Sumeru (Chinese:须弥; pinyin:Xūmí) is a fictional nation in the video game Genshin Impact, developed by miHoYo. The region officially opened to players with the release of version 3.0 on August 24, 2022. Located in the central and west portions of the continent of Teyvat, Sumeru consists of rainforest and desert areas. Its Archon is Buer, also known as Lesser Lord Kusanali. It also serves as the primary setting for chapter 3 of the game's storyline.
Sumeru is based on ancient India, ancient Egypt, and ancient Persia. Its cultural designs are inspired by Egyptian and Persian mythologies, as well as Indian epic poetry. Its music features Middle Eastern and South Asian instruments. The region's unique stage design, new gameplay, and storyline have garnered considerable attention and critical analysis. Some consider Sumeru to be miHoYo's best-designed location to date, and its gameplay and exploration mechanics have also received positive reviews. However, critics have also criticized Sumeru's design for cultural appropriation and stereotyping.
Creation and design
Scenes and gameplay
At a conference in July 2022, miHoYo first disclosed information about Sumeru. Sumeru is the fourth nation to be released among the seven nations of Teyvat featured in the game, and could be divided into rainforest and desert sections. The rainforest areas are composed of trees and mountains covered with vegetation. In order to show the humid tropical scenery, the scene designers referred to many different types of plants in tropical regions. The desert area is composed of dust storms, oases and ruins. The purpose of this scene design was to show the natural charm of the scenery while incorporating fantastical elements.[1]
The development team designed Sumeru based on the two opposing concepts of "life" and "decay". The gameplay design of the rainforest area is centered on concepts such as life and growth, while incorporating the element of Dendro.[2] The design of the Dendro element that is core to Sumeru is developed around the three concepts of catalysis, wisdom and life, and these concepts are displayed in combat, design and mechanisms within the game.[3][4]
Sumeru's design was inspired by Middle Eastern and Indian culture. The names of people and places in the rainforest are mainly influenced by Indian culture.[5] The forest spirits in the rainforest, known as Aranara, have Sanskrit influences in their cultural design, with references to the Indian epics Ramayana and Mahabharata.[4] The desert area is mainly influenced by ancient Egyptian culture, with the pyramid-like tomb of King Deshret and the settlement of Aaru Village being key locations in Sumeru's lore.[6] Characters from the desert area such as Dehya are also designed with Egyptian mythology in mind.[7] There are several references to Persia in Sumeru and its characters as well.[8]
The theme music of Sumeru is performed by the London Symphony Orchestra and folk music artists,[9] using a variety of Middle Eastern and Indian instruments such as the mandolin, sitar, tabla, bamboo flute and more. The music team said that when they created Sumeru's music, they did not look for the most ethnic instruments but rather that they chose the sounds that best suited Sumeru.[10] Music producer Chen Zhiyi said that he used two styles to design the music for the two distinct regions of Sumeru: the rainforest area's music used South Asian instruments and also tried to incorporate elements of music seen in yoga, which was full of "life";[11] the desert scene music used Middle Eastern instruments, emphasizing a sense of epic, ancient wisdom.[9] Chen's coworker Yuan Mengdi revealed in an interview that the scene music for the Withering combines "atonal orchestral music and electronic sounds" to create a sense of unease.[11]
Settings and lore
Geography
Sumeru is located in the central and western parts of the continent of Teyvat and is known as the "Nation of Wisdom".[12] Sumeru consists of two main regions: the rainforest and desert. The capital, Sumeru City, is built atop a giant tree in the rainforest, while its largest port is Port Ormos.[13] At the junction between the desert and the rainforest, there is a sandstorm barrier whose purpose is to stop the rainforest from desertification. The desert lies to the west of the rainforest, with the Mausoleum of King Deshret at its center, along with numerous ruins from King Deshret's time. The largest desert settlement is Aaru Village, which also serves as a place of exile for the scholars of the Akademiya.
Lore
Greater Lord Rukkhadevata
Sumeru was once ruled by three gods: the Greater Lord Rukkhadevata, King Deshret, and Nabu Malikata, the Goddess of Flowers. The three were close allies and founded a great kingdom together. After Nabu Malikata died, King Deshret became obsessed with preserving her memory and sought forbidden knowledge, which led to catastrophic consequences. His domain was ravaged by environmental collapse and a fatal disease called Eleazar. To stop the corruption, King Deshret sacrificed himself, while Rukkhadevata created the rainforest and built a sanctuary to purify the contamination. Over time, their history became distorted, causing centuries of conflict between the desert tribes and rainforest inhabitants.[14]
Rukkhadevata later founded the Akademiya, Teyvat's leading scholarly institution, which strictly controlled knowledge.[13] During a later disaster, she used the Akasha System to combat forbidden knowledge but became tainted herself due to her link with Irminsul, the world's memory network. To survive, she created a pure incarnation, Lesser Lord Kusanali, who succeeded her as the Dendro Archon but was imprisoned and undermined by the Akademiya's sages who ruled over Sumeru in her place for 500 years. The sages conspired with the Fatui to replace her, but their plan was stopped by the Traveler, who freed her.[15] Afterward, Kusanali dismantled the Akasha System and purified forbidden knowledge, erasing all traces of Rukkhadevata from the world's memory, including her own—leaving only the Traveler to remember her.
Aranara
An Aranara
Rukkhadevata created the Aranara, a race of forest spirits tasked with protecting the rainforest.[14] With a few exceptions, only children can see them, and their power comes from their memories and dreams.[4] They live in a place called Vanarana,[16] with their own culture and history in the game. In the game, the Aranara ask the Traveler to help purify the Withering Zones in the rainforest through the "Aranyaka" quest series.[a] During this journey, the Traveler also learns about the history of the Sumeru rainforest.[4]
Release
Like some other parts of Genshin Impact, Sumeru's development was affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and was at risk of being delayed.[17][18] miHoYo changed its development plan to ensure that Sumeru could be released in version 3.0 in August 2022.[19] Under normal circumstances, players would follow the main storyline and go to Sumeru in chapter 3. Since the game uses an open world map design, players can choose to go to Sumeru after completing the prologue and chapter 1 instead.[20]
Version 3.0 mainly opened the rainforest area of Sumeru.[13] Version 3.1 was released on September 28 of the same year (the game's anniversary), and introduced players to the desert area.[21] The desert area was expanded in versions 3.4 and 3.6.[22]
Reception
The scene design of the Sumeru region has received positive reviews from commentators, and many believe that Sumeru was the best location designed by miHoYo up until that point.[4][23][24][25] Austin Wood, editor of GamesRadar+, said that Sumeru itself can compare with most entire open-world games on the market, including some other games that he had also played.[24] Sisi Jiang of Kotaku said that Sumeru is a "marvel of open-world design" and that miHoYo has broken away from the shadow of other games such as The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild through Sumeru and formed its own unique open-world model.[25] Editor Gray Pigeon of Chinese gaming site Youxi Putao noted that Sumeru's design was stunning and that the area was a "phased summary of Genshin Impact, which encompasses past explorations and completes sedimentation".[26] Game Overview's editor summarized the map design approach as a "mustard seed" containing Sumeru, noting that its three-dimensional scene design "accommodates exploration content beyond players' expectations in a seemingly small area."[23]
Some commentators have pointed out the design highlights of the two areas in Sumeru. Game Daily editor Brown Bear mentioned that there are "ruins" similar to the Egyptian pyramids in the desert area, which shows the ruggedness and mystique of the desert.[27] Gray Pigeon praised the music of the Sumeru region. They pointed out that the various regions of Sumeru used a large number of different styles of folk music. Its unique timbre and expressions were recognizable enough to quickly establish players' first impressions of the area.[10] He also took the music of Sumeru City and other regions as examples, saying that the music "builds a big world in the auditory space".[10]
Sumeru's gameplay design was praised by reviewers. Polygon reviewer Ana Diaz remarked that the Four-Leaf Sigil made exploring Sumeru much faster compared to other nations like Inazuma, giving her an experience that she compared to Spider-Man swinging through the air.[28] A reviewer from Chinese gaming website Nandianshi praised the gameplay design of Sumeru for "fitting the local environmental characteristics," allowing players to feel the map's charm more intuitively, and also creating an immersive interactive atmosphere.[2]
Some commentators mentioned that Sumeru's quest design guides players' exploration very well. Gray Pigeon said that miHoYo has done a good job of balancing content and exploration, stating that the lengthy "Aranyaka" quest requires players to travel across multiple areas, learning about the Aranara and the rainforest scenery of Sumeru. The main story presents each character as representing a different aspect of the nation, creating an engaging introduction to "exploration, gameplay, and content."[26]
Stephanie Liu of Siliconera praised Sumeru's overall world and lore in contrast to its character design, saying it was clear to her that HoYoverse put time and effort into the region.[29]
Cultural appropriation concerns
Cosplay of Kaveh, a prominent supporting character in Sumeru
Some media outlets such as Kotaku, Polygon, and Game Corner criticized Sumeru's character designs for cultural appropriation.[19][30][8] Rui Zhong wrote in Polygon that Sumeru exposed HoYoverse's overreliance on stereotypes and rigid replication of real-world history, noting that unlike Liyue (where developers shared cultural research during character development) Sumeru characters received no such treatment. He also criticized issues of colorism, revealing outfits for female characters, and pointed out that Nahida's design did not reflect the Middle Eastern and South Asian cultures that inspired Sumeru.[8]
Sumeru was not the only nation in the game to face controversy over representation and cultural appropriation. In 2024, Natlan faced similar backlash over the skin colors of its characters. Liu compared this to Sumeru, describing the fan reception in retrospect as giving HoYoverse the benefit of the doubt.[29] Liu argued that while some characters might reflect certain stereotypes, the overall depictions of regions like Sumeru and Natlan are not presented in the game as exotic. She writes that HoYoverse does clear research for its worldbuilding and characters, but that this does not extend to skin tone diversity. Sumeru's playable cast is largely light-skinned, although this is not the case for NPCs and enemies.[29][31][b] She added that playable dark-skinned characters like Cyno are often underpowered or unpopular, reinforcing allegations of colorism. She said that other regions such as Inazuma were handled with more care in this regard, while Sumeru was less thoughtfully represented.[29]
Bruno Yonezawa of Screen Rant also stressed that the problem stems from Genshin Impact's reliance on real-world cultures. He specifically mentioned Alhaitham, who was inspired by the real-life Arab figure of the same name but who has white skin, arguing that HoYoverse should add more dark-skinned characters to the game and that fans should speak up more about these types of issues.[31]
Notes
↑In the game, the Withering is a corruption phenomenon where areas of the forest become tainted with dark energy, draining vitality from the area and spreading decay. It warps nearby flora and fauna into aggressive, withered forms and turns them into enemies, forcing players to cleanse the area using special mechanisms.
↑Yonezawa specifically says that out of the thirteen playable Sumeru characters, only four have dark skin and three have been accused of being whitewashed.[31]
References
↑"「原神」新エリア"スメール"を発表。新たに踏み入れる雨林＆砂漠のアートデザインも公開"[Genshin Impact's new area, "Sumeru," announced, art design for the new rainforest and desert areas also revealed]. 4Gamer.net (in Japanese). Retrieved August 26, 2025.
12"原创 | 3.0版本再刷屏，《原神》依旧这么炸？ | 手游那点事"[Version 3.0 is trending again. Is "Genshin Impact" still as popular?]. www.nadianshi.com (in Chinese). Retrieved August 26, 2025.
12345"从「森林书」说起，《原神》的开放世界走到哪一步了？ - GameRes游资网"[Starting from 'The Jungle Book', How Far Has Genshin Impact's Open World Come? - GameRes]. www.gameres.com. Archived from the original on January 9, 2023. Retrieved August 26, 2025.
↑"原神玩家考据赛诺坎蒂丝背景，沙漠文化风格吸粉，地图解密受赞扬 - 资讯 - 游戏日报"[Genshin Impact players researched Cyno and Candace's background, and the desert culture style attracted fans, and the map decryption was praised]. news.yxrb.net (in Chinese). Retrieved August 26, 2025.
12"伦敦交响乐团演奏！《原神》须弥篇音乐在文化探索中寻求创新_文汇"[London Symphony Orchestra Performs! Genshin Impact's Sumeru Chapter Music Seeks Innovation Through Cultural Exploration - Wenhui]. www.whb.cn. Retrieved August 26, 2025.
123"最不受行业重视的设计，为何在米哈游手中就成了王牌？ – 游戏葡萄"[How did the design least valued in the industry become a trump card in the hands of miHoYo? – Youxi Putao]. youxiputao.com (in Chinese). Archived from the original on March 22, 2023. Retrieved August 26, 2025.
12Genshin Impact. "旅人的遐想——《原神》须弥音乐的幕后_原神"[A Traveler's Reveries: Behind the Scenes of Genshin Impact's Sumeru Music]. www.bilibili.com (in Simplified Chinese). Retrieved August 26, 2025.
↑"Special Genshin Impact". Weekly Famitsu (in Japanese). 1 (81). Tokyo: Kadokawa. January 9–16, 2025.
123Bahamut. "《原神》釋出 3.0 新版本「千朵玫瑰帶來的黎明」詳情 預計 8/24 正式實裝"["Genshin Impact releases new version 3.0, 'The Morn a Thousand Roses Brings'. Details expected to be released on August 24th]. 巴哈姆特電玩資訊站 (in Chinese). Retrieved August 26, 2025.
↑"须弥主线完结，《原神》的剧情设计迈上了新的台阶_游戏陀螺"[The main storyline of Sumeru has concluded, marking a new level of storytelling for Genshin Impact]. www.youxituoluo.com. Retrieved August 27, 2025.
↑"《原神》3.1版本更新：沙漠之行". PlayStation.Blog 繁體中文 (in Chinese (Taiwan)). September 16, 2022. Retrieved October 17, 2025.
↑"《原神》3.6版本更新：盛典、慧業與深入荒原的冒險". PlayStation.Blog 繁體中文 (in Chinese (Taiwan)). March 31, 2023. Archived from the original on April 4, 2023. Retrieved October 17, 2025.
12"两年过去，该重新认识原神了 | 游戏大观 | GameLook.com.cn"[Two years have passed. It's time to reacquaint yourself with Genshin Impact]. www.gamelook.com.cn. Retrieved August 27, 2025.
12Gray Pigeon. "米哈游正在挑战内容向手游的极限 – 游戏葡萄"[miHoYo is pushing the limits of open-world content]. youxiputao.com. Archived from the original on July 4, 2024. Retrieved August 27, 2025.
↑Brown Bear (September 28, 2022). "原神3.1版本更新，沙漠景观震撼，赛诺带来配队新挑战"["Genshin Impact" version 3.1 comes with a stunning desert scene; Cyno brings new challenges to the team composition.]. 游戏日报. Retrieved August 27, 2025.
↑Yuzai (July 2, 2022). "《原神》3.0版外洩內容起爭議！海外玩家不滿「漂白」要米哈遊改須彌角色外觀"["Genshin Impact" version 3.0 leak sparks controversy! Overseas players are dissatisfied with the "whitewashing" and want miHoYo to change the appearance of Sumeru characters]. udn.com (in Chinese).
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