Genshin Impact update 2.5 will bring new characters, bosses, bartending

rockpapershotgun.com:

My eyes unfocused partway through the trailer for Genshin Impact's 2.5 update. There was some sort of mystical calamity and it was all very dramatic. Then, almost after the real trailer was finished, there was a minute or more of the actual game, as a character gathered herbs in a pretty field at night, mixed a drink, and unlocked some items.

I was immediately focused back in. Update 2.5, "When the Sakura Bloom", will launch on February 16th with three new characters.

Here's the trailer:

Genshin Impact is generous, but it's still a gacha game and that means its new content is driven by new characters - and often characters you have a time-limited opportunity to win. After the update, you'll have a period where you'll be able to unlock Yae Miko, the pink-haired fox lady and Electro Catalyst user seen in the trailer above. After that period, you'll have an opportunity to unlock Raiden Shogun, the blue-haired boss and Electro user seen the trailer. Raiden Shogun has been available previously. Finally, in the next update, a new Hydro character called Kamisato Ayato will be available.

I don't feel any FOMO about missing out on five-star characters, but the drink-mixing in the trailer is what caught my eye. For me, Genshin Impact is a series of nice places to spend time in, with fun traversal and lots of relaxing todo list items to check off. The new bartending minigame lets you mix ingredients with a QTE to determine the size of the drink, and then you can serve it to other characters to unlock dialogue with them.

We'll have guides to the new characters in due course, but for now we have regularly updated pages on Genshin Impact banners, codes for free primogems, and a character tier list.