A dating sim comes to Genshin Impact in the Invitation of Windblume update

Genshin Impact's upcoming 1.4 patch will take players to the Mondstadt Windblume Festival, challenging them to a whole new pile of minigames and bringing along Rosaria, the Thorny Benevolence, to join your team. The patch was detailed in a special livestream today, and the trailer above goes into a bit more detail.

Most importantly, however, it includes cute little dating sim elements. A clutch addition to a game that draws players in with its open-world exploration, but keeps them there using charming characters. Players at the Windblume Festival can spend time with Barbara, Noelle, Bennett, and Chongyun, going through small stories about the characters in a series of "Hangout Events."

New character Rosaria is now in the game too, a spear-using ice element ("Cryo") lady with a serious chip on her shoulder. Her magic is pretty explosive, allowing her to teleport around for backstabs and release some nasty damage over time effects. She's associated with the Church of Favonius, so you might have seen her around already in other storylines, but she can now join your team. 

Curious to see where she ends up on the Genshin Impact characters tier list.

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.