The one-year anniversary of Genshin Impact is upon us, and despite there being a few reasons to criticize how miHoYo is celebrating, we’ve decided to look back on some of the better moments from the past year. Here are the top five best events from the first year of Genshin Impact.
7. Energy Amplifier Initiation
Energy Amplifier Initiation might’ve been the weakest of all the flagship events to date. It didn’t offer up much in terms of notable character interaction or interesting storytelling.
The main gameplay pull for this event came in the form of multiple Domain challenges and exploration locations in which enemies were significantly buffed. These battles were tougher than expected, but it was a nice change of pace for those who put tons of hours into building up their characters.
Energy Amplifier Initiation wasn’t a bad event by any means, but it just doesn’t match up to the rest in terms of activities and plot. In fact, the best part about it is the fact that players are rewarded with a free Diona upon completion.
6. Thunder Sojourn
Thunder Sojourn was meant to transition players into the new Inazuma area with an Electro-themed event, but it was overshadowed by everything else that the new region had to offer. It also didn’t offer any real story content since the Inazuma Archon Quests were keeping us all busy at the time.
It included gliding challenges using Thunder Spheres and combat arenas where you had to use Electrogranum against never-before-seen enemy types. These were great ways to help players learn about and experience a number of Inazuma’s new gameplay mechanics while exploring the island nation.
Thunder Sojourn still felt a bit lacking as a flagship event, but it’s easily forgiven since it offered up a large amount of Primogems for players to use on new Inazuma character and weapon Banners. And as a bonus, Beidou was offered up for free at the end of the event.
5. Unreconciled Stars
Unreconciled Stars is the first major flagship event and it did a great job blending character storylines and new gameplay ideas. We got introduced to Fischl and her wild chuunibyou imagination, Mona and her monetary struggles, and the mysterious antagonist, Scaramouche.
The event featured a number of combat events that could be completed in co-op, which was an added bonus. They were essentially horde mode battles that spiced up the game at a time when players were looking for new content. It even rewarded Fischl as a playable character for those who completed it.
Unfortunately, this event required players to spend Resin to participate, which is the currency used to do plenty of other activities in the game. MiHoYo eventually removed that requirement from future events, but this was the main downside of Unreconciled Stars.
4. Invitation of Windblume
Invitation of Windblume brought us back to where it all started, allowing players to interact with the most notable residents of Mondstadt during a huge festival. Jean, Kaeya, Barbara, Lisa, Rosaria, Venti, and more made appearances as the Traveler discussed poetry with the city’s inhabitants.
The event brought a number of mini-games and Festive Challenges that involved shooting targets, playing music, and of course, floating high above the ground. Players were even able to play the Windsong Lyre to create custom tunes if they happened to be more musically inclined.
While these mini-games were enjoyable, they don’t exactly measure up to activities found in the events below — even though they match the tone of Invitation of Windblume perfectly.
3. The Chalk Prince and the Dragon
The Chalk Prince and the Dragon introduced us to the lovable and intelligent alchemist, Albedo, along with the Dragonspine region. And it did so in spectacular fashion. Sucrose also makes an appearance, as she gets even more screen following Albedo’s previous story quest.
This event not only added new challenges in Dragonspine, but also rewarded players with the Festering Desire — one of the best free swords in Genshin Impact at the time. The combat challenges with unique stipulations added a good amount of difficulty as well, so that they weren’t easy enough to breeze past.
The main negative of The Chalk Prince and the Dragon — and Dragonspine in general — is the Sheer Cold effect that causes characters to take damage after spending too much time away from a heat source. It’s a bit of a nuisance that can suck the fun out of exploration in the region.
2. Lantern Rite
Lantern Rite was definitely a sight to behold, as Liyue Harbor was lit up by tons of lanterns and fireworks. This event’s story focused on the normally-reclusive Xiao, and it ended perfectly with him enjoying the light show high above the city.
Gameplay-wise, the Lantern Rite event added a whole new type of gameplay to Genshin Impact with its Theater Mechanicus mini-game. Theater Mechanicus is a kind of tower defense game that had players defending against waves of enemies by using their own Mechanici attack towers in creative ways.
Several quests had to be completed to fill a Festive Fever meter, which represented the excitement that the citizens of Liyue had for the Lantern Rite festival. This event was less about combat and more about getting to know and see Liyue in a different light, so to speak.
1. Midsummer Island Adventure
Midsummer Island Adventure is easily the biggest event to date since it added a whole new temporary region called the Golden Apple Archipelago. The ever-excited Klee was front and center in this storyline, as she got invited to the islands by the Dodo-King. And she has the Traveler and a few other concerned characters tag along, of course.
The gameplay on this large new archipelago is split up into four storyline segments, each with its own mini-games and activities. As expected, many of the activities are explosive in one way or another, thanks to Klee’s nature as a character. They’re all fun to participate in, with the last one rewarding players with the Dodoco Tales catalyst weapon.
Beyond the event mini-games, Midsummer Island Adventure’s archipelago also contains a wide variety of useful new items, some of which can only be found in Inazuma after the end of the event. This was the last major event before the Genshin Impact 2.0 update that expanded the map even further, and it certainly didn’t disappoint.
Did we miss any of your favorite major Genshin Impact events? Let us know which ones you liked best in the comment section below!
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