HoYoverse today released a new Genshin Impact character trailer starring Layla, the next hero set to be added to the game's ever-growing list of playable characters. The short video is presented as a "character demo" and hence focuses on Layla's personality and backstory instead of delving into her combat ability, so the jury is still out on where exactly she fits in the current Genshin Impact meta.
Nahida and Layla were confirmed to be arriving to Genshin Impact back in September, but while the former featured in a variety of leaks in the run-up to that announcement, the latter's unveiling came as a complete surprise to fans. Layla is a four-star character blessed with a Cryo vision, making her capable of freezing enemies and synergizing reasonably well with everyone apart from Dendro users.
Today's character trailer largely reiterates the previously revealed lore about Layla. Among other things, the video highlights her status as a Rtawahist student of theoretical astrology at the Sumeru Akademiya. Since she is preoccupied with observing the night skies and drawing star charts for her thesis, her personality is that of a friendly, albeit constantly tired college senior prone to sleepwalking. So, as far as her attitude toward the necessity of rest is concerned, she is pretty much the exact opposite of popular Genshin Impact character Sayu, a ninja healer who is always dozing off.
Layla will be added to Genshin Impact next Friday, November 18. She'll arrive in the game as the first new Cryo user since Shenhe, who was introduced in early January. That said, 2021 was the year of Cryo wielders, whereas HoYoverse is currently mostly focused on expanding the game's roster of Dendro characters because the grassy nation of Sumeru is still light on playable characters months after debuting in the Genshin Impact 3.0 update.
While the 3.2 update for the game rolled out last week, introducing Nahida and new Genshin Impact lore about Scaramouche, Layla is still technically part of its mini-roadmap. At the same time, HoYoverse has already spent months working on the 3.3 version of the game, which will further expand the playable character roster with the additions of Faruzan and Wanderer. The Genshin Impact 3.3 update has yet to be given a firm release date, with the Chinese developer so far only saying it intends to roll out the new update in the first half of December.
Genshin Impact is available now on Android, iOS, PC, PS4, and PS5. A Switch port is also in development.