Easter eggs are pretty ubiquitous in the gaming world. Nearly every game in history has at least one easter egg, reference, or secret that is meant to be discovered by the player. Easter eggs are often one of the most fun and enjoyable discoveries of any game and can range from subtle nods to being so bizarre and outlandish that it goes completely against the tone of the game.
Genshin Impact is no exception. The wildly popular open-world RPG with gacha mechanics has a variety of easter eggs, references, and hidden details to discover, and this number will only increase as the game continues development and adds more nations and content into Genshin Impact's already expansive world.
Updated August 20th, 2021: Following the release of the major 2.0 update, Travelers can now explore Inazuma, the Nation of Eternity. Inazuma is comprised of numerous islands and its overall aesthetic is inspired by Japanese culture. Travelers can begin exploring Inazuma once they complete both the Prologue and Chapter I of the main story and are at least Adventure Rank 30.
Inazuma brings a huge amount of new content to explore and challenges to complete, including new characters, enemies, puzzles, Domains and bosses. And, a new nation also means a plethora of new secrets and hidden details to uncover.
15 Test Your Luck With Fortune Slips
The Traveler is a busy person. Between their ultimate goal of reuniting with their sibling, they always seem to be caught up in Teyvat's world affairs, such as completing commissions for the Adventurer's Guild, doing requests and bounties to earn city reputation, and most recently, getting caught up in a war in Inazuma.
It's not surprising to guess that they don't really have any time for idle chitchat with the hundreds of NPCs that inhabit the world. One NPC that gets glossed over that actually provides a unique service is Gendou Ringo, a grouchy shrine maiden who runs the fortune slip booth in the Grand Narukami Shrine.
Once a day, you can pick a fortune. As with fortunes in real life, they don't seem to affect anything, but you can get two special achievements depending on what you pull.
14 Meet Up With Some Old Friends
Travelers will meet many characters along their journey, including Vision bearers that are able to join their team if they manage to pull them through Wishes. Unfortunately, outside of having them on your team or playing their respective Story Quest, you won't see them in the overworld ever again unless they have a Hangout event.
Luckily, two new Inazuma quests let you meet up with two of your old friends again. Xingqiu can be found in a certain World Quest, while you'll have to get lucky to see Xiangling again, as you can only meet her again as part of a random daily commission.
It's a bittersweet reunion, as they will both leave once they fulfilled their roles, but it's at least nice to see a familiar face again.
13 Ayaka's Wish
As part of Ayaka's Story Quest, Travelers will attend a festival with her on Amakane Island. It's practically a date and even more fanservice-y than the Hangout events. During the festival, the two of you share your wishes with each other and draw them on wooden plaques.
It's just a small detail, but if you return to the island after completing Ayaka's quest, the two plaques will now be permanently hung up along with all the others, serving as an eternal reminder of the day that the two of you spent with each other.
12 Ice Bridging to Inazuma
Despite all the story and lore suggesting it's impossible to brave the storm that surrounds Inazuma, Beidou's Crux Fleet managed to bring the Traveler to Inazuma. But what happens if the Traveler wants to go to Inazuma before the game intends them to? Unfortunately, this trip is long and arduous, as Inazuma is very, very far away. Combined with how long and how much stamina it takes to create an ice bridge to Inazuma, no sane person would ever attempt to do this, right?
Surprisingly, the developers had foresight into this very idea. In an astonishing display of gameplay and story integration, once you reach a certain proximity to Inazuma, the game will simply teleport you back to where you started, implying that the storm swept you away.
11 Hitchhiker's Guide Reference
All gamers love pro tips, especially those that give totally helpful advice, like shooting at something until it dies.
While the days of painfully obvious tips are (hopefully) over, it didn't stop developers from being self-aware or opting to put random references to popular culture in loading screen "tips." Genshin Impact has a relatively innocuous one in the form of "Time flies by when contemplating life, the universe, and everything..."
Life, the Universe and Everything is a book in the wonderfully absurd Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series, written by Douglas Adams.
10 Idle Animation Hidden Details
One of the most easily missed details in Genshin Impact involves idle animations. The Liyue character Qiqi has one idle animation where a gust of wind blows over her. The interesting part is that this animation literally produces a gust of wind that can interact with the environment and blow grass around.
Similarly, one of Mona's idle animations has a unique feature as well. Since she is an astrologer, one of her idle animations shows her configuring a Constellation wheel. What isn't immediately obvious, however, is that these Constellations are all taken from actual characters in the game, such as Amber's Lepus or Jean's Leo Minor.
9 Arthur And The Sword
Since Genshin Impact is a fantasy-inspired RPG, it would be a disservice not to include an easter egg referring to King Arthur or the sword Excalibur. Luckily, Genshin has both. Travelers can talk with a young boy named Arthur just outside the gates of Mondstadt. He'll mention how he wants to pull the sword out of the ground but isn't strong enough to do so.
8 Marvin And Marla
Marvin and Marla are two NPCs that the Traveler can meet on their journey. Marvin is in Mondstadt, while Marla can be found in Springvale. The two have a secret romantic relationship that Marvin's father does not approve of. They meet each other at Starsnatch Cliff every night and spend all of it profusely declaring their love for one another.
Marvin and Marla are an obvious reference to high school English class darling Romeo and Juliet, down to the melodramatic and flowery Shakespearean speech.
7 Heart-Shaped Rock Formation
One of Genshin's easiest-to-miss easter eggs can be found on a small island just to the east of Yaoguang Shoal and north of Guyun Stone Forest in Liyue. The easiest way to reach this island is to travel to the Geo Hypostasis and activate the nearby pinwheel with an Anemo character to create a wind current. Travelers can then glide north to the island.
Besides being a cute easter egg in itself, this heart also holds another secret. If Travelers invite another player to their world and stand in the heart with them, a hidden chest will appear.
6 Liben The Merchant
A recurring event NPC, Liben is an eccentric-looking man who works as a merchant and asks the Traveler to collect various odds and ends for him. In exchange, he rewards Travelers with valuable goods, such as Primogems and Mora.
He also shares a few similarities with the Happy Mask Salesman from Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask. By examining his backpack, Travelers will notice various trinkets, including what appears to be Dragon Balls along with crystals from Honkai Impact 3rd, another miHoYo game.