Genshin Impact 7.0 opens Snezhnaya, Teyvat's seventh nation

The train is the first thing you notice. Snezhnaya, the seventh and last of Genshin Impact’s nations, is stitched together by a rail network, and Version 7.0, titled “Everwinter Without Mercy,” puts you on it. The update went live on August 12, 2026 across PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, PC, iOS and Android, and as of August 22, 2026 it is the current version of the game.

Why this nation carries more weight than the others

A short primer for anyone who has never played. Genshin Impact is a free-to-play open-world action RPG from HoYoverse. You travel a continent called Teyvat, each region modelled loosely on a real-world culture and ruled by one of seven gods, and the main story, the Archon Quest, moves from nation to nation. Snezhnaya has been the destination the whole story was pointing at, because it is home to the Fatui, the organisation whose operatives have been the antagonists in almost every earlier chapter. Reaching it means the plot is heading into its final stretch.

The region itself: relentless snowstorms, a capital called Snezhnograd with crowded streets, icefields where ancient beasts roam, secluded villages watched over by Jack Frosts, and the trains linking all of it. Exploring here needs a new tool, the Eye of Graeae, which wards off the cold, summons trains and builds structures called Prime Ice Constructs.

Guns in Genshin

The same Eye of Graeae unlocks something the game has never had: a dedicated third-person shooter mode. Three firearms, each with its own elemental interactions, plus weapon attachments. Combat in Genshin has always been about switching between four characters and combining their elements, so a gun you aim yourself is a real change of rhythm rather than a cosmetic one. Whether it stays a Snezhnaya-only device or spreads to the rest of the map is not something HoYoverse has said.

The elemental system grows as well. Resonating with Snezhnaya’s Statues of the Seven gives the Traveler Cryo, along with a new weapon, the Exaiphanes Blade, and an outfit called Hunt in the Snow. A new reaction, Stellar Swirl, comes from mixing Anemo and Cryo and summons a Stellar Vortex that strengthens with repeated activations. It belongs to a family of “Stellar Glimmer” reactions that the new characters are built around.

What is free and what costs Primogems

Two characters arrive. Odette is a five-star Cryo sword user, a celebrated Snezhnayan ballerina with ties to the Fatui; she converts Superconduct and Cryo Swirl into their Stellar versions and raises Stellar Glimmer damage for the whole party. She headlines the first-phase Event Wish alongside a returning Arlecchino. Alyosha is a four-star Electro polearm fighter who battles beside his dog Tugarin, and you get him for free by advancing the new Archon Quest. The second phase brings back Flins and Ineffa.

The money question, for a new reader: Genshin costs nothing to download, and the story, the region and Alyosha are all free. Pulling for Odette uses Primogems, the currency you earn in the game or buy with cash. MMOS.com’s coverage of the launch also lists the usual maintenance compensation of 300 Primogems for accounts that existed before the update.

If you are starting from zero, expect the earlier nations first. Genshin’s story runs in order, and the Snezhnaya chapter continues the Archon Quest rather than replacing it, so a fresh account has Mondstadt and Liyue ahead of it before the train ride. Existing players can head to the new region directly and collect Alyosha along the way. The next thing to watch is the date of the second banner phase; the event schedule beyond the launch content was not detailed in the sources we checked.