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

V1 Interactive has announced it is closing. The studio was founded by Halo co-creator Marcus Lehto and SOCOM co-creator Michael Gutmann in 2016. In June 2020, the team released its first project, Disintegration. While the game showed promise in early previews, the finished project was not received as well as the team likely hoped, and the developer closed down the multiplayer servers mere months following release.

The news today comes via the studio's Twitter account. "We are sad to inform you that V1 Interactive is officially closing," the tweet said. "We want to thank all the talented people at V1, both past and present, who helped make the last 5 years wonderful. And a heartfelt thanks to the amazing community that supported us."

We are sad to inform you that V1 Interactive is officially closing.
We want to thank all the talented people at V1, both past and present, who helped make the last 5 years wonderful.
And a heartfelt thanks to the amazing community that supported us. pic.twitter.com/XX6Sxtc32o

— V1 Interactive (@V1Interactive) March 8, 2021

In a follow-up tweet from Lehto (the company's president and Disintegration's game director), he gave an update on the situation the employees face following this announcement. "At V1, our priority has been to the wellbeing of our employees," Lehto said in the tweet. "We've been transparent with them about the state of things for months and are making this decision now so they still have ample time to search for new jobs while being supported by our studio."

At V1, our priority has been to the wellbeing of our employees.

We’ve been transparent with them about the state of things for months and are making this decision now so they still have ample time to search for new jobs while being supported by our studio. https://t.co/XJbWDxazto

— Marcus Lehto (@game_fabricator) March 8, 2021

Studio closures are always sad to see, particularly when one had as much promise as V1 Interactive, but it's good to know that the leadership team has been open with its employees about the state of the studio in order to give them as much time as possible to find new roles while still receiving paychecks from V1. Our thoughts and well-wishes go out to all of the employees of V1 Interactive during this difficult time. For more on Disintegration, the studio's sole release, check out our review.

[Source: V1 Interactive on Twitter, Marcus Lehto on Twitter]