How do you get to the Golden Apple Archipelago in Genshin Impact Version 2.8? The Golden Apple Archipelago is a region of Genshin Impact‘s map that is only available at certain times of year. It first appeared in Genshin Impact in Version 1.6, which launched in June 2021 and included the Midsummer Island Adventure event. The location returns as part of the new summer event launched with Version 2.8 in July 2022, although this time the event itself is quite different.
For 2022, the event is called Summertime Odyssey. Naturally, there are goodies to be claimed if you participate, so read on for details on what will be happening and what you need to do to take part.
Summertime Odyssey event start and times
Although Genshin Impact Version 2.8 launched on July 13th (or late on July 12th for players in the US), the Summertime Odyssey event won’t begin until July 15th at 10am BST / 11am EDT / 8am PDT. That’s good news, because it gives you a couple of days to get caught up on the story quest requirements you need to unlock the event.
The Summertime Odyssey event, and access to the Golden Apple Archipelago, won’t be sticking around indefinitely. Exact end times have yet to be announced, but we do know that the event is expected to close sometime on August 14th, 2022. That’s a few days earlier than we’d hoped, since Version 2.8 isn’t expected to end until August 24th; but it might have something to do with the rumours that Version 3.0 will be the next big update. We’ll let you know more when we learn it!
What are the requirements to take part in the Summertime Odyssey event?
In order to play the Summertime Odyssey event when it launches, you need to have done the following:
- Reached Adventure Rank 32.
- Completed the “Autumn Winds, Scarlet Leaves” Archon Quest (a.k.a. the Chapter II Prologue / Inazuma storyline prologue / Kaedehara Kazuha’s story quest).
- Completed the “Beyond This World’s Stars” Story Quest (a.k.a. Astrolabos Chapter: Act 1 / Mona’s story quest).
Last year’s event required you to have reached at least Adventure Rank 21; have completed Act III of the Prologue (a.k.a. Mondstadt storyline) in the game’s main questline; and have played Klee‘s story quest, introduced for the event, called “True Treasure”. Instead of featuring Klee as the main character, Summertime Odyssey stars Kazuha and Mona as the leads in this story, with Fischl and Xinyan playing the supporting roles.
This year, your AR needs to be a little higher — the participation cap has been raised to Adventure Rank 32, and the new main questline requirement means you need to have completed the Prologue to Chapter II (the quest is called “Autumn Winds, Scarlet Leaves”) before you can proceed. Fortunately for those players who aren’t all caught up, though, the requirement to have played Klee’s story no longer seems to apply. Instead, you need to have completed Mona’s story quest “Beyond This World’s Stars”.
The eagle-eyed might have noticed that Mona’s story quest requires you to have reached AR 38, even though the event requirement for Summer Odyssey is only AR 32. On this surface this seems contradictory, but it’s worth noting that a similar thing happened last year: Klee’s story quest usually requires AR 32, but that was set at only AR 21 for the duration of the Midsummer Island Adventure event.
It seems reasonable to assume that the same will be true this time, although it does mean that players below AR 38 can’t prepare ahead of time by completing Mona’s story unless they level up first. And, either way, you will still need one Story Key to unlock her questline, so be sure to carry out all your Daily Commissions for a couple of days if you need to get hold of one.
What are the rewards for taking part in the Summertime Odyssey event?
The reward for completing everything in this year’s summer event will be a free copy of 4-star character Fischl. We’re also pretty confident that the game will throw the usual mix of currencies and items at you for completing individual quests, too.
Long-time fans may remember that the main featured reward for completing everything the Midsummer Island Adventure had to offer last year was an alternate outfit for Barbara. That reward won’t be making a return this year, although it is now purchasable from the in-game outfits store. A copy of a 4-star character is a more standard reward for participating in a major Genshin Impact event anyway, so maybe not enough people thought an alternate skin was a good enough prize for completing a time-limited questline. Or maybe it was just a bit weird that last year’s big reward was a beachwear outfit for a child character?
Anyway, Fischl’s not a bad character to add to your archive and she’s quite entertaining, so although making her the big prize perhaps lacks something in the imagination department, it’s a decent payoff for all your hard work if you manage to rinse the event before time runs out.
That’s everything we know for now about the Golden Apple Archipelago in Genshin Impact Version 2.8 and the Summertime Odyssey event. We’re excited to learn more about how the 2022 event will differ from last year’s, though, so keep an eye out for more from Rock Paper Shotgun if it turns out to be particularly interesting.
In the meantime, why not take a look at our comprehensive tier list of all 50+ playable characters in Genshin Impact, and our guide to getting more wishes in Genshin Impact without spending lots of real-world cash. We also have a guide to the current and upcoming banners in Genshin Impact to help you plan ahead.
