Genshin Impact's New Shooter Mechanic Is More Fun Than I Thought I Would Be

We’re only a few days away from the launch of Genshin Impact’s Version 7.0 update on August 12, when we will finally enter the homeland of the Fatui ruled by the Cryo Archon. After all this time, and a lot of side trips, we’ve finally made it to Snezhnaya. And, we’re all pretty excited about that.

Of course, HoYo gave everyone a look at what’s to come in the free-to-play action RPG’s Version 7.0 Special Program. And some of those things we’d already seen teasers on. So while a lot of it wasn’t a big surprise, it’s still stuff players are looking forward to. That’s why MMOBomb gladly accepted when they offered us the chance to get an early look at the update.

It should be noted that what I was able to check out is in no way the full update. In fact, they gave just a tiny taste of the upcoming story content. (And as is always the case with these previews, some of the content we got a peek at isn’t necessarily complete before the game launches.) Only the very beginning of the Archon quest was available – just enough to get into the nation and grant access to what we’re really going to talk about here, the game’s new shooting mechanic.

As ever, I’ll be skipping over story spoilers. All you really need to know here is that through certain means, you gain access to the ability to use firearms. And not just one firearm. Players can carry up to three weapons on them: an assault rifle, a grenade launcher, and frag crystals. The latter is available in various flavors: pyro, hydro, electro, and cryo.

At the beginning, players are given very basic versions of the rifle and launcher. As they play and complete certain objectives, they’ll pick up blueprints for modifications to each. That’s things like stocks, sights, and ammunition expansions.

Wile some of these mods will come from completing general quest stuff. The bulk of them are tied to the Edge of Survival. This basically a shooter activity that throws players into one of three maps where they’ll need to eliminate a certain number of enemies within a specified amount of time.

There are three different maps players can challenge themselves with. Each has selectable modifiers that will increase the difficulty and rewards players can receive. Earning a specific number of point when completing a map earns players medals. Each of the maps can grant up to four medals, for twelve in total. If you want to all of the modifiers available from the Edge of Survival, you’ll need to earn nine of these medals. Earning all 12 medals will get you a special cosmetic item. (I’ll leave what that is as a surprise.)

Now, it should be noted that the gun mechanics are not available everywhere. For now, at least, it seems to be tied to certain quests and the shooter mode I’ve described. When you’re wandering the open-world, or completing unrelated quests, you’ll be back to using your sword and the element of your choosing (or the one the game thinks you need to use at that time).

All that said, I did get to do one big boss fight using firearms. This was a world quest and not an Archon quest, but a big boss fight is a big boss fight. And I have to say, it was fun. I was able to easily swap between the three weapons on the fly, and in the case of the grenade launcher, the elements. With the frag crystal, you have to choose one of the elements when equipping, but it’s not difficult to figure out how to make the best use of them.

And that’s the thing, you really do want to pay attention and figure out which weapon will work the best under what circumstances. For instance, the grenade launcher obviously makes a big boom. It’s also capable of dealing different types of elemental damage. But, it doesn’t have the longest reach. The assault rifle, on the other hand, only deals in cryo damage, but as long as you remember to aim, you can hit almost anything at a great distance. It will take more hits to bring something down, though. And, at least so far, I haven’t been able to drop anyone with a headshot. That said, I have not completed acquiring the mods for either weapon.

To add to the smoothness of the combat, the devs also altered how sprint works when we’re in our run-and-gun mode. Double-dashing with the correct timing will result in a slide that comes in handy not just for dodging bullets, but for accessing places we otherwise wouldn’t be able to get to.

I’ll admit, I’m not sure what I expected from HoYo adding shooter mechanics to the game, but I was pleasantly surprised all the same. It’s obviously not designed exclusively for more serious shooter players, which isn’t too surprising. We’re gacha players, after all. I know that some of y’all out there are probably top tier in your shooter of choice, but for other Genshin players that would be asking a bit too much. This, I think, manages to find a nice in-between, it offers a challenge for those who want it and for those who just want to enjoy the story while shooting at things, it’s good for that too.