Genshin Impact was one of 2020’s various surprise hits, coming relatively out of nowhere as developer miHoYo’s third and most recent major release. Despite its late 2020 launch, the game underwent several significant changes in the last months of the year, finally arriving at its Version 1.2, which introduced the Dragonspine region.
Although Travelers are still just barely getting into the meat of Version 1.2, there have been plenty of announcements and leaks pointing at what’s on the Genshin Impact horizon. 2021 promises to be a year full of content for the game, as there’s already an expansive list of material officially confirmed to be in the works, so players can reasonably expect even more to come.
Travelers capped off 2020 with chances to meet and team up with powerful characters, including Tartaglia, Zhongli, and most recently, Albedo. Four-star characters like Ningguang and Xinyan were also introduced alongside characters like these, and though the currently featured character is still Albedo, players already have a working list of what’s next to arrive.
Between recent Genshin Impact leaks and official blog posts, players already have confirmation of several upcoming characters, and presumably, the regions they’re from. Of course, 2021 will bring at least Version 1.3 of the game to players, but even this update alone will bring more than new characters to the game; players can expect updates to bring forth entirely new gameplay mechanics, domains, weapons, and even regions.
Players have had a chance to Wish for five-star alchemist Albedo for some time now. His event, The Chalk Prince and the Dragon, featured a special event-exclusive sword that was easy to refine through the event’s challenges. With only several days left of Albedo’s banner though, players are already starting to look towards the next character arrivals.
First and foremost, players can expect Liyue Qixin’s Emissary, Ganyu, to be joining Genshin Impact as the next five-star feature. Aside from her, the following characters, and their Visions, have been confirmed to varying degrees by photos and videos from the game’s closed beta test (CBT):
- Rosaria (Cryo)
- Xiao (Anemo)
- Ayaka (Cryo)
- Iansan (Pyro)
- Yaoyao (Dendro*)
- Hu Tao (Pyro)
- Scaramouche (Electro*)
- Cyno
- Baizhu (Dendro)
* These Visions are unconfirmed.
Xiao, Ayaka, Hu Tao, and Baizhu, are reportedly set to be five-star characters, while the rest are presumed four-stars, or entirely unconfirmed. This list, first of all, still leaves the game with a relative lack of Anemo, Hydro, and especially Dendro, users.
2021 will undoubtedly introduce fresh faces to Genshin Impact‘s community. There are over eight characters already confirmed, and they’re not even close to representative of all of the game’s weapon type and element combinations. That is to say, Travelers can definitely expect miHoYo to drop more than the above-mentioned characters throughout 2021. In fact, it wouldn’t be out of the question to see an entirely unexpected character become part of an already-announced character, like Xiao’s, banner.
Though many of the upcoming confirmed playable characters haven’t been tied to a specific weapon, or Vision, yet, players do know where most of them come from. There will reportedly be playable characters from regions such as Sumeru, Inazuma, Natlan, and Snezhnaya, just to name a few, so players can undoubtedly expect at least some of these regions to be introduced.
While Dragonspine, a sort of pseudo-region, was introduced by the recent Version 1.2 update, Version 1.3 is expected to allow players to travel to Inazuma, birthplace of characters like Ayaka. And with characters like Tartaglia, who is already playable, in the game, it wouldn’t be surprising to see Snezhnaya make an appearance in 2021 too. Given the game’s current rate, players might comfortably expect 2-3 new regions in one year.
Especially in light of the release of Dragonspine, these new regions absolutely imply the addition of new in-game climate mechanics. Dragonspine and Version 1.2 introduced the concept of “Sheer Cold” to the game, which essentially slowly freezes players to death unless actively countered. This regional phenomenon is currently witnessed in the Dragonspine region, though of course, future icy lands might suffer from similar weather conditions.
Given that each region is generally affiliated with an Element, players can likely expect some sort of Pyro, Hydro, or Electro-themed weather components to be added to the game, for example. A Pyro climate mechanic could be akin to that of hot magma near volcanic sites in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, while an Electro weather affliction could consist of fierce thunderstorms. In each of these cases, the harsh conditions will, much like Dragonspine’s Sub-Zero Climate, be fought off with new special mechanics. Tangibly speaking, Inazuma is known to be affiliated with the Electro Archon, so it looks like at least thunderstorms might be on the horizon for players in 2021.
Then again, players may also get to venture near some dangerous lava-filled sites near Natlan, so Travelers might want to ready up some powerful Cryo and Hydro characters to counter the heat. Aside from weather, the game will surely build upon existing frameworks and introduce new surprises all the like. Players were just treated to the news of a new “pet” feature taking the form of collectible “Mini Seelie,” so miHoYo is no stranger to dropping fun surprises.
With new characters and regions inevitably come new weapons, Artifacts, and enemies. As of now, the game entirely lacks a Dendro character, so if one is introduced in 2021, players will surely also be seeing Dendro-themed weapons and Artifact sets. In a similar vein, Dragonspine introduced powerful new Cryo-reliant four-star weapons, all of which can be forged by the player. Accordingly, players can probably expect some of the new regions to introduce new diagrams for four-star weapons.
The same goes for Artifact Sets. Aside from the fact that new characters will need new sorts of stat boosts to properly enter battle, the game’s new regions will each certainly host at least one new domain to challenge, as Dragonspine did, if not several. Given that Dragonspine is less of a nation-state and more of a general mountainous region, it’s expected that the “true” Cryo region will be Snezhnaya, and that Snezhnaya will feature several Domains to challenge, instead of just one.
Following a similar pattern of thought, Travelers should also expect Version 1.3 and beyond to introduce new enemies to the game. From newly adjusted hilichurl lackies to full-blown Elite Bosses, the game’s new regions, new weapons, and powerful new characters, will all call for formidable new challenges. There’s already a Hydro-themed “mini-game” boss, the Oceanid, so players are already speculating differently aligned versions of the boss to appear in 2021. Perhaps instead of Hydro ducklings and melting frogs, players in 2021 will have to avoid Pyro swans and lava toads.
And last, but certainly not least, are the vehicles that will carry all of this new content into the game. Players can expect new characters, weapons, mechanics, and general features to be introduced throughout 2021 with events.
Players are already expecting the Lost Riches event to start on January 8, but another Marvelous Merchandise event, and an event focused on Hypostases, are also set to come to Genshin Impact early in 2021. And those are only the officially announced events. Given that characters like Albedo were introduced alongside entire multi-fold in-game events, featuring new storylines and items, it’s definitely likely that other characters will receive the same treatment. As it stands, the upcoming five-star Xiao will most certainly be introduced in conjunction with a March event known as the “Lantern Rite Festival,” but of course, future characters may call for their own special celebrations.
Genshin Impact is available now on the App Store, Google Play, PC, and PS4, and is currently in development for PS5 and Switch.
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