Natlan

Natlan ( or , ) is a fictional nation in the video game Genshin Impact, developed by miHoYo. The region officially became available to players on August 28, 2024, with the release of version 5.0 of the game. Natlan is the sixth region to be released in Genshin Impact, and it is located in the western portion of the continent of Teyvat. Natlan is the primary setting for Chapter 5 of the game's storyline, which focuses on the idea of war. Natlan is based jointly on pre-Columbian American and sub-Saharan African cultures, with some influences from Oceania. Its soundtrack features instruments from those areas. Natlan's exploration mechanics have received positive reviews from critics, though Natlan's characters received controversy due to their skin color being lighter than that of the real-world people on whom they were based, by both players and English voice actors of Genshin Impact.

Natlan ( or , ) is a fictional nation in the video game Genshin Impact, developed by miHoYo. The region officially became available to players on August 28, 2024, with the release of version 5.0 of the game. Natlan is the sixth region to be released in Genshin Impact, and it is located in the western portion of the continent of Teyvat. Natlan is the primary setting for Chapter 5 of the game's storyline, which focuses on the idea of war. Natlan is based jointly on pre-Columbian American and sub-Saharan African cultures, with some influences from Oceania. Its soundtrack features instruments from those areas. Natlan's exploration mechanics have received positive reviews from critics, though Natlan's characters received controversy due to their skin color being lighter than that of the real-world people on whom they were based, by both players and English voice actors of Genshin Impact. , one of the game's few dark-skinned characters, is from Natlan.|alt=Official art of Iansan, a character with dark skin in the game. Iansan is shown wearing a sort of tribal outfit, and is one of the few dark-skinned characters in the game. Similar to Sumeru's characters, the reception of Natlan characters' appearances ingame was subject to controversy. Players and voice actors pointed out the lack of diversity, specifically in terms of their skin color. They say the characters such as Mavuika and Kinich are whitewashed depictions based on certain cultures' deities, and wish that miHoYo had developed them with skin colors closer in tone to the real-world regions on which they were based. Khoi Dao, the voice of Albedo, tweeted that "if a game draws so heavily from real-world cultures and bases a character on the supreme deity of [the] Yoruba religion" then the game character should bear some resemblance to said deity. Dao and other voice actors, including Yoimiya voice actress Jenny Yokobori and Sucrose voice actress Valeria Rodriguez publicly questioned miHoYo on its accuracy in representing certain characters, and Cyno voice actor Alejandro Saab added in a Tweet to HoYoverse, "You still got time to fix it". The Raiden Shogun's voice actress Anne Yatco expressed that she hopes the company "listens to its fanbase when valid criticism is made multiple years in a row about the execution of its research". Kotaku described the issue as Genshin Impact 's biggest controversy yet, originally fueled by the region's first reveal. This was in addition to a petition on Change.org to stop cultural appropriation; by November 2024, the petition had over 120,000 signatures. Polygon first indicated that fans were divided about the issue with many of them concerned about whitewashing, but then followed up with an interview that explored why actors spoke out. In the interview, a Genshin Impact voice actor who wished to stay anonymous due to potential retaliations from HoYoverse told reporter Ana Diaz that "when an issue affects a person's cultural background, and is so egregious in its misrepresentation, like the appropriation of ethnic gods, it's easier to notice." Yahoo News Taiwan published an explainer laying out why players accused HoYoverse of colorism and appropriation, as well as how the specific inspirations for deities made the light-skinned character designs a flashpoint of discussion.

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