Genshin Impact Cats: So cute! Meow

The developer of Genshin Impact must be a fanatical cat lover, who never hides his or her love for cats! There are cat NPCs, cat-related Achievements, playable cat characters, and cat merchandise... so many things related to cats illustrate how crazy he or she is to this adorable creature! This article will make a list of several reasons for you to better understand the love of cats in Genshin Impact.

A. The Cat Girls in Genshin

Diona - the Bartender Cat Girl

Diona is a Cyro character, who is the bartender at the Cat's Tail, but actually hates alcohol and is always trying to ruin the wine industry of Mondstadt. However, her childhood friend, the Spring Fairy blessed her with magic, which makes all of her drinks delicious. Because of her blood of Kätzlein, Diona has the feature of feline ears and a tail, which is unique in Mondstadt.
Besides her appearance in the game, Diona also showed up splendidly at the 2023 Genshin Concert Orchestra, Melodies of An Endless Journey, in which HoYoverse not only designed a brand new outfit but also made a merch from the outfit in the genshin concert merch, the Character CD-Style Keychain Charms.

Kirara - the Courier Cat Girl

Kirara is a Dendro character, who is actually a Youkai instead of a human, and now is working for Komaniya Express as the courier. Because she is a nekomata (cat Youkai), she often has some feline instincts, including sleeping in boxes, pouncing on small animals, sunbathing on roofs, and so on. When she lies, her tails would sway wildly back and forth.

Lynette - the Assistant Cat Girl

Lynette is an Ousia-aligned Anemo character, who works as the magician's assistant to her brother Lyney, the Greatest Magician of Fontaine. Lynette has her feline features and traits (such as enjoying fish) because of a rare case of atavism. She is also used to breaking or damaging machines, therefore she would not use them frequently. She has a sensitive tongue, so she has to cool the tea before drinking.
As a magician's assistant, Lynette also has her own magic props, which are also made into merchandise by Genshin Impact, the Lynette Bogglecat Box Spring Toy.

Lyney - Not A Cat Girl

Of course, Lyney is not a cat girl, but maybe a cat boy, because he is related to Lynette, he also has some feline traits, as what is implied. For example, he has feline eyes, loves fish, and wishes to sleep more in the morning.
To many's surprise, the magic prop of Lyney's is actually a real cat! It is called Rosseland, and Lyney incorporated the cat into his magic shows because Rosseland chose his hat as its territory, and refused to move no matter how hard Lyney and Lynette tried.
Therefore, a clear difference is visible between the merch of Lyney and Lynette: Lynette's magic prop is a hat with a mechanical cat, but the cat looks real in Lyney's merch, Grin-Malkin Cat Moving Toy.

Keqing - Is She A Cat Girl?

Some may ask, it seems like Keqing also has feline ears, is Keqing a cat girl too? The answer is NO! Although what stands on her head looks like feline ears, those are actually her hairstyle, and her real ears can be seen on both sides of her head, Keqing is no doubt a human.

B. The Indissoluble Bound between the Wanderer and the Cat

In the Interlude Chapter Act of Archon Quest, "Inversion of Genesis", when reviewing the experience of Scaramouche (later called The Wanderer), Nahida saved the message as a fairytale, in which she used a cat image to represent Scaramouche, and narrated the story of him in a very cute form. It turns out that the "cat form" of Scaramouche is very popular among the players, so Genshin Impact's official merchandise store promoted a series of merchandise inspired by the scaramouche cat

The merch relating to wanderer and cat includes not only plush toys and badges, but also a whole series of apparels. You can check the website https://genshinfans.com/collections/wanderer-merch for more merch related.

C. The Cat NPCs in Genshin Impact

Version 4.6 - Canticles of Harmony

In the latest World Quest in Fontaine, Canticles of Harmony, updated in Version 4.6, the traveler visited the Sea of Bygone Eras, under a cat NPC, Osse (previously called Monsieur Os).
Osse is a Sapphire Cat, who was actually possessed by Cassiodor, a historical figure from Fontaine when the area was ruled by the ancient civilization of Remuria, when traveling alongside the traveler. After the quest, Cassiordor would not possess Osse anymore, so it turned back into a normal cat and is kept now in Petrichor, Nostoi Region, Fontaine.

Prince

Prince is a Black Cat owned by Margaret, and can often be found seated atop the bar counter in the Cat's Tail in Mondstadt City. He loves fish and playing with balls of string, and his owner often describes him as "a mischievous little rascal" but spoils him as always.
After the Genius Invokation TCG became popular at the Cat's Tail, Prince began to offer assistance to the game players there.

The Story of Neko

Neko is a black cat in Asese Shrine, Seirai Island, Inazuma, who claimed herself to be the "provisional head priestess of the Asase Shrine", and has lived for over 500 years. What is fun is that, although Neko is written as 寝子, which means "Sleeping Child" in Japanese, it is pronounced the same as 猫 neko, "cat" in Japanese.
Neko mainly appears in the World Quest "Neko Is A Cat", which involves helping Neko to restore the Asase Shrine via many daily tasks. After the completion of the Quest, the Traveler can start a Hidden Exploration Objective in Seirai Island, Inazuma called "The Cat's Affection", which will spawn a Precious Chest and an achievement "A Cat's Gift".

How Many Cats Are There In Genshin Impact

The exact number of the cats in Genshin Impact is not known, but from what is released, there are generally 7 different kinds of cats (as wildlife) in the game, including Black Cat, Gray Snow Cat, Jade-Eyed Cat, Northland Cat, Sapphire, Sheriff Cat, and Tiger-Striped Cat.

D. The Cat's Tail

Still don't understand why I call the developer of Genshin a fanatic cat lover? See the Cat's Tail! It is a point of interest and an instance located in Mondstadt City, which is owned by Margaret, and Diona works as a bartender here, as is mentioned above.
To enter the Cat's Tail, the Traveler has to complete the first step in the World Quest "Come Try Genius Invokation TCG!", which introduces the Genius Invokation TCG in Genshin Impact.
Genius Invokation TCG is a tightly paced tabletop card dueling game, the final goal of each game is to use your character cards to attack and defeat your opponent's character cards, and you will win when you have defeated all of the character cards of your opponent.
It can be witnessed how serious MiHoyo is to Genius Invokation TCG, for it has promoted many competitions and merch to make the TCG more popular. The Cat Pad Metallic Badge Holder of the Invokation Genius TCG Competition Series is one of the best-selling Genius Invokation TCG merch.

E. Feline Fortress Furrdyssey

Recently in Version 4.5, there is even a whole event for you to play with the cute cats in Genshin Impact, called "Feline Fortress Furrdyssey".

During the event, you can set up the furnishing and food for the cats in the Furball Fortress in Mondstadt City, and touch different parts of the cats to raise their friendliness. Due to the authentic sounds and reactions of the cats in the Event, it is also praised as a "Cat Petting Simulator" by some of the Genshin players.

F. 2023 April Fools

On April 1, 2023, HoYoverse released a set of images in which some of the Genshin Impact characters are turned into cat forms. The characters turned are Diluc, Wanderer, Keqing, and Shinobu. Their quotes were also on the picture, but they cannot speak them anymore because they are cats, so the vocalization is only Meow.

By seeing all this evidence, we can draw the conclusion that the developer of Genshin Impact must be a fanatic cat lover who has added so many cat elements into the game! As a cat lover myself I have to say, MORE CATS PLEASE!