Genshin Impact’s big Natlan update gets a late summer release date

More than four years after its 1.0 version release, developer Hoyoverse continues to expand on the world of Genshin Impact with new characters and sprawling regions. The developer released a trailer on Friday that announced the game’s big 5.0 update will be released on Aug. 28. The version, called “Flowers Resplendent on the Sun-Scorched Sojourn,” will add the colorful desert region of Natlan and introduce players to new characters and mainline quests.

After the 4.0 story took place in the super-soaked water region of Fontaine, the 5.0 story will send players to Natlan, the region of fire and the Pyro Archon. The trailer teases a story where Natlan is on the verge of destruction and has less than a year to evade total devastation. Once again, it’s up to the Traveler to save yet another nation.

The teaser trailer shows a landscape covered with sandstone canyons, terracotta reds, and grass-covered mesas. So far, it’s looking like the region will lean heavily into new gameplay that makes players mobile in new ways. Gameplay showed off Kachina, a character who darts around on a top-like device, and Kinich, a boy who almost looks like he has a sort of vine-like Spider-Man type power where he can fling himself across the map. It also showed the shark-rider Mualani.

In addition to the teaser trailer for the game, Hoyoverse published an animated short to accompany the news with game characters called “Blaze to Natlan.” This neon fever dream of an animation looks something like the child of Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse and Promare, and leans into a very different vibe for the game.

Hoyoverse previously released a look at Natlan in July. The reveal of characters like Mavuika prompted widespread criticism from fans and voice actors from the game who said Genshin “white-washed” characters inspired by regions in Latin America and West Africa. So it’s likely this patch will inspire heavy scrutiny when it does come out later this August.