Genshin Impact vs. Zelda: Breath of the Wild - 20 Biggest Similarities

While Genshin Impact shares many elements of Breath of the Wild such as cooking and shrines, other parts of the game stand out heavily as something pulled directly from Breath of the Wild. Here are our favorite picks of the most significant similarities.

Genshin Impact looks a lot like The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, to the point that plenty of folks immediately compared the two when Genshin Impact was first announced. But the similarities between the two games is more than skin-deep--both share a few mechanics and features, as well.

In the video above, Max Blumenthal shows off these similarities, ranging from how the characters move and attack to what types of puzzles are found in both games. Genshin Impact even manages to take inspiration from Breath of the Wild's Champion Abilities, as three of the RPG's characters possess powers that closely resemble Daruk's Protection, Revali's Gale, and Urbosa's Fury in both appearance and utility.

Which isn't to say that Genshin Impact is an exact copy of Breath of the Wild; it's just heavily inspired by Nintendo's opus. As Max explains in another video, Genshin Impact builds upon what Breath of the Wild does, utilizing the mechanics and features of an open-world action game to amplify its RPG gameplay.

Created by Chinese developer Mihoyo, Genshin Impact is a free-to-play, open world RPG available for PC, PS4, and mobile devices (a Switch port is in the works as well). The game sees you play as an evolving party of different characters, each of whom can command one of the world's elements. You can unlock new characters by playing the game or pay real-world money to participate in the gacha mechanics--basically a randomized loot box.