Genshin Impact Developer miHoYo has released a very special video that is essentially just the title’s idol character, Barbara, about … things. She offers to hear the game’s protagonist ‘Traveler’ and has a one-sided conversation about compliments and depression, and generally acts like a kind of vtuber based on the video game’s Hydro-tuned character.
Vtubers, or “virtual YouTubers,” are basically just animated character rigs that respond to what’s being recorded on the one hand to produce the effect of a virtual character saying and moving like a real person. Their English popularity has skyrocketed, thanks largely to vtubers like Watson Amelia, Gawr Gura and more. Considering the animation about Barbara in the video, which you can watch above, it really looks more like the in-game model being animated rather than a traditional vtuber rig, which is usually much less nimble, but the premise is the same.
Barbara’s Special Video: An Idol’s Healing Magic
Maybe I can get closer to you this way. Https://t.co/b8jyX2coTe#GenshinImpact pic.twitter.com/zkVlVH83ib
– Paimon (@GenshinImpact) January 22, 2021
Genshin Impact is currently available for free to play for the PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, PC and mobile devices. The video game will eventually also be released for the Nintendo Switch. Version 1.2 “The Chalk Prince and the Dragon” update was recently released and added an all-new area, characters, events and more. The update to version 1.3 will be released on February 3rd. You can check out all of our previous coverage of the popular free-to-play title here.
Are you playing Genshin Impact? What do you think of Barbara’s “special video”? Let us know in the comments, or feel free to reach out and call me directly on Twitter @rollinbishop to talk about gaming!