Genshin Impact almost qualified for the “Games I dropped in 2023” list, but was spared because I uninstalled it on a whim on January 1st instead. I’ve taken many breaks from GI in the past, but this is the first time I went so far as to uninstall it. I thought I would have second thoughts after a day or two, but no, I honestly hadn’t touched it in a while before then so it makes no difference in my life. It’s just taking up hard drive space at this point.

Why did I uninstall Genshin Impact?

I’ve played it long enough and enjoyed it enough that I’m wondering why myself. Up until the end of Sumeru, I played it very regularly, so I honestly think Fontaine has a lot to do with it. Firstly, the story was flat out depressing and off-putting, as I mentioned in my last brief post on Genshin Impact. Not just the main archon quest involving Furina being mentally tortured for centuries, but also the whole serial killer sub plot.

In fact, mainly the serial killer sub plot because the game wouldn’t let it go. Even after I finished the archon quest, I played Furina’s character quest hoping for some much-needed catharsis, but nooo. Let’s spend an hour talking about this really great person who got murdered by this guy, along with many others, and let’s read all about her last moments in excruciating detail because that’ll really make players feel good, right?

Also while it was good that Furina was forgiven (?!) by the people of Fontaine and returned to the stage in her character quest, I still felt rotten about all she had to go through. It’s bad enough that she got little acknowledgement for her suffering, but then Paimon had to act like an utter twat and rub in her fallen status. Nyaah nyaah, you’re poor and lonely now. Seriously, Paimon? Even if you don’t know her history, is this how you behave to your friends? Friendly to slimebags like Lyney and mean and nasty to poor little Furina? If I didn’t hate Paimon before, I do now.

And speaking of Lyney and his pals, having to pal around with the Fart-hooey is another reason I didn’t enjoy Fontaine. That organization as a whole has done, has tried to do, is unapologetically continuing to do so many bad things on and off screen, but somehow I have to get myself jailed to save the guy who almost drowned an entire city to please his boss? And I have to work with the shady, dishonest kids to do that in the most boring arc ever? Now I think of it, the beginning of the end for GI and I was when there was a free Freminet given away in an event and I was like “Why the hell would I want that?!” At that point, I had already mentally uninstalled, and January 1st was just a formality.

Apart from the story, the combat is still fun but both working on my parties and fighting enemies has gotten stagnant. Now that I’ve gotten a decent party and grown fairly strong, the sense of progression and growing stronger that I enjoy in gacha games is severely reduced. Doing battle quests and mini-games with my party is still fun in its own way, but not as much as it was when I was relying on kind strangers to help me beat Pyro Regisvine. Good old days.

My major characters all have good enough equipment, and all I was doing in recent times was grinding for optimum artifacts – the quickest way to take the fun out of a game. Crap artifact to decent = big jump, everyone’s happy. But after that the gains are marginal and it gets annoying fighting the same domain 20 times in a row to get 50 pieces of trash. At least the similarly frustrating Epic Seven offers background battling now, but you know Mihoyo will never go for that because they think their game is sooo wonderful.

And it is, really. Objectively speaking. Playing Xenoblade Chronicles 3 and Shin Megami Tensei V recently made me appreciate the exploration in Genshin Impact all the more. The maps are huge, and I can go all over the place as long as I have stamina. Instead of being stumped by a tiny ledge that forces me to take a long detour, I’m climbing literal mountains on just a bowl of almond tofu. And the graphics are gorgeous too. Best of all, it’s completely free! I can put up with a lot of frustation in exchange for “completely free,” let me tell you.

That’s why despite all I have said above, Genshin Impact is only dropped “for 2024.” Although the story leaves me cold and pulling and gearing characters isn’t as exciting as it used to be, the exploration is still rock solid. If I reinstall in late 2025 (God willing), both Natlan and Snezhnaya and maybe some other cool places like the Mare Jivari will be out, and I’ll be able to explore, and explore, and explore, and explore… Whew! So see you then, assuming the game is still running and I still care!