Genshin Impact Reveals New Characters

Genshin Impact developer miHoYo has revealed two new playable characters that are set to join the roster of the popular free-to-play video game. More specifically, the Hydro-attuned Yelan and Electro-attuned Kuki Shinobu have been leaked or generally part of the video game previously, but this is the first official announcement that they will be playable at some point. Genshin Impact‘s Version 2.6 update, “Zephyr of the Violet Garden,” is set to release later this week on March 30th, and the two new playable characters are expected to appear at some point after that.

The official announcement of the new characters ahead of the upcoming Version 2.6 update seems to broadly be how the developer intends to address leaks of upcoming content. With every major update to the video game, new content discovered in the files quickly becomes public knowledge, and by announcing new characters prior to the update miHoYo manages to get a bit of a jump on it all. There will likely still be plenty of leaks, but the impact — pardon the pun — will be less.

You can check out the official announcement and promotional art of Yelan below:

And the official announcement and promotional art of Kuki Shinobu below:

As noted above, Genshin Impact Version 2.6, “Zephyr of the Violet Garden,” is set to release on March 30th. The new update brings with it Kamisato Ayato, the five-star Hydro-attuned swordsman, a new Chasm area with both aboveground and underground space, and more. Genshin Impact Version 2.5, “When the Sakura Bloom,“ is currently available and added the new playable five-star character Yae Miko, a new exploration event in Enkanomiya, and more. Genshin Impact itself is available, free to play, for the PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, PC, and mobile devices. The video game is also set to eventually release for the Nintendo Switch, though no definitive date has been announced for that as of yet. You can check out all of our previous coverage of the popular free-to-play title right here.

Have you been playing Genshin Impact‘s latest version? What do you think about the newly announced playable characters Yelan and Kuki Shinobu? Let us know in the comments, or feel free to reach out and hit me up directly over on Twitter at @rollinbishop in order to talk about all things gaming!