I am a firm believer that games, at heart, are an art form. They exist like all other art mediums not for any extrinsic value such as money or fame, but for the inherent beauty that they posess. Art, for the sake of art.

Yet, this "game", or rather I should call it, kitsch, goes against all of those values. Yes, the waifus are hot, which is why this gets more than a half star rating. But in terms of its design, it's clear that every aspect around this piece of kitsch revolves around making mihoyo money. And to be fair, there's nothing wrong with that. What I take offense to is the idea that this is somehow a game. Call it a digital experience, a interactive simulator, whatever, but don't call it a game. It lacks any sort of artistic merit or creative vision needed for pixels on the screen to be classified as a game by me.

The story, while better than genshit, is still hilariously bland and generic. Characters pop out of nowhere and are introduced with gaping holes in the plot and lopsided development, all for the sole reason so that they can later be sold as 5 stars a few months down the line. The environment and world, while beautiful, is hollow and static: there's no life to be found in the scenery here, only eye-candy setpieces and window-dressing that fades in the midst of time. For all the expansive set of characters and lore, there is nothing to keep me caring or invested in any of it due to the stylistically uneven and overly flowery writing and bad story. The gameplay, while passable (another reason why it doesn't get a 0.5/5 star rating), has almost zero connection to the story and feels forced in, like at a boardroom meeting a bunch of mihoyo executives looked at a chart and determined that the target audience wanted turn-based combat rather than considering whether said turn-based combat would work in the context of every other part of the game.

And really, that's my main concern with this game. Up until I abandoned it out of pure disgust, the entire game felt...constructed. Every single stylistic and gameplay choice made in this game felt formulaic and -- again -- made with the goal of monetization. Every single dialogue line felt forced and made with some ulterior goal or motivation rather than being spoken for the sake of speech itself.

If you want to play a "game", don't play this, because it simply is not one. It's a highly elaborate interactive gacha simulation with all the beauty, creativity, vision, and perspective that makes games one of my favorite artistic mediums ripped out and replaced with shady monetization and shameless sexualization.

Overall Rating: 1/5 (Dumpster Fire)