A new Genshin Impact leak has revealed that HoYoverse is planning to once again expand the Sumeru desert. So far, the anime game‘s desert has been mostly a source of tragedy if you’ve completed its longer world quests, so hopefully this new area spices things up a bit and offers new perspectives and interesting gameplay. The long jogs through the sand to get from place to place aren’t as magical as they used to be.
The Sumeru desert is vast, and there’s plenty of interesting history tied to the location, which becomes apparent during long questlines like Golden Slumber and The Dirge of Bilqis. But a third desert expansion with no growth for Sumeru’s jungles seems a bit odd, to me, at least.
If the leaks are as valid as they appear to be, the new desert area is also adding what looks like an oasis of some sort, so the environment should bring a bit of a visual switch-up. The most fascinating parts of the existing desert are found underground, so it would be nice to have some worthwhile desert exploration under the sun for a change.
The expansion will branch out from the northwest section of the Desert of Hadramaveth, and there appear to be two new Statues of the Seven to interact with – one in an area called Lonerock Desert, and another in Waftgaol.
The unreleased map images come from a leaker named MemetrollsXD on Twitter, and they have me feeling optimistic after the previous desert expansion.
We won’t be seeing the new locations for a few weeks though, as Genshin Impact version 3.5 has just begun. While you wait, you can pull for Dehya and Cyno – two of the community’s favourite desert-born characters.