Genshin Impact's Song Of The Welkin Moon Storyline Comes To And End... On The Moon

If you were expecting to head to Snezhnaya in Genshin Impact’s next update, you might be a little disappointed. We have to take a sidetrip first… or, a couple of them, actually. Today, HoYoverse dropped the Special Program for Song of the Welkin Moon VIII: Sunny Summer Fontanalia. And, as the subtitle suggests, we’re headed back to Fontaine for another summer film festival event.

This event answers one question that some of us definitely had following the events of the prophesied flood. “What happened to that ship of Wriothsley’s?” A lot of time, effort, and Mora went into building that thing; surely, he wasn’t going to let it sit and rot.

Turns out, he’s not. Instead, it seems they’ve decided to turn it into a floating aquarium and are currently letting it be used to film a movie that familiar faces from all over Teyvat are taking part in. Columbina, Citlali, and Charlotte all have parts. We’ll also run into Sandrone on the ship, but it seems like she’s just staying there rather than participating in the fun.

In addition to the film portion of the (permanent) Sunny Summer Fontanalia event, there will be a secondary event on board the ship that requires Travelers to do a bit of underwater fishing and help improve the aquarium. Completing this event will earn players Charlotte and the detective costume she’s wearing during the event for free. Citlali is also getting a new outfit, but that one players will have to pay for.

So, what about the second detour? Well, the free-to-play action RPG is getting a new zone. And it seems that, as this is the last version of the Song of the Welkin Moon, it only makes sense that it will be the moon. Yes, we’re getting the moon as a playable map. Columbina’s apparently been doing some work up there, but something’s not right, and she’ll need our help to sort it out.

It turns out that the dragons had plans for the moon. It makes sense, they did create it and its sisters after all. There are mysterious dragon ruins, and the remains of something called “Project Moongazer”. Players will be able to explore a large portion of the moon, including the dark side, and even leave the moon to go to a nearby defunct space station. While on the moon, players will be able to use a combination of the already low gravity and something called Archaeolune Energy, which manipulates gravity, in their exploration.

As for new characters, the fact that Sandrone is just chilling on the Wingalet should clue you in that she has finally arrived. She comes with a new conduct mechanic, Stellar-Conduct, which transforms the nearby area into a “Polestar Field” with the polestar being at the center. This allows her to buff Cryo and Electro characters within the energy, as well as Stellar-Conduct energy.

Speaking of Stellar-Conduct, the Hexenzirkel is at it again. Mage B has appeared in Fontaine and is offering readings to certain characters. After completing these readings, the characters in question will receive a boost to their abilities, including abilities related to Stellar-Conduct reactions. There are seven characters getting their readings done: Qigi, Mizuki, Yae Miko, Wriothesley, Cyno, Beidou, and Diona. That makes for a pretty solid team to go along with Sandrone. If you’re missing any of those characters, some of them will be featured in the Lightrace Wish Banner.

Aside from Sanrone, the update’s banners will also include a rerun of Citlali. The second banner of Luna VIII will feature Columbina and Raiden Shogun.

On an additional note, for the cutscene skippers among you, HoYo has introduced a new quality-of-life improvement. With the arrival of Luna VIII, players will be able to progress the dialogue at their own pace – most of the time – rather than being forced to wait.

Of course, the HoYo shared a few codes during the livestream: Marionette, TotheMoon, & TeaPartyTime. Be sure to use them as soon as possible.

Oh, yes, and one other thing. At the very end of the stream, they gave us another teaser for Snezhnaya that shows off the region and some of the things that live there. If you don’t want to sit through the whole stream or skim through it, we included it separately below.