Evaluating the Classical Greek Reception in Genshin Impact through the Transcultural Study Lens: A Case Study of Enkanomiya Region

This paper examines how classical Greek elements are incorporated into the storytelling of Genshin Impact, with particular attention to the Enkanomiya region, an underground civilisation modelled loosely on Atlantis and set within the game's fantasy world of Teyvat. Its central argument is that the game represents a shift in East Asian game design away from the anachronistic, multicultural pastiche long associated with Japanese animation and games, toward a more deliberate and proactive multicultural approach. The author frames this through a transcultural lens, combining Platonic philosophy, Greek mythological figures such as Helios, Phaethon, and Ouroboros, and Japanese mythological motifs within a single region.

The study situates itself within classical game studies, which has largely concentrated on games produced in North America and Europe, and draws on Rachael Hutchinson's framework for analysing textual and visual representation in games. The analysis addresses the region's architecture, narrative dialogue, cutscenes, and player rituals that blend Greek and Japanese traditions. It also engages with prior scholarship on Genshin Impact's Chinese cultural representation and soft power, and on the contrast drawn by Iwabuchi and Miyake between Japan's "culturally odourless" strategies and its reliance on self-Orientalism and parody.

The argument rests primarily on qualitative textual and visual analysis of a single game and a single region rather than on survey data or a defined sample. The scope is therefore focused on one title produced by a Chinese studio, released in 2020, and on one storyline. The paper positions its contribution as a bridge between existing studies of Genshin Impact's Chinese influence and the broader field of classical reception, offering a case study of how East Asian developers reinterpret Graeco-Roman material for global audiences.