I can certainly see why people are drawing comparisons – the stamina meter, cooking system, enemy designs, etc – but some disgruntled gamers took it way too far at last year's ChinaJoy, with one peeved player smashing his PS4 in protest.
A ridiculous overreaction? Yes, maybe. But as industry analyst Daniel Ahmad pointed out at the time, Chinese gamers seemed to be taking Genshin's blatant cribbing of ideas from BOTW quite personally.
The news today is that Genshin Impact will eventually launch for Nintendo Switch. We already knew that a mobile version is in the works, but it's nevertheless good to hear that Switch owners will also be able to give it a go.
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The game was previously planned to launch this year, though as Nintendo Life points out, its publisher has since said that the release date is "to be announced", perhaps suggesting that it's still a ways off yet.
Honestly, I think Genshin Impact looks pretty neat. It definitely hews a little too closely to BOTW in several key areas, but its anime-inspired visuals and distinct world design appear sufficiently different in my eyes. The fact that it's heading to mobile also has me super intrigued because it looks to be a fairly ambitious, large-scale project.
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Chances are it probably won't launch until later this year at the earliest. As long as they can get it out before Breath of the Wild 2, eh?
You'll find more info over on Genshin Impact's official site, including the latest updates, character bios, and details on the tie-in manga