Reimagining Genshin Impact
Bringing accessibility and diversity to the forefront of Genshin Impact.
Personal Project: ELVTR Advanced UI/UX for Gaming Course
Role: UX Designer
Duration: May 2025
Introduction
A Game Falling Behind in Accessibility & Inclusion
Genshin Impact continues to be one of the most popular mobile games in the world. Despite its massive success, Genshin has been widely criticized for a lack of diversity and accessibility.
During a two month course for Advanced UI/UX in Gaming, I chose to focus on improving the overall gameplay experience in Genshin Impact and deep dive into accessibility and inclusion in the gaming industry.
Discovery
UX Process
Over the course of two months, I learned as much as I could about Genshin Impact. I scoured news articles, reddit forums, and youtube videos to uncover player frustrations within the game.
Gather
Identifying Problem Areas
Accessibility
Genshin lacks an accessibility menu. It falls short of many modern games that have extensive accessibility settings.
Diversity & Personalization
Genshin has multiple articles and online campaigns from players calling out cultural appropriation and lack of diverse characters in game.
Inconsistent UI
Certian UI elements do not scale well on your phone like the text contrast for quests and cards when picking up an item.
“The new hot game on the market is Genshin Impact. It’s free, it’s open world and it’s available on all platforms. It’s so freely accessible to the masses, but is it disability accessible? Short Answer: no.”
-Real World of Gaming
Explore
Brainstorming
After uncovering player frustrations, I took a look at how other games handle these issues. Then I began plotting out which problems I wanted to tackle and new features I could concept out for the game.
Explore
Player Journey
Before starting on the wires, I created a journey for a player that needed accessibility settings in order to continue playing the game.
Wireframes
Accessibility Menu
I changed the layout of the settings menu to allow for a larger content area and added a section solely for accessibility. Players can increase the HUD scale and UI, and explore different accessibility gameplay modes like colorblind or high contrast.
Wireframes
Picking Up Items
I tweaked UI card interaction when players pick up a new item to show it fully on screen rather than it currently being cut off on the side.
Wireframes
Traveler Customization
I strongly believe Genshin needs an overhaul on their playable characters and add more diversity in game. As a UX solution, I wanted to explore the option for players to customize their traveler character.
Customizing the traveler character will allow players to feel a connection to their character, incentivizing them to keep coming back to the game.
Wireframes
Finalizing Selections
After customizing, players can name their character and collect or purchase different hairstyles, clothing, and accessories in game.
In Conclusion
This personal project was a great exploration into the world of accessibility and inclusion in the gaming industry. I gained a deep appreciation for the UX teams responsible for breaking barriers for accessibility and creating a better community for all gamers!
