Genshin Impact version 7.0 update brings Travelers to Snezhnaya on August 12

HoYoverse has confirmed that Genshin Impact Version 7.0 will launch globally on August 12, 2026, opening the long-awaited nation of Snezhnaya. HoYoverse embedded the date in the redemption code: "Snezhnaya20260812," which was handed out during its April Special Program. Version 6.8 is being skipped entirely, so the game moves straight from 6.7 into 7.0, and with it comes the seventh and final mainline nation on the Teyvat map.

That alone makes 7.0 one of the bigger updates in the game's history. Snezhnaya has been teased since the very first Archon Quest, and its arrival pushes the Tsaritsa, the Fatui, and the fate of the six collected Gnoses toward whatever comes next in the main story.

A frozen, industrial Snezhnaya

Snezhnaya breaks from the pattern of earlier regions. Where past nations leaned on lush environments or coastal cities, this one is tundra, snow-buried architecture, and industrial sprawl, drawing heavily on Slavic naming and aesthetics, and characters like Odette, Alyosha, and Tugarin all carry that through. HoYoverse has also confirmed a train network running across the new map, though exactly how much control players get over it hasn't been detailed yet.

Combat-wise, 7.0 leans further into the Stellar Reaction system, which actually got its start quietly in 6.6/6.7 through Sandrone. The expansion adds two named interactions: Stellar-Conduct, pairing Cryo with Electro, and Stellar-Swirl, pairing Cryo with Anemo. Both generate fields that buff elemental damage for the whole team rather than just the character who triggers them.

Odette, Alyosha, and the Cryo Traveler

The first character confirmed for the patch is Odette, a 5-star Cryo Sword user. Her official title, straight from HoYoverse's own reveal post, is Prima Ballerina of the Korolevskiy Troupe. She's a member of the Fatui by night and one of Snezhnaya's most in-demand dancers by day, and mechanically, she's built to enable Stellar reactions through a dance-double summon that applies off-field Cryo.

Alongside her is Alyosha, a 4-star Electro polearm user who fights with his hunting hound, Tugarin. His kit revolves around Hunting Marks: landing one on an already-marked enemy triggers a party-wide ATK buff, and Tugarin's bite attacks double as off-field damage and healing. Given that every debut 4-star in the game's history has ended up obtainable through the opening Archon Quest chapter, Alyosha is a safe bet to follow that pattern, though HoYoverse hasn't said so outright yet. The patch also finally gives the Traveler their seventh element, Cryo, built around field control and reaction scaling.

When to watch for more

The current 6.7 banner cycle runs through August 11. Before that wraps up, HoYoverse is expected to air its Version 7.0 Special Program on July 31, which should lock in the full banner order, character kits, and event lineup. Until then, treat Alyosha's full moveset and the finer points of Stellar-Swirl as subject to change; only the release date, the nation reveal, and Odette's title and element have come from HoYoverse directly so far.