Genshin Impact's first 2022 update brings back Lantern Festival, adds abyssal Enkanomiya

Genshin Impact's first update of the Western new year hits on January 5th, 2022, and it's a pretty big one. Introducing the new Enkanomiya area, an ancient underwater island filled with dangerous enemies and constantly eroded by the Abyss. The center of the city is an artificial sun, and players will have to find a way to use it in the puzzles at the center of the island.

In addition to the new region, the Lantern Rite festival is back, with the chance to get a free four-star Liyue character. Additionally, this year's Lantern Festival will herald the return of the Jade Chamber, Liyue's extremely cool flying palace. On YouTube, you can find a roughly 40-minute video going over the whole 2.4 update. It's embedded below, too.

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The two n ew characters showing up with the patch are Shenhe, a five-star character, who uses Cryo element polearm attacks to boost other Cryo teammates. The other, Yun Jin, uses Geo Vision, and buffs teammates' attacks and defense. Perhaps better, however, Yun Jin is an opera singer with a performance voiced by an actual artist from the Peking Opera.

You can find out more about the Genshin Impact 2.4 update on the official site.

Jon Bolding is a games writer and critic with an extensive background in strategy games. When he's not on his PC, he can be found playing every tabletop game under the sun.