Before its release, Lost Ark was assigned a title that would be too heavy to wear, even for future games: the Genshin killer. At that time, people really thought that the new creation from Smilegate and Amazon Studios would bring down the monstruos success that Genshin Impact is and was. And well, HoyoVerse’s game is still going strong, but also Lost Ark and this bears the question: Which one is better, Genshin Impact or Lost Ark?
It really depends. While they can’t honestly compete with each other due to their mechanics differences, we can judge by the amount of people playing the game regularly.
Players Active
As of the time this article is being written, at 11:30 pm of June 11th, there are 134,946 players playing Genshin Impact. Meanwhile, on Steam, there’s 822,064 players active on Lost Ark. However, we only have the players from Genshin global servers, complicating these numbers a bit. What can be said is that Lost Ark has way more players online than Genshin, at least by today.
In-Game Purchases
Another thing is their focus. While both games are Free to Play, they offer in-game buys mechanics in different ways. While Genshin Impact has character banners, weapon banners and costumes, Lost Ark has 3 starter packs with several rewards, its crystal currency to buy in-game items and in the future, its own Battle Pass. At simple glance, Genshin looks way more monetized than Lost Ark, but at least allows players to get its premium currency, which is not that common in Lost Ark.
Gameplay
Next is the gameplay, which is the biggest difference between games. Genshin Impact is an RPG gacha game with open world elements and mechanics. Meanwhile, Lost Ark is also an open world game but more inspired by games like Torchlight and Diablo. This is where both games are unique, since they are very different from each other. This is the reason they can’t be compared or there can be a “better than the other” situation.
Storytelling
It has to be said that HoyoVerse has stumbled on several occasions with its main story arc, especially with the very criticized Yae Miko’s character quest. Missions that lead to nowhere or end with the same plot point. Lost Ark’s main story isn’t perfect but it leads you to where you need to go. It also has plot points involving characters you’ve known for a while.
In the end, Genshin Impact or Lost Ark, both are amazing and entertaining games. And you’ll love one more than the other depending on your personal taste and experiences. However, to end this with a proper answer, Lost Ark seems to be an even fun game with lots of people active to play it, a decent story with not so many in-game purchases instances. Give it a try to either Genshin Impact or Lost Ark. And if you want to stick around and check more articles, click here!