The free-to-play RPGGenshin Impactboasts a large roster of playable characters that are obtainable mainly through its gacha system. The game allows players to build teams of four characters at a time and swap between them at will, creating squads with varying weapons and elemental abilities. Despite the plethora of options, the playableGenshin Impactcharacters also have very noticeable similarities.
There are now63 playable characters inGenshin Impactthat players can unlock using in-game currency to purchase wishes. These are all fairly distinct from one another, possessing one of seven vision power types and one of five weapon types. However, beyond their abilities and general cosmetics, nearly every character inGenshin Impactappears to fit a similar racial profile.
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Xinyan, Cyno, and Candace
Among the roster of 63 playable characters, only three that are noticeably different from the others. While there are no clearly defined races inTeyvat, the established setting ofGenshin Impact, there are seven different regions with four currently being available to explore.
Xinyan is a pyro character from Liyue Harbor, originally released in December 2020 a few months afterGenshinhit shelves. Xinyan’s passion is rock and roll, and her character uses guitar-themed special attacks alongside her claymore sword. She currently has the darkest complexion of any character inGenshin Impact, and while she is from Liyue originally, there are 16 other characters from the same region who all share a pale complexion.
Two other clearly non-white characters areCandace and Cyno, newer characters from the Sumeru region. While Candace and Cyno feature similar character designs, and are both from Aaru Village in the Sumeru desert, they are not related. While less distinct than Xinyan, the two are also noticeably darker-skinned than the other characters from Sumeru. Candace and Cyno wear outfits that are heavily inspired by Egyptian culture, which would align with their more middle-eastern appearances.
Genshin Impact Needs more Diversity in Teyvat Regions
Every region released inGenshin Impactso far is based on a real-life counterpart. Mondstadt is based on Germany, Liyue is based on China, and Inazuma is based on Japan. In these three regions, the argument could be made that the playable characters are depicting the majority populations of these areas where one would expect more fair-skinned individuals. But while that can be true, racial diversity still exists everywhere in the world. Many current playable characters could be either white or Asian, but their appearances give very few indicators of that difference.
ThenewestGenshin Impactregion, Sumeru, is confirmed to be based on a mix of Middle Eastern, South Asian, and Northern African cultures. If it were true that developer HoYoverse intends to create characters that match the demographics of the region they are from, most of the characters from Sumeru don’t make as much sense. While fairer-skinned people do live in these regions, real-life demographics do not match the ratios set for Sumeru.
There are still threeunreleased regions inGenshin Impact: Fontaine, Natlan, and Snezhnaya. Fontaine and Snezhnaya are reportedly going to be modeled after real-world France and Russia, respectively. While both these regions are predominantly white, the developer still has a chance to implement some racial diversity. Most notably, Natlan is rumored to be based on either Spanish or West African cultures, the latter of which gives HoYoverse a huge opportunity to implement a majority non-white roster of characters.
Genshin Impacthas a long way to go with racial diversity, but fans still love the existing characters and world of Teyvat. HoYoverse isconsistently releasing new playable characters inGenshin Impactand teasing information about upcoming regions, so there will likely be many more opportunities new non-white characters to be playable. For now, fans will await the next major region to fill out the world of Teyvat.
Genshin Impactis available now for Mobile, PC, PS4, and PS5. A Switch version is in development.
