If you look at the world map in Genshin Impact, you’ll notice a massive bite taken out of it in between the Mondstadt and Liyue regions. This is where Dragonspine Mountain is said to be, though it’s currently off-limits to game explorers.
However, if the translated miHoYo roadmap is accurate, we should be expecting that landmass to be filled in when update 1.2 hits on December 23. I am pretty happy about this, as that impassable chunk of land has been bothering me a bit (I don’t like how travel between Mondstadt and Liyue is sort of bottlenecked through that narrow bit of the map).
Some of the land does exist in the game currently, but the mountain texture seems kind of low-resolution, and if you get too close, Paimon will stop you from going any closer.
Now, there are videos from the game’s beta of people glitching their way to Dragonspine, but the area is clearly not finished. Here’s a video if you want to watch some of that footage yourself:
Now, I have a lot of questions about how the addition of Dragonspine Mountain will impact the current game.
I imagine that when the landmass is officially a part of the game, Paimon’s nagging restriction will simply be lifted, but I can’t say for certain. Will there be a hard level requirement for entry, or will it be more of a soft level requirement (the way the game tries to discourage you from visiting Stormbearer Point is a good example of this). Currently, the game world feels open, vast, and accessible, so I would hate to see pieces of it blocked off with a hard cap (though I suppose pieces of it are blocked off this way currently, so it wouldn’t exactly be a change).
Will there be a new Statue of the Seven added to the game, which will let us draw in that section of the map? I would assume so, but again, this is not officially confirmed. There is the off chance that the region would just be automatically drawn in once it’s officially part of the game. Personally, I would rather there be a statue, but doesn’t that mess up the Continental Explorer: Mondstadt achievement (awarded for finding every statue in the Mondstadt region and “lighting up the entire Mondstadt map”)? Will the requirement for earning this achievement simply be increased by one for players who haven’t earned it yet? And what does that mean for players who already have?
Then again, that assumes this would be part of the Mondstadt region. Maybe it won’t be. This bit of land is also connected to the little area where Mingyun Village sits, between Bishui Plain and Qiongji Estuary, which is Liyue. So Dragonspine could be a part of Liyue instead of Mondstadt.
Or maybe it’s just considered wild country, and it’s not part of any region.
That makes me wonder about elements. Since the Mondstadt region’s element is Anemo (wind), will that be true of Dragonspine as well? If it’s part of Liyue, it would be Geo, and if it’s actually part of the “wilds,” will it maybe not be attuned to any element?
Here’s something else to consider: Maybe this area is officially part of one of the game’s other regions (similar to how Alaska is disconnected from the United States but is still officially one of the fifty states). That would actually be kind of cool, as it would give players an early shot at attuning the protagonist to a third element (on top of Anemo and Geo).
I also think it’s safe to assume that there will be tons of chests to find in this new area, but which region’s achievement will these chests count toward? Or maybe they won’t count for any achievement.
On top of how regional borders might impact the Dragonspine area, there’s also weather to consider. This is a cold, snowy area, which sets it apart from the game areas we’ve seen thus far. Will there be weather effects to consider (like in Breath of the Wild)? Will our characters get new, weather-appropriate outfits?
And I assume there will be new types of enemies to corelate with this colder climate. One can only speculate what they might look like (giant, furry, Yeti-like beasts would be cool, and so would ice dragons, but the possibilities are limitless). Will there be new elite monsters here to bring down for additional weekly shots at rewards (like how you can re-challenge Stormterror and Andrius once per week)?
Hopefully by this point I convinced you that there’s a lot more to consider here than just adding a chunk of land to the current world map. Genshin Impact has followed a particular formula for how its existing regions work, but that doesn’t mean Dragonspine needs to use that formula. This is a shot at bringing something really interesting and surprising to shake up the game a bit, and I certainly hope miHoYo takes that into consideration.
No matter what happens, though, I’m happy to see that this gorgeous game world will be expanding soon. Genshin Impact offers incredible experiences for those who love exploration, and that’s something that should only continue to grow as the game moves forward. And that’s worth getting excited about, if you ask me.
Aight