Genshin Impact’s New Update Appears To Mock The Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool Fiasco
The latest major update to HoYoverse’s action RPG Genshin Impact appears to take a satirical swipe at a recent real-world political controversy. In the game’s 7.0 update, which introduced the final major region Snezhnaya, players discovered an in-game bulletin board post that mocks the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool debacle involving President Donald Trump.
The post is written by a character named “Grand Duke Diomid Turzov,” who complains about damage to an enormous fountain he constructed in Snezhnaya. According to the message, the fountain’s paint has been peeled off by what Turzov claims were vandals, though the text implies the damage was actually caused by poor craftsmanship and the character’s own ineptitude rather than malicious actors.
“I built a fountain. It is enormous. Without question, it is the most beautiful fountain in all of Snezhnaya. Maybe even the most beautiful in all of Teyvat,” the character states in the post, which is written with deliberately awkward grammatical choices that amplify the satirical nature.
The real-world Reflecting Pool controversy centered around renovation work that resulted in significant damage to the historic monument. This marks a rare instance of a major video game inserting direct commentary on current political events. The discovery quickly spread among the gaming community, with players noting HoYoverse’s willingness to include such pointed social commentary within their game’s world-building.