Recently, there’s been an influx of community content surrounding the “faceless Ayato,” a seemingly malevolent entity in a Genshin Impact server. The viral story began when a player uploaded a series of videos on TikTok, detailing their situation. This quickly gained traction, with many in the community pointing out a few odd coincidences.
While the legitimacy of the Genshin Impact faceless Ayato story is questionable, there’s no denying that it’s caused quite a stir in the community. So, even if it turned out to be a hoax, it’s at the very least an interesting story. In fact, many already consider it a part of Genshin Impact lore, even if only unofficially.
What is the Genshin Impact Faceless Ayato Story?
This all started when a Diona main posted a series of videos on TikTok. The original videos contain Russian captions but have since been translated into English. In the videos, the Diona main details that they downloaded Genshin Impact from an unofficial site and that strange things have been happening in their game world since. They’ve been seeing a glitched-out Ayato model every so often despite being in a single-player world. Plus, they don’t even own Ayato in Genshin Impact.
Another one of their videos features both Itto and Ayato – again, in a single-player world. This time, the two character models are frozen, with Ayato appearing to push Genshin Impact’s Arataki Itto over the edge of a cliff. Yet another video shows Ayato T-posing on a ledge. This is where the player finally gets a closer look at their face, revealing the “faceless Ayato” that made the story so popular. According to the player, these creepy occurrences only happen at night.
These events supposedly lead to a change in Itto’s character profile, which details that he was murdered. The faceless Ayato model is then seen in the cemetery behind Mondstadt Cathedral, reportedly burying Itto’s body. He then makes another appearance by the large oak tree in Windrise and yet another with the Raiden Shogun at Dawn Winery. It’s also worth noting that these 5-Star characters are rumored to get reruns in Genshin Impact 3.3, so the Diona main might have been privy to recent Genshin Impact leaks.
The First Genshin Impact Creepypasta
Many in the community are convinced that the Diona main’s story is nothing but an elaborate hoax. They theorize that the player simply got their hands on a modded copy of Genshin Impact (or modded the game themselves) and staged the events for the TikTok videos. Others have even said that it’s a less interesting version of the Ben Drowned creepypasta. Quality aside, however, there’s no denying that the faceless Ayato trend has reached creepypasta status.
Since the TikTok videos were released, many users have posted fanart of the infamous Ayato model, with some even including faceless Itto and Raiden Shogun, alongside a scared Diona. There have also been more fanmade TikToks, depicting the faceless Ayato as some sort of supernatural entity, similar to Herobrine of Minecraft and even the creatures of the Mandela Catalogue series on YouTube.
Whether the Diona main’s story is real or fake, it’s taken hold of the Genshin Impact community, spawning tons of fanart and lore-related theories. Some are even calling it Genshin Impact’s first creepypasta. Perhaps this trend will cause more creepy player stories to crop up – for better or for worse. For now, however, the community is preoccupied with the faceless Ayato craze, and things might stay that way until Genshin Impact version 3.3 drops.
Genshin Impact is now available on Mobile, PC, PS4, and PS5. A Switch version is in development.