A new wave of leaks surfaced Wednesday night that revealed information about the upcoming 3.0 patch, which will bring the Dendro-inspired Sumeru region to the game. The patch is one way to go – it doesn’t have a release date yet, but the typical release schedule suggests that it could be around August 24. However, fans have reacted to the content leaks. new with criticism that the developers have whitewashed the new. figure.
The Genshin effect there is a strong leak community that shares details about updates before they go live. (Example: latest charset, Yelan and Kuki Shinobu, were correctly leaked by many accounts before they were officially released.) Several characters from this upcoming 3.0 patch have been leaked, with varying degrees of reliability. These include images of the Dendro archon, Kusanali, who acts as the leader of the new region. Twitter user Sagiri, who leaked the image, says it’s “not the final version.”
Fans have reacted harshly to the leaked images, with some suggesting that the light-skinned models suggest designers are bleaching characters from the region. Hoyoverse has not confirmed that Sumeru is based on any particular region of the real world. Character in The Genshin effect described it in the game as a land of scholars that has both desert and rainforest, so some fans have theorized that it could be based on Middle East and South Asia cultures.
Fans have also previously criticized The Genshin effect since only two characters have visibly darker skin tones: Xinyan and Kaeya. Wednesday’s leak raised similar concerns. In a reply to the tweet leak, one user wrote, “Really… all my hopes for a brown hound have turned into a pale child.” The other answers are just comments about the designs or they include fun images like screenshot The Beatles’ White Album.
Polygon has reached out to Hoyoverse to confirm the authenticity of the leaks and for comment on the matter. We will update the post if we receive a comment.
Some fans have also responded by sharing character drawings that darken their skin.
this is not The Genshin effect Fandom’s first brush with controversy. In 2021, fans start a hashtag called “#boycottgenshinimpact“Getting members of the community to criticize the company for allegedly using Indigenous people as a model for Hilichurl’s grumblings.
