Next week (on March 17), Genshin Impact gets the 1.4 update, Invitation of Windblume. While we still haven’t fully recovered from all the festivities that recently took place in Liyue and Hu Tao’s fiery, ghostly presence, Genshin Impact continues to push out significant content chunks as we continue to wait in extreme anticipation for the Inazuma region. What’s in Windblume? Well, first and foremost, everyone’s favorite Anemo character, Venti, appears to be back!

While the sparkly new trailer (see below) doesn’t explicitly say the 5-star bow champion is returning to the mix, Venti appears prominently in the key art and video for this patch, indicating that he’ll be back on a banner for players to pick up. If you missed Venti the first time around and you’re desperate to have him on your team, this might be your chance. I hope you’ve been saving those primogems up. If you’re like me, you probably spent them all on Hu Tao. Oh well. I’ve already got Venti anyway!

However, new characters are even more exciting than old characters returning. While Rosaria has already made an appearance in the game, now she’s going to be a playable 4-star character available with this update. As if we didn’t have enough polearm users coming to the game in droves with Xiao and Hu Tao in recent patches, Rosaria also uses the polearm weapon. However, Rosaria is Cryo (ice) element, so I’m sure folks out there are assembling a full team of varied elements to play with all focused on polearms. Why not. Anyway, you can get a glimpse of her gameplay in the trailer – it’s stylish and cold as you would expect. Rosaria focuses on burst damage, damage over time, and exploiting enemy weaknesses from behind.

Picking up new characters is always a highlight of Genshin Impact as players add them to their rosters, but the Windblume Festival has a lot of other things to offer. Some of that includes new activities where players can go on social outings with some of their favorite characters. Yeah, it’s not all about hunting down treasure and taking on the Abyss; sometimes you just want to go get some ice cream. It looks like you can even get keepsake selfies/photos with your friends to remember your little jaunts, but that might just be part of the experience. In this update, you can build your relationships with Barbara, Noelle, Bennett, and Chongyun.

What’s a festival without mini-games? After Liyue’s tower defense, Mondstadt is not to be outdone for Windblume. We know there’s going to be some serious balloon popping and bow-shooting, alongside some other challenges and events. Special event-themed items are available to collect by participating, as has become the norm with each of these special city fests.

In addition to all the festival fun, update 1.4 also moves the story involving the Abyss Order and your mysterious sibling that’s been the focus of the main questline since opening day.

Are you excited for a chance to play with the new characters? Interested in more mini-game fare? Or are you just waiting for the next giant region? Let us know in the comments below