HoYoverse held this July 2 the Genshin Impact Version 2.8 livestream, officially revealing Shikanoin Heizou gameplay and all the new character banners reruns, weapons, skins, and events coming in a few days. You can find our summary of the livestream below with all the details. (Note that the English livestream on Twitch was nearly unwatchable at times, so most of the info below was translated from the Japanese official coverage of the Chinese stream).

Genshin Impact Version 2.8 Summer Fantasia Trailer

As usual, for now, only the Japanese version of the trailer is available, and the English dubbed version will be uploaded soon on YouTube. Update: The English and Japanese dubbed versions of the trailer are now up on YouTube. Watch them below:

New Character Story Quest For Kazuha

Genshin Impact Version 2.8 will add a new story quest focusing on Kazuha and his family's history as blacksmiths. This is something that was deeply explored in a past limited event in Version 2.6, so we'll get to learn even more in 2.8. If you missed the 2.6 event, I highly recommend watching its story cutscenes on YouTube through your favorite Genshin content creator. It had highly important story details for the future most notably for Scaramouche.

Three screenshots of the new Kazuha Story Quest were revealed:

Shikanoin Heizou Official Details Revealed - Vision, Weapon, Profile, Voice Actors, And Gameplay

Just as per the leaks, Heizou is a 4-Star Anemo and Catalyst character. Heizou's voice actors were revealed for the first time, he is voiced in Japanese by YÅ«ichi Iguchi and in English by Kieran Regan.

Heizou is a young prodigy detective from the Tenryou Commission working under Sara, who holds him in high regard. Heizou has his own way of doing things, and he'd rather be on the scene investigating than taking care of the paperwork. Kazuha and Heizou are friends and there's a "natural understanding" between the two. Heizou prefers to use his mind rather than physical violence, and only uses his fists as a last resort.

Heizou will also get his Hangout Event part 1 in Version 2.8. You can watch the first official gameplay reveal for Heizou below.

Version 2.8 Character Banners Release Date Revealed

Genshin Impact Version 2.8 will be a full rerun patch. We'll first have a Kazuha banner rerun and a Klee banner rerun in the first half of the patch starting July 13, and a Yoimiya banner rerun in the second half starting August 2, 2022.

This also means that Kazuha and Yoimiya's signature weapons, Freedom-Sworn (5-Star Sword), and Thundering Pulse (5-Star Bow), will also get reruns. Personally speaking, I do not recommend pulling for 5-Star weapons and I believe it's best to save your Primos for new characters.

As a 4-Star character, Heizou will be available on Kazuha's banner. Once Kazuha's banner ends, Heizou will be available permanently on the Standard Banner.

As a reminder, you should never pull on the banner of a 5-Star character just for a 4-Star character. Don't pull for Heizou in 2.8 if you don't actually want to get Kazuha too. Don't lose to FOMO. Wait for Heizou to have a drop rate boost on the 5-Star banner of a 5-Star character you actually want. Please do not "build pity" either, that's an extremely bad strategy to adopt in gacha games.

2.8 Main Event - Summer Time Odyssey

Summer Time Odyssey will take place on the same separate Islands map as Version 1.7's event. Players will most notably be able to get a Fischl for free by clearing the event. Several sub-quests and sub-events including co-op Waverider content will be included as well. Check out the gameplay below.

New Skins For Fischl And Diluc Officially Revealed

Fischl will get a new Skin, or Alternate Costume, titled Ein Immernachtstraum (Evernight Dream in German). Diluc will get the new Skin Red Dead of Night.Fischl's Skin will be obtainable for free as you clear Version 2.8's content, but you'll have to pay for Diluc's Skin.

Diluc and his new Skin will also be playable via a story event called Hidden Strife. It'll most notably explain why he isn't seen wearing a Vision when wearing that new costume.

While other 5-Star characters, like Jean, already got a bonus Skin, Diluc's Skin is the first-ever 5-Star Skin in the game. One of the main differences from other costumes is how it replaces Diluc's idle animations with new ones. You can find some gameplay of Fischl and Diluc with their new costumes below. They look amazing.

New Event - Evermotion Mechanical Painting

A new event featuring Félix Vogue, an NPC from the Court of Fontaine, where we'll have to solve puzzles by placing gears on a board at the correct locations. Check out the gameplay below and look forward to our guides for it.

Genshin Impact OST The Shimmering Voyage Vol.2 Announced

This will most notably include the track that played when Kazuha blocked the Musou no Hitotachi in Inazuma's Archon Quest.

New Sumeru And Version 3.0 Teaser Trailer

Right before the stream ended, HoYoverse revealed a new trailer for Version 3.0 and Sumeru. On stream, the trailer was introduced with the narration of an unknown female character. Personally speaking, I believe it was the voice of the Dendro Archon as she mentions offering the Traveler "a bit of knowledge". (The Dendro Archon is known as the God of Wisdom, see Dainsleif's narration in the Teyvat Chapter Storyline Trailer from October 2020).

Seeing there's no Japanese version of the livestream we sadly didn't get to hear her Japanese voice actress.

That's all for our summary of the Genshin Impact Version 2.8 livestream. You can watch the full stream VOD below on YouTube.