Genshin Impact 1.3 is on the way, with the release date officially announced for next month.
The details are beginning to emerge, and we're here to give them to you.
Release Date Confirmed!
1.3 will cbegin on Wednesday, 3 February, as revealed in this official PlayStation post.
1.3 Trailer
Xiao
It has been announced that with the 1.3 update comes the arrival of Xiao, a brand new character for players to unlock and use.
Players that are Adventurer Rank 23 during the event will be able to take part in his story quest.
Outside of the event players will need to be level 32 to unlock it.
Xiao's charge attack is an upward thrust, and he also has a special plunging attack which allows him to plunge from any height onto his opponent and not take any fall damage.
When Xiao unleashes his elemental burst "Bane of all Evil", he takes the form of the Viliglent Yaksha at the cost of draining HP.
But his jumping ability will increase as well as his attack damage.
Seasonal Event
The Seasonal Event for the 1.3 update is called Lantern Rites.
The event run from February 3rd when the update goes live, starting off with "Invitation to Mundane Life", before switching to "Dance of Lanterns" on February 17th.
To celebrate Chinese New Year, the Genshin Impact 1.3 update will kick off with the Lantern Rites event.
"Travelers will have the chance to immerse themselves in every aspect of this historic Liyue tradition, from the preparations in the days leading up to the event to the celebrations on the big day itself.
Participation will be richly rewarded, with over 1,600 Primogems, a free four-star Liyue character, and other rewards on offer to help you fully prepare for the year ahead — whatever adventures it may bring."
Lantern Rites will conclude with a huge display as all of the lanterns are released into the sky.
Theatre Mechanicus
During the Lantern Rites event, there will be a new tower defense mode called Theatre Mechanicus.
"Beat Theater Mechanicus at different difficulty levels to win Peace Talismans, which can be spent at the Xiao Market on rewards including the Crown of Insight, a new namecard style, and more.!
Photography Event
There will be a variety of daily events that take place throughout the Lantern Rites event, including Five Flushes of Fortune.
"Fans of photography simply mustn’t miss “Five Flushes of Fortune,” which will have you claim a certain Kurious Kamera from Ji Tong, take pictures of specific targets, and exchange the photos with Ji Tong for troves of treasure. Surplus photos can be sent to friends."
Soundtrack
Genshin Impact's 1.3 update will also feature a new soundtrack, adding many more new pieces of music into the game.
Patch Notes
With every update comes patch notes, letting players know what has changed with the latest update.
We are likely to get some early patch notes ahead of 1.3 and after the preview stream.
We have got a couple of clues as to what will arrive thanks to this video.
We actually have a few hints about what could appear in the 1.3 update.
The preview image features Paimon participating in the Lantern Rite event quest.
Back in 2020, during the beta, people already had a chance to go through this Liyue Harbor activity.
Map Changes
The 1.2 update saw the biggest change to the map so far with the addition of the Dragonspine biome.
With such a big change in the last update, it is unlikely we will see another big map change in the 1.3 update, but there may be minor changes that happen.
New Characters
The 1.3 update will bring new characters to the game, as of right now we don't know who they will be but will update as soon as we know more.
Two new five-star characters were added in the 1.2 update, Albedo and Ganyu.
These characters are featured in the seasonal event questline.
"Albedo is a young yet legendary genius alchemist in Mondstadt, wielding a sword and the power of geo."
"Ganyu is a half human, half-adeptus Cyro archer who serves as an emissary and secretary for the Liyue Qixing."
Nintendo Switch
A Nintendo Switch port of the game was expected to launch in September when Genshin Impact came out of beta.
Unfortunately, this version was delayed and so far there has been no official release date set.
It is expected to be announced after the Genshin Impact 1.3 update with the beta beginning in early 2021 and a expected full release in mid-late 2021.
Available Platforms
Currently, Genshin Impact is available on PlayStation 5, PlayStation 5, PC, iOS, and Android.
The game was released on launch day on PS5 using a backwards-compatible version of the PS4 version.
