Genshin Impact 2022 Lantern Rite is Balanced

The 2022 Genshin Impact Lantern Rite is here. Since it’s the Lunar New Year event, that means all sorts of activities and rewards. But aside from being a Primogem goldmine and way to get some Intertwined Fates for the gacha, it also means all sorts of activities and side stories. For this year’s Fleeting Colors in Flight, there’s more of a considerate feel. By which I mean, it seems like all Liyue region characters and different kinds of players are considered. The storylines all involve major and minor figures in some way. Not to mention the events don’t only involve taking your favorite characters into battle to beat bad guys up for event currency.

First, the storyline for Flameplume Starflowers’ Fleeting Colors in Flight quests is handled well. At its core, it is a Keqing story. She’s essentially about to burn herself out in an effort to prove to the Adepti that humans can handle things and to the people of Liyue that she’s capable. The Traveler follows along to ease the burden. But while this is about her, it’s also about every other Liyue character. Throughout each portion of the three-part story, we’re meeting other folks. Ningguang appears at the start. Zhongli offers advice on how to help Keqing. When you’re delivering Qixing gifts to Adepti, you run into people like Baizhu, Ganyu, Qiqi, Shenhe, and Xiao. But also, The Great Gathering Petal-Lit Ships Fish for the Moon quest also starts off by making sure Beidou and Xinyan get a chance to be important. So the activities celebrate the people of Liyue by putting them front and center for the event quests.

But more importantly, the activities in general are well-balanced. A lot of Genshin Impact’s Archon Quests, side-quests, and events involve fighting opponents. Which is fun and great! That’s a big part of why people are here. But the 2022 Genshin Impact Lantern Rite involved a lot of fighting. Fighting through the Theater Mechanicus tower defense challenges. Fighting to get materials for Xiao Lanterns. Fighting through side-quests. It was a lot. Here, there’s a more even split.

Both Flameplume Starflowers and Wondrous Shadows are puzzle events. The former involves a Dragon Quest XI style mini-game. You need to perfectly craft fireworks, choosing the right sorts of Tactile Sensitivity presses to make sure the parameter gauges fill properly to get the highest possible score. Wondrous Shadows is a series of shadow puzzles where you arrange set shapes to cast a shadow that looks like a familiar Genshin Impact thing. Both are thematic, but also involve quite a bit of thought.

Not that battling isn’t present. Both The Great Gathering and Oceanic Defender have that covered in the 2022 Genshin Impact Lantern Rite. But there’s balance here too. Once again, there’s not much overlap. The Great Gathering consists primarily of two facets. One is beating up groups of Treasure Hoarders. One of them will be a “boss.” That means they’re slightly stronger than usual. But there’s also a racing element. Segments like Midpoint Interception and Return to Safe Harbor involve piloting the Waverider boat around the Guyun Stone Forest area. You need to deal with opponents to get to a point in time or defeat an enemy ship. It works well! As for Oceanic Defender, it’s more of a boss challenge. It brings back a The Crane Returns on the Wind foe for fights.

It essentially means that the 2022 Genshin Impact Lantern Rite offers something for everyone. People who enjoy more thoughtful activities have puzzles. Both making fireworks and rotating puzzle peaces to cast the right shadow can really make you think! But they also won’t offer as much pressure or button pressing as a real bout. The Great Gathering and Oceanic Defender both scratch fighting itches, but in different ways. Their challenges both end up being about properly tackling different sorts of foes. It’s all handled quite tactfully.

Genshin Impact is available for the PS4, PS5, PC, and mobile devices. The Nintendo Switch version is in development. The Genshin Impact 2022 Lantern Rite will run until February 12, 2022.