Genshin Impact fans are having an eventful week. The game's long-awaited Version 1.3 has finally been released, allowing players to Wish for the new Anemo character Xiao, among other exciting developments.
Travelers have been waiting for Anemo Adeptus Xiao to join Genshin Impact as a playable character for some time now. Early leaks confirmed that he, along with several others like the icy swordswoman Ayaka, would eventually be playable characters, but their release dates have been shrouded in mystery.
RELATED: Genshin Impact Releases Final Issue of Teyvat Times
The confirmation of Xiao's "character event wish" dates also came with the confirmation that the banner following his would not feature a new character. Rather, on February 17 players will be able to Wish for a boosted chance at the five-star Keqing, rather than Xiao or any other new character. This comes as a blow to players hoping for two new five-stars in Version 1.3, especially considering the fact that no new four-stars have been introduced either.
Keqing's event wish seemed particularly odd in light of the fact that every Version of Genshin Impact thus far has introduced more than one new character. However, fans were quick to point out that both of the banners featuring Xiao and Keqing were relatively short, leaving room for additional surprise banners in Version 1.3. Additional Version 1.3 character event wishes were confirmed with the full patch notes, and Redditor the9thEmber discovered Hu Tao may be one of the featured additions.
This Genshin Impact fan stumbled upon an unlockable namecard for Hu Tao while searching their list of unlockables, which implies she's likely right around the corner. Special unlockable namecards can be obtained for every playable character whenever that character reaches Friendship Level 10 with the Traveler. Naturally, these special character namecards are therefore only available for playable characters.
Investigative players were initially speculating a "surprise" 1.3 character banner would be coming because Hu Tao herself is apparently known to be a prankster. Once the full 1.3 patch notes confirmed that more character event wishes would follow Keqing's in 1.3, the rumors of Hu Tao began to spread. Now with the discovery of this namecard, it's safe to say that if Hu Tao isn't one of these unannounced 1.3 characters, she will likely arrive shortly thereafter.
Many players have also pointed out that Hu Tao's release has been tricky because of an unexpected cultural coincidence. Hu Tao is the director of Liyue's Wangsheng Funeral Parlor, and the Chinese New Year takes place right around Version 1.3's release. In China, the Lunar New Year is marked by a vivid Spring Festival celebrating life, s0 it would probably be considered tacky to promote a character who is all about death during this time.
Genshin Impact is available now on the App Store, Google Play, PC, and PS4, and is currently in development for PS5 and Switch.