The Inazuma update for Genshin Impact has brought plenty of new content for players to enjoy alongside numerous announcements for the future. MiHoYo recently revealed a number of new characters including the Electro Archon Baal, but perhaps the most unexpected one was the reveal of Genshin Impact's first crossover character. Aloy from Horizon Zero Dawn is set to arrive for free later in October this year and will be a Cryo bow user.
Although it's common for many gacha games to feature crossovers from other popular IPs, it's surprising that Genshin Impact has started doing them as well given that the characters actually have full models and voice acting. Nonetheless, this opens up numerous possibilities for other collaborations down the road and there are plenty popular of series that have interesting characters to fit in with Genshin Impact's world.
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Of all the possible collaborations with Genshin Impact, miHoYo's other game Honkai Impact 3rd, seems like the most obvious choice and it's surprising to see that it didn't turn out to be the first. In fact, Honkai Impact 3rd has already had Genshin Impact characters like Fischl and Keqing appear in crossover events and items like the Klee costume for Theresa. There's plenty of potential for Valkyries and their battlesuits to show up in Genshin Impact as playable characters with minor tweaks.
Yoko Taro loves to do crossovers with the NieR series and has even been directly involved in some of them like Final Fantasy 14's YoRHa: Dark Apocalypse raids. NieR has already done crossovers with MMOs, gachas, and even Fall Guys so having a Genshin Impact collaboration wouldn't be too far-fetched. Although 2B would be the most likely candidate, Genshin Impact's weapon variety could offer other characters a chance to shine like Emil wielding a catalyst or 9S as a support offering shields and healing.
A crossover with The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild might be a stretch considering how protective Nintendo is of their IPs but it does share a lot of similarities with Genshin Impact. With a Nintendo Switch version of Genshin Impact still in development, there's certainly a possibility that Link could make an appearance in Genshin Impact even if it ends up being exclusive. Link's ability to use different types of weapons gives him flexibility and he could use an Anemo Vision as well.
On the other hand, it might be more likely that a franchise published but not developed by Nintendo like Fire Emblem would end up as the representative in Genshin Impact. Fire Emblem: Three Houses was a massive success for the franchise and Byleth alongside the house leaders Edelgard, Dimitri, and Claude would make for interesting Genshin Impact characters. Characters like Edelgard might need some minor tweaks to their weapons but Fire Emblem has a lot of potential with characters and weapons. Beyond Fire Emblem: Three Houses, the series' long history means older characters like Marth or Ike could also make an appearance.
The upcoming Tales of Arise is aiming to revitalize the franchise and a collaboration with Genshin Impact could help put more eyes on the Tales series' new direction. Furthermore, the fantasy settings in Tales games share a number of similarities with Genshin Impact given their emphasis on magic and light sci-fi elements. Tales protagonists like Lloyd or Velvet would fit nicely with the world of Genshin Impact and could be a lot more lore-friendly in their events or hangouts than other potential crossovers.
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Gacha games doing crossovers with anime series is nothing new so it wouldn't be surprising to see Genshin Impact do an event with Demon Slayer, the biggest anime series in the world right now. The breathing techniques in Demon Slayer already have elemental affinities and it wouldn't be difficult to translate them to the world of Genshin Impact. For example, Tanjiro could be a Hydro character, Zenitsu could be an Electro character, and Rengoku could be a Pyro character.
With Sony and miHoYo collaborating to bring Aloy to Genshin Impact, there could be plenty of future crossovers down the road as well. God of War would be an obvious choice but Kratos might not be the best fit given that he now wields an ax and has a more muscular body type than the adult male characters like Zhongli or Childe. However, Atreus would fit in nicely with his bow, and his elemental arrows could act as a Vision.
The Monster Hunter series is no stranger to crossovers having appeared in numerous other games and events. Although Monster Hunter likely wouldn't bring any new characters to Genshin Impact, it'd be perfect as an event where players would have to take on a new boss like Rathalos. It would also be the perfect event to introduce new weapons to Genshin Impact as Monster Hunter is well-known for its diverse and unique arsenal.
With the explosive popularity of Persona 5 over the past few years, it's not surprising to see that the game has had numerous crossovers with other games like Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, Dragalia Lost, and AFK Arena. Any of the Phantom Thieves could make an appearance in Genshin Impact although some characters like Joker might need tweaking due to their weapons not fitting into the standard Genshin Impact archetypes. On the other hand, characters like Yusuke would naturally fit in as a Cryo sword user. Regardless, the sheer popularity of Genshin Impact and Persona 5 makes this an obvious potential crossover.
Genshin Impact is available for Mobile, PC, PS4, and PS5, with a Switch version in development.