Genshin Impact voice actor criticizes game’s Natlan characters for cultural misrepresentation

Genshin Influence Publisher HoYoverse recently announced a number of new characters coming to the game in an upcoming update, as well as a new region, Natlan. But not everyone is excited about the new content, with one of the game’s voice actresses, Valeria Rodríguez (English voice of Sucrose), venting her anger on Twitter (aka X).

Many of Genshin InfluenceThe Natlan characters of appear to be based on real cultural deities, with the new content borrowing liberally from Latin American and African cultures in particular. As Rodríguez notes, the character Ororon appears to be a reference to the supreme Yoruba deity Ọlọrun, although you would never know it from Ororon’s light skin and clothing. Likewise, the Pyro Archon Mavuika correlates with the Māori fire deity Mahuika, and Kinich is likely based on Kinich Ahau, the Yucatecan name of the Mayan sun god.

In total, 11 characters were featured as part of the Natlan content, all of whom have a connection to real indigenous cultures and all of whom have two things in common: a severe lack of melanin and seemingly little to do with their associated depictions. Rodríguez, along with many Genshin Influence Fans consider the depictions disrespectful and want developer MiHoYo to do its due diligence and show more appreciation when drawing on real-world influences.

Or at least darken the skin tone to achieve appropriate BIPOC representation. Fans elsewhere have shared videos on TikTok of themselves coloring the new Natlan characters to add a touch of melanin. And on the Genshin Influence In this subreddit, quite a few people seem fed up and resigned to MiHoYo’s apparent hesitation to include “non-white” characters in the game. For example, one user (ValiantNaberius) commented: “I mean, I’ve seen the whitest girls from the valley come back from vacation even browner than our desert cast.”