The Genshin Impact 3.4 release date is coming up fast, as HoYoverse gears up to celebrate the RPG’s annual Lantern Rite Festival once more. Genshin Impact 3.4 releases on Jan. 18, 2023, and runs for six weeks until around March 1, 2023. The 5-star Dendro swordsman Alhaitham will headline the update’s first round of character banners, with Xiao, the Anemo polearm user, making his fourth return.
New Dendro healer Yaoyao also joins as a 4-star character. The update’s second half sees the return of Wangsheng Funeral Parlor director Hu Tao and the mysterious spy Yelan. This will be Yelan’s first rerun since she debuted in early 2022.
The Lantern Rite Festival is Genshin 3.4’s flagship event, a celebration of the new year in Liyue Harbor with several mini-games, a limited-time Genius Invokation TCG event, and smaller events running alongside it and the chance to earn Primogems to spend on those new banners.
One of the events will let you invite a 4-star Liyue character of your choice, including Yaoyao, and as always with the festival, HoYoverse is giving out 10 free Intertwined Fates – Genshin speak for items you can use on character banners.
On the story side, a new region of the Sumeru desert is open for exploration, sending you into the Red Sands’ violent storms to search for the Magic Bottle and maybe even find the oasis where legends say the gods stopped time so they could be together. You need to complete Golden Slumber first, though.
Finally, you can get two new character skins – one for Lisa, which you get for taking part in the update’s events, and one for Ayaka, which costs real-world money.
Written by Josh Broadwell on behalf of GLHF
