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The Chinese studio behind ‘Genshin Impact’ built a new fantasy nation. Players say it’s just modern Russia — frozen, broke, and rotten with corruption.

Source: Meduza

The “Merciless Frost” update to the popular Chinese-developed game Genshin Impact added a new country called Snezhnaya, inspired by Eastern Europe — and, of course, Russia. Officially, the studio created a fictional fantasy state. But the situation there is eerily similar to conditions in real-life Russia: corruption, high prices, and resource shortages. If you look for it, you can even see a reference to Alexey Navalny in a new character named Alyosha. Meduza explains what Genshin Impact is and why this particular update stands out from the rest.

Genshin Impact is an action-adventure game with role-playing elements set in an open fantasy world, where players complete quests, battle monsters, and assemble a team of diverse characters. The game is free, but it is built around a so-called “gacha” system similar to loot boxes: players can spend real money for a chance at rarer characters, weapons, resources, and cosmetic items, though none of it is required to finish the game. Co-op play is optional too — Genshin Impact can be played solo.

The Chinese company miHoYo released Genshin Impact in 2020 for mobile devices, PC, and PlayStation 4, with PS5 and Xbox Series X|S versions following. The game’s popularity has likely peaked, but demand among players remains enormous. By mid-2026, it had logged almost 240 million downloads on mobile devices alone, with nearly 5 million people playing daily, according to data from the analytics platform AppMagic. Total revenue is approaching $5 billion — and the real figure is almost certainly higher, since the statistics don’t account for other gaming platforms.

Genshin Impact is also hugely popular in Russia — in 2021, the country ranked among the top four for downloads of the mobile version, behind only the United States, China, and Brazil. Several factors explain that popularity: the game is free, it has a Russian localization, and it has high-quality graphics and a generally appealing, anime-inspired visual style. Unlike many Western developers, the Chinese studio behind Genshin Impact didn’t pull out of Russia after the start of Russia’s full-scale war with Ukraine. Paying directly for virtual items with Russian bank cards can run into issues, but there are ways around them.

Genshin Impact’s world is built from distinct regions, and the developers regularly add new territory — a way to expand the universe, introduce characters, and keep players engaged. One such region, Snezhnaya — a “vast, mysterious frozen world” — was added on August 12.

The developers haven’t explicitly said what inspired the region, but Snezhnaya clearly draws on Russia, Eastern Europe, and pre-revolutionary — and, more broadly, Slavic — culture. Whether or not miHoYo intended it, the update turned out surprisingly politicized — or at least it seems that way. The Russian trailer opens by calling Snezhnaya a country “the gods never favored.” Yet its people believe that if they show solidarity with the Tsaritsa in a shared “struggle,” they can build a “new, better world.”

The Russian localization even references the famous Dmitry Medvedev meme “There’s no money, but you hang in there.” Players are sharing videos and posts on social media saying that the new storyline — and Snezhnaya as a whole — closely resembles contemporary Russia, with all its political and social nuances. There are even references to the fuel crisis, and in the comments, players write that many NPCs complain that prices are too high.

Not everyone liked how Genshin Impact portrays this fictionalized Russia. To some, Snezhnaya’s atmosphere clashes too sharply with the game’s other regions.

The new character Alyosha raises even more questions. He most likely references the folk hero Alyosha Popovich — a connection reinforced by the name of his dog, Tugarin. But players have also noticed that his name and his storyline, which has him investigating corruption in the country, evoke the politician Alexey Navalny. A member of the DTF community wrote that within his first two hours in Snezhnaya, he had uncovered “the systematic embezzlement of natural resources by a local official” and “received an offer to join an opposition faction.” TikTok already has numerous videos on the topic drawing tens of thousands of views, along with themed fan art.

Users find it ironic that a Chinese company would develop a game with such ambiguous content, since China is seen as one of Russia’s key allies — at least inside Russia.

That does seem strange, given how favorably miHoYo has generally treated the Russian market — the company has even collaborated with the local fast-food chain Vkusno i tochka. A themed Genshin Impact cafe is set to open on August 21 in central Moscow, on Bolshaya Lubyanka. The Chinese developers most likely just didn’t consider the social and political context. The same can’t be said for the localizers.