While Genshin Impact has been continuously successful, criticisms regarding the game’s lack of diversity in playable characters’ skin tones have also steadily increased. After the official reveal of Candace, an upcoming Hydro character, fans are once more calling miHoYo out and asking for them to listen.
The addition of Sumeru and the Dendro element in Genshin has been highly anticipated since they were first teased back in 2020. Sumeru is inspired by Middle Eastern and South Asian cultures and is a land of both deserts and rainforests.
Because of where Genshin took inspiration, players had hoped the new characters released with Sumeru would mostly have darker skin tones. Player hopes were dashed when a leak unveiled seven Sumeru characters and only one of them, a Pyro character named Dehya, had a slightly darker skin tone.
Related: All leaked information about new Genshin region Sumeru
Since then, players have continued to express their frustration (to no avail) as miHoYo has continuously not responded to the criticism. Now, the situation has become even more complex with the reveal of Candace. The initial tweet unveiling the upcoming Sumeru character Candace as a playable character has over 14,000 quote retweets and nearly all of them are calling miHoYo out.
In addition to the general criticism from players that Genshin should have more characters with diverse skin tones, the upset surrounding Candace runs deeper. Based on the information that has been unveiled, players are certain Candace was inspired by Kandake Amanirenas, who was a queen of the ancient African Kingdom of Kush, and general Kandake women, who were Nubian queens.
Fans pointed out that the name Candace originates from Kandake, which means “great woman,” “queen,” and “queen mother.” It is an important name and one that bears great weight, so Genshin’s use of a character inspired by Kandake while also drastically altering it to suit their desires has drawn heavy criticism from fans.
Genshin fans also called attention to their belief Candace’s overall appearance and storyline are heavily drawn from Kandake. This has led to major criticism by them due to the name change from Kandake to Candace and Candace’s much lighter skin than any Kandake would have.
The Hydro characters description on one of the tweets shared by miHoYo also states Candace is “a true descendant of King Deshret!” This is a direct reference to Egypt, specifically the Red Crown of Egypt, which upset fans even further considering Candace’s name and skin tone.
Candace’s overall attire, look, and namesake are extremely close to depictions of Kandake, as is pointed out by one Genshin fan below who shared several images of what various Kandake are thought to have looked like.
There are over 50 playable characters in Genshin and only two of them have a slightly darker skin tone. Kaeya, the first, is a confusing character because his skin tone appears much darker in certain promo material and scenes in the game than it actually is during gameplay with the four-star Cryo character.
Thus, Xinyan, the second, is really Genshin’s only character with a darker skin tone. Considering that out of 50 characters four-star Pyro character Xinyan is the only one who definitively has a darker skin tone, it’s easy to understand why the Genshin community is criticizing miHoYo and asking them to do better.
In response to one Twitter user under the Candace reveal tweet, a Genshin player shared their opinion that “Hoyoverse needs to be held accountable” because “taking inspiration from historical figures and whitewashing them to benefit their game, then completely ignoring their players is blatant disrespect.”
Another Genshin player shared an edit of Candace based on how they felt the character inspired by Kandake should have looked.
One Genshin fan expressed that the title of Kandake, which is often changed to Candace, is “given to dark skinned black women in real life history” and that “hoyoverse is grossly wrong for taking this name and the legacy it’s supposed to represent and whitewashing the character so terribly.”
Whether miHoYo will listen to fans’ concerns remains to be seen.
Hopefully, the Genshin fandom’s criticism will be heard and miHoYo will work on improving their skin tone palette with the design of future characters.
