Genshin InfluenceThe next substantial adventure in Natlan is just around the corner, but it’s not as jovial as its rainbow landscapes might suggest.
On Friday, developer Hoyoverse released a trailer showing off 11 characters who will be joining the game as part of the Natlan storyline, including one critical character: potential Pyro Archon Mavuika.
While a up-to-date character typically gets fans excited, the trailer and Mavuika have drawn criticism from players who say the characters are based on Latin American cultures but don’t do them justice.
Originally released in 2020, Genshin Influence is one of the flagship games in developer Hoyoverse’s ever-growing catalog. Players take on the role of the Traveler, a twin searching for his long-lost sibling in a sprawling open-world adventure.
Image: Hoyovere
In the summer of 2023, the game’s creators added the Fontaine region, a water wonderland inspired by France and the United Kingdom. In 2022, the development team released Sumeru, a region inspired by the peoples and regions of the Middle East and South Asia, which some criticized for its reliance on stereotypes in its worldbuilding.
This time, players will venture into the land of Natlan. Hoyoverse has yet to announce a release date, but the current patch schedule suggests we can expect an update in the summer.
We don’t know much about the region yet, either. Hoyoverse has released two trailers, including this one on Friday, but previous information (like the name) suggests it will be inspired, at least loosely, by Latin America.
Fans he pointed out that “Natlan” seems to come from Aztlán, the ancestral homeland of the Aztecs. In the world Genshin InfluenceNatlan is a land of war and home to Archon Pyro, the god of the element of fire. Such lore reflects some aspects of Aztec culture, such as the god Huitzilopochtli, who is also the god of fire and war. Additionally, players have found connections and cultural references to peoples from different regions, such as West Africa and Australia.
Each region in the world is ruled by an “Archon,” a celestial god who usually rules a specific element. Given Mavuika’s central place in the trailer, her gorgeous design, and her seemingly fiery appearance, she seems positioned as the Pyro Archon of Natlan. There’s just one problem: she’s white.
Now, fans on TikTok are criticizing the development team for their decision to depict the characters as white or light-skinned. The top comment under one of the videos that was liked over 3500 times, he said: “sighs very loudly at the pyro archon”, presumably to express boredom or irritation with the design. In response, someone else said, “bro, she’s literally so hot, but she’s pale”, with a crying emote. Another responded by criticizing the Hoyoverse development team, “this is so sad, even after the amount of complaints they don’t listen to”. Others responded by creating videos in which darken the skin tone characters.
Some fans took a different tone and responded with jokes about the up-to-date character. The best comment under the video from the official site TikTok account for Genshin Influence says, “Close enough, welcome back Sunset Shimmer,” as Archon shares a color scheme with the My Little Pony character.
As of yet, Hoyoverse has not confirmed that Mavuika is a Pyro Archon. If she is not the original leader of the realm, skeptical fans may have a different answer in the future.
Character Revealing is the Driving Force Genshin Influence community. The excitement for an update can be defined by how much a character is loved or anticipated. For now, fans will just have to wait and see where the story takes her as a character.
