Genshin Impact is an open-world action RPG from miHoYo, published outside China under the HoYoverse brand. It launched on September 28, 2020 for Windows, Android, iOS and PlayStation 4, later arriving on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S. You explore the continent of Teyvat with a party of four, switching characters mid-fight to combine elements, and you add new characters and weapons through the game's gacha system, called Wishes.

Genshin is a live-service game. It is updated regularly - Version 7.0 arrived in August 2026 - and the official servers are run by its publisher. Fan-run private servers also exist, but they are unofficial, not run or endorsed by miHoYo or HoYoverse, and completely separate from the official game: nothing you do there touches an official account. This guide explains what to weigh up if you are curious about them. It does not cover how to set one up.

What Makes Genshin Impact Tick

Teyvat is divided into nations tied to the elements and ruled by gods called Archons, among them Mondstadt, Liyue, Inazuma, Sumeru, Fontaine, Natlan and Snezhnaya. Combat runs on seven elements - Anemo, Geo, Pyro, Hydro, Cryo, Electro and Dendro - and the real depth is in elemental reactions: apply Hydro and then Cryo, for example, and the enemy freezes. Building a team means choosing four characters whose elements work together.

Progression has several layers. Adventure Rank unlocks content, and World Level rises at set ranks, making enemies stronger and rewards rarer. Original Resin regenerates slowly and is spent to claim the most valuable rewards. Characters and weapons come from Wishes, paid for with Primogems, with a pity system that guarantees a rare result after a set number of pulls. From Adventure Rank 16 up to four players can play together, across platforms.

What to Look For in a Genshin Impact Private Server

Know What You Are Joining

A fan server is a separate, unofficial world. It has no link to your official account, it can change or disappear without notice, and anything you build there stays there. Go in treating it as a side project or a curiosity, not a replacement for the official game.

Protect Your Official Account

Never enter the login details of your official account into an unofficial client, launcher or website, and do not reuse that password anywhere else. Download nothing from a source you cannot trace back to the server's own community, and be suspicious of anything that asks for more access to your computer than a game should need.

Which Game Version It Uses

Fan servers are typically built around one particular version of the game, which decides which regions, characters and story chapters exist. Some behave like sandboxes where most things are unlocked from the start; others try to recreate normal progression. Know which kind you want before you look.

What Actually Works

Genshin has a great many interlocking systems: quests and cutscenes, enemy behavior, domains, co-op, elemental reactions, Resin and Wishes. Recreating all of them is hard, and fan servers differ widely in how much works. A clear, current list of working and missing features is the best sign of an honest project.

Money and Rules

Check whether a server asks for money and for what, and read its rules on behavior and moderation. A small community with active, transparent moderators is a much safer place to spend your time than an anonymous server with no stated rules.

Official or Fan Server

The official game is the only place for current versions, live events, your real account and co-op with friends on other platforms. Fan servers appeal to a smaller group of players who want to experiment with an older version or a sandbox. If you try one, keep it entirely separate from your official account.

Before You Try One

Read the server's own description of what it is, what works and what it asks of you, and protect your official login above everything else. If a server here is the one you play on, vote for it - rankings start again every month, so the list below follows where players are now.