The new Genshin Impact Layla hangout event is slightly different than those the anime game usually offers, as HoYoverse has given her an anxiety meter instead of the regular approval meter that other characters use. To be more specific, Layla’s meter is labeled as her ‘Stress Value’ and it represents her current mental state on the hangout. So far, every other character has used a familiar dating sim-like approval system, but this feels much more real.
Layla is a student in the Sumeru Akademiya, meaning she regularly has loads of papers to write and academic work to complete. So much so that she’s often overwhelmed and sleep-deprived — a situation that’s all too familiar for students in real life.
The game mentions that she’s often “tortured by her own anxious thoughts,” so one of your goals during these Layla-focused hangouts is to avoid stressing her out more than she already is.
Players who suffer from any kind of social anxiety are likely to resonate with Layla and her personality. The same goes for Sucrose and Collei — two characters who have outright admitted to not doing very well in overly-social situations. Although it was nice to see them getting along well with each other in the version 3.5 Mondstadt Windblume Festival.
Layla’s hangout has six different endings, so you’ll get to know her quite well if you go for all of them.
If you enjoy hanging out with Layla in her new event, be sure to pull for her in the first half of the Genshin Impact version 3.6 character banners. She’s available alongside Nahida, Nilou, Shinobu, and Dori.
Layla’s gameplay doesn’t exactly mesh well with Nahida or Nilou since Cryo doesn’t react with Dendro, and Nilou’s kit works best with Dendro characters. But Layla does work well alongside Ayaka and Shenhe, who just were available on the previous character banners.