Impact.

The protests didn't end there, either - with other Zelda owners holding up their own copies of Breath of the Wild while pointing their middle fingers at the stage where Genshin Impact was being shown, and claiming the game was a "shameless" clone.

With this in mind, during a recent interview with FreeMMOStation, the game's developer made an effort (again) to address the comparisons between the two titles - and while it's already admitted Breath of the Wild was, in fact, one of the sources of inspiration, this time around it noted how the overall experience would actually be "very different" to Zelda.

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is one of the most popular and respected titles in the industry, and one which our staff hold in high regard. In a post that our team circulated to players last year, we mentioned that The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild was one of our inspirations for creating Genshin Impact as an open-world action RPG. That said, it is important to note that once you actually pick up the game, you will find the experience of Genshin Impact to be very different from that of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. Genshin Impact features a fully original story and characters, and the core gameplay revolves around assembling a party of multiple characters and engaging in a combat system based on interactions between different elements. As we go from closed beta to official release, players will soon be able to discover the unique features and joy that Genshin Impact delivers.

In case you forgot how different this upcoming free-to-play action RPG is, here's another look at the gameplay:

Genshin Impact launches on PS4 next week and will arrive on the Switch at a later date. Will you be giving it a chance when it's released for free on Nintendo's hybrid system. Let us know below.