Solve a mystery with new character Yelan in Genshin Impact's latest web event
A chance to get to know the new 5-star hero ahead of her debut in Version 2.7 next week
Genshin Impact will be back next week with its Version 2.7 update, which hit a three-week delay earlier this month. Among the headline new features anticipated in Phase I of the update is the addition of a new 5-star event-exclusive character, Hydro bow wielder Yelan. You'll be able to wish for her in the gacha from May 31st, but in the meantime, MiHoYo have set up a web event to let players get to know this mysterious newcomer a little bit better. Naturally, you'll be rewarded with in-game goodies (including Primogems) for taking part.
New playable characters in Genshin Impact often appear as NPCs before their gacha debuts, or at least get a lot of lore hype beforehand. But Yelan remains something of a mystery just days before she joins the game, and it turns out that's no coincidence: the other characters are just as in the dark as we are. She works for the Ministry of Civil Affairs in Liyue but remains a shadowy figure, known for fixing the city's problems but not actually familiar to most members of the populace. Her character teaser video sees her accompanied by a musical score straight out of film noir as she's shown doling out justice to some bad guys without breaking a sweat or even raising her voice. Colour me intrigued.
To get you up to speed on a day in the life of Yelan and help you decide if you'd like to add her to your character archive, you can participate in the To Ensnare A Prey web event, which is live now and will be available until 5pm (GMT) on May 31st. This in-browser mini-game plays out like a visual novel and only takes about 10 minutes to complete. In it, you help an adorable chibi Yelan identify the culprit who's been leaking Ministry secrets, all while sitting at her favourite outdoor café and calmly sipping her tea.
Successfully identify the guilty party and you'll receive a reward of 40 Primogems, 3 Varunada Lazurite Fragments, 20,000 Mora, and 2 Mystic Enhancement Ores, delivered to you via an in-game mail drop within a few minutes. Fail to identify them and... well, I'm not sure because (sorry for the flex) I got it right first time, but I suspect you'll be allowed to claim the reward anyway. This is Genshin Impact, after all, a game not known for punishing you for failing to pay attention to the plot.
Genshin Impact Version 2.7 will be released on May 31st, and will feature Yelan's debut in the game proper alongside a banner rerun in the gacha for Xiao (his second this year, incidentally) for the first three weeks. They'll be followed in Phase II by Arataki Itto's first rerun, beginning around June 21st. Elsewhere on Rock Paper Shotgun, we keep an obsessive track of all the news about Genshin Impact's current and upcoming banners, including everything we know so far about July's Version 2.8 update, so be sure to take a look at that for more details on what's to come. And, if you haven't been converted yet, you can download Genshin Impact for free on its official website.