When compared to similar gacha-style games, Genshin Impact sticks out since it's completely possible to discover all of what Teyvat has to offer without paying a single dime. Available on PS4, PC, IOS, and Android, Genshin Impact is a massive open-world RPG that takes several cues from Breath of the Wild to make its world and exploration feel truly alive, but it makes up for its lack of a price tag by applying a cost (or, at least, a gambling mechanic) to the majority of its playable characters. Players can use real money to purchase chances to unlock these hidden characters much like loot boxes, but thankfully Genshin Impact is completely playable with the characters that are offered for free.
When the game begins, players have the option to pick between a pair of twins. This chosen individual ends up becoming the main protagonist in the game who is referred to as the Traveler. Their main mission is to figure out where the god that kidnapped their missing twin is, so they can rescue them. The Traveler wields a sword and starts out as an Anemo, or wind-type character, that can get transformed into a geo character in Genshin Impact later on, making Traveler a decent pick due to their flexibility.
The second free character players will bump into is Amber, a pyro archer who is generally considered to be one of the worst characters in Genshin Impact. It's unfortunate, but her fire arrows work well enough for solving puzzles and maintaining distance in a fight. The next two characters are unlocked after completing the "Crash Course" and the "Sparks Amongst the Pages" quests for Kaeya and Lisa respectively. These quests can be found after meeting up with Amber and entering Monstadt. Kaeya is a cryo-based sword user capable of momentarily freezing wet enemies in their tracks, and Lisa is an electro mage who can zap enemies with some powerful AOE attacks.
Hidden Free Genshin Impact Party Members
These four characters make up the default party of Genshin Impact and can be found very early on, but there are a few other characters that can be obtained for free much later. First, there's Barbara, who is a hydro-type catalyst user who is capable of healing the party. Because of this, she's extremely useful, and players can unlock her once they reach Adventurer Rank 20, as long as they've created their accounts before patch 1.1 comes out in November. At this point Paimon will end up sending her to the player in the mail, which will add her to their list of characters. Like the rest of the characters in Genshin Impact, Barbara can also be unlocked via the wish system.
The next character, Xiangling, can also be unlocked at Adventurer Rank 20, but players will then have to prove their worth in the Spiral Abyss. Similar to the Cave of Ordeals in The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, players will clear floor after floor of enemies in a dungeon setting. After beating Floor 3, Chamber 3, players will be free to test out Xiangling's lightning-fast polearm powered by pyro damage. She can attack very quickly and she can also summon a massive disc of fire that circles around her, dealing massive pyro damage to anything in her reach. Just like Barbara, Xiangling can be unlocked via the wish system as well.
Both Xiangling and Barbara are easily the best free characters in the game, but clever use of all 6 of these characters makes it possible to finish the game without spending a single penny. Even without spending money, Genshin Impact offers players lots of Primogems that can be used to roll for characters, so the chances of getting a new character with the free gems given out are relatively high. Noelle, in particular, is guaranteed to be given to the player after the tenth roll, so even if anyone feels they're prone to poor luck, Noelle should be easily obtained by everyone without having to spend money. Because of the developer's intelligent world, level, and enemy design, Genshin Impact is absolutely playable without spending any money on its vast selection of characters.