Genshin Impact is a popular gacha game known for its intricately designed characters, each with their own personality and skillset. It’s these characters that hook players from all over the world, getting them to pull on Wish Banners in hopes of acquiring their favorites.
Recently, there have been plenty of leaks surrounding the Sumeru region and the upcoming Genshin Impact version 3.0. A majority of these leaks are about the new Dendro characters that will be revealed after the major update. While many in the Genshin Impact community were excited to pull for new characters, a significant portion of the fanbase expressed their discontent at the character designs.
The Sumeru Leaks in Genshin Impact
In the past few weeks, leakers have provided a wealth of information on Sumeru and the Dendro element of Genshin Impact. Sumeru is a region in Teyvat supposedly based on the cultures of Southwest Asian and North African (SWANA) countries. Players gleaned this from the Genshin Impact storyline trailer from 2020, which showcased the character Cyno with a headdress reminiscent of an Egyptian jackal. It was further confirmed with recent leaks, which featured characters with Arab and Indian names, such as Kusanali and Tighnari.
It’s important to note that HoYoverse has yet to confirm what real-world location Sumeru of Genshin Impact is based on, but it’s looking like a mix of multiple nations from the SWANA region. If this were the case, then it’s a significant shift from HoYoverse’s old design philosophy, as past regions were based on one country. Mondstadt was based on Germany, while Liyue and Inazuma were inspired by China and Japan, respectively.
Now, assuming that the Sumeru region is based on countries like Egypt and India, many players expected to see darker-skinned characters. However, the Genshin Impact character leaks have left them disappointed. The leaked splash art for Collei, Dori, and Tighnari for Genshin Impact showcased light-skinned characters. The Dendro Archon Kusanali’s character model also shows the same pale skin tone. This has sparked controversy among the Genshin Impact community, bringing up a number of issues about cultural representation.
Whitewashing, Racism, and Colorism in Genshin Impact
“Whitewashing” is the most common term used to describe the recent character leaks. Note that the word has many different definitions, but in this context, it entails creating supposed characters of color with light skin tones. Among the seven recently leaked Genshin Impact character models, only one character — Dehya — has dark skin, which is why many in the community are crying foul. Some are even calling HoYoverse racist.
However, other players have spoken up in defense of this design choice by stating that many people from SWANA regions have pale skin. This means it makes sense for HoYoverse to release plenty of light-skinned Sumeru characters, and it’s not whitewashing nor being racist to do so. Some have even said that it’s culturally ignorant for people to think that everyone from SWANA regions is dark-skinned.
Given this, it’s worth looking at the issue from a much broader perspective. Out of the 50 available Genshin Impact characters, only 2 have dark skin: Kaeya and Xinyan. Perhaps, then, the issue is less about these supposedly whitewashed Sumeru characters and more about how HoYoverse chooses to represent its characters in general. The term “colorism” comes to mind.
Colorism entails the preference of those with light skin over those with darker skin tones. In more extreme cases, this can become a prejudiced and discriminatory view of people with dark skin. Given Genshin Impact’s track record of playable characters (and even the generic NPC models), it isn’t a stretch to conclude that there’s some colorism going on. This has been a point of contention for the game’s global fanbase who want at least some representation of darker-skinned characters. It’s also one of the issues that were brought up during the call to boycott Genshin Impact in 2021.
In response to this point, other Genshin Impact players have simply brushed the issue aside. According to them, Genshin Impact’s Teyvat is a fictional universe, and HoYoverse company can do with it as it pleases. While this is well and good, the fact is that there’s a blatant lack of diversity in the character roster, and it invariably contributes to the colorism that exists in the video game industry.
Finally, there are those who are resigned to the lack of representation in Genshin Impact, saying, “It’s a Chinese company. What do you expect?” Admittedly, HoYoverse’s track record with dark-skinned characters and cultural representations isn’t great — and that goes for its other games, like Honkai Impact and Tears of Themis. However, that doesn’t mean that the community should stop clamoring for better representation in the developer's games.
Video Game Representation and Diversity
When it comes to cultural portrayal in games, gaming companies always run the risk of putting out inaccurate and/or harmful depictions of the group being represented. Doing so results in the promulgation of stereotypes or even blatant falsehoods about a certain culture. As such, it’s important for a developer to do research on the groups it wishes to adapt to the video game medium. And that goes even if the game is set in a fictional universe. Basing any fictional elements on real-world cultures demands careful research and appropriate representation.
This ties into the character design issue surrounding Sumeru. While releasing all light-skinned characters was understandable enough with the Genshin Impact regions of Mondstadt, Liyue, and Inazuma, it isn’t quite the same for Sumeru. And it’s honestly surprising how others believe it’s okay to introduce a primarily light-skinned cast for a location based on the SWANA region, where there are significantly more dark-skinned people. Though it may not be whitewashing, it’s definitely faulty representation.
It seems then that Genshin Impact has a longstanding issue with colorism. HoYoverse’s continued promotion of light-skinned characters alongside the continued neglect of dark-skinned ones reinforces the underlying prejudice that many already have. That said, there’s still hope that the next set of Sumeru characters may feature more dark skin tones. If they don’t, concerned players shouldn’t be dissuaded from speaking out, as it may very well be the only way to change the status quo.
Genshin Impact is available now for PC, PS4, PS5, and mobile devices. A Switch version is in development.