Genshin Impact Chapter VII: What Act I & II Unlock

Genshin Impact‘s Archon Quest Chapter VII unlocks in two parts once you hit Adventure Rank 18 and clear the right Prologue quest, and it does not require you to have finished the previous chapter, “Song of the Welkin Moon” — the teleport waypoint into Snezhnaya opens on its own. Gaming media coverage of the Snezhnaya patch has mostly stuck to 100% checklists and banner timing, leaving the actual quest chapter — what unlocks it, what each act opens up — largely unexplained. This breaks down exactly what Act I “Everwinter Without Mercy” and Act II “Wraith’s Nocturne” gate behind them, quest by quest.

Chapter VII is the Archon Quest arc set in Snezhnaya, and it ships in two acts with Version 7.0: Act I, “Everwinter Without Mercy,” and Act II, “Wraith’s Nocturne.” Both became permanently available after the Version update, with Travelers needing to meet the unlock criteria to access said Archon Quests. The gate on Act I is Adventure Rank 18 plus a finished Prologue: Act III, “Song of the Dragon and Freedom” — that’s it. There’s no requirement to have finished “Song of the Welkin Moon,” the chapter before this one — HoYoverse says so outright.

The part that trips people up is entry. You do not need to have played through every prior Archon Quest chapter first. Once the two conditions above are met, exploring the Snezhnaya region will automatically accept the Archon Quest Chapter VII: Act I “Everwinter Without Mercy” — the game hands you the quest and the waypoint without a manual pickup step. HoYoverse’s official update details simply confirm that the teleport waypoint and Act I work even for Travelers who have not completed preceding Archon Quests such as “Song of the Welkin Moon: Act X.”

Act I isn’t one long cutscene — it’s structured so that specific internal quests act as keys to specific pieces of the region. Progressing “Gunfire in the Silent Lands” in the Archon Quest Chapter VII: Act I “Everwinter Without Mercy” is what opens Huntsman’s Cabin, and the same quest is the trigger for new World Quests, which require you to progress through Archon Quest Chapter VII: Act I and complete “Gunfire in the Silent Lands” to unlock. A separate internal quest, “Silence Alone is Disfavored” in Archon Quest Chapter VII: Act I, is the Unlock Criteria for Tidesong Cavern and The Korolevskiy Theater. The third, “Great Deeds on the Tundra,” is what flips on Snezhnaya’s Daily Commissions and hands out the region’s new sword, the Exaiphanes Blade, obtained by progressing through “Great Deeds on the Tundra” in Archon Quest Chapter VII: Act I.

Practically, that means you can’t rush straight to the daily grind loop — you have to walk through “Great Deeds on the Tundra” first before Snezhnaya’s Commissions even show up on your board. If you’re planning your first session in the region, the Snezhnaya what to do first guide covers the order these three quests tend to come up in.

Not everything in Act I is tied to a named quest checkpoint. A couple of systems roll out gradually across the act instead of unlocking from one specific mission. The third-person shooter combat mode is the clearest example — it becomes available as you progress through Archon Quest Chapter VII: Act I “Everwinter Without Mercy” rather than flipping on at a single cutscene. The Eye of Graeae system, which several early-Snezhnaya guides treat as the region’s core traversal and puzzle tool, follows the same “as you progress” pattern rather than a single quest gate. If you want the play-by-play on what that system actually does once it’s live, that’s covered separately in the site’s Eye of Graeae breakdown linked above.

This is worth flagging because it means two players at the exact same story beat can have slightly different access if one is rushing dialogue and the other is exploring between story triggers — the shooter mode and Eye of Graeae aren’t locked to a checkpoint you can point to on a quest tracker.

Act II, “Wraith’s Nocturne,” unlocks under the same Adventure Rank 18 floor once Act I is finished — no separate story prerequisite beyond clearing “Everwinter Without Mercy.” The system sitting behind it is Cycle Training, the region’s recurring Shadow Realm activity: progressing through Archon Quest Chapter VII: Act II “Wraith’s Nocturne” unlocks the prerequisite quest, and completing that quest is what grants access to Cycle Training. It’s a two-step gate, not a straight line — clearing Act II opens a follow-up quest, and that follow-up is the actual key. Odette, the support character introduced alongside this patch who enables Stellar-Conduct and Stellar Swirl, ties into the same combat systems Act II leans on; anyone building around her is better off checking the Odette build guide and the Stellar Swirl reaction guide before diving into Cycle Training’s weekly quests.

What Cycle Training Actually Asks For

Once the prerequisite quest is cleared, the activity runs on a weekly cadence: new Training Quests get assigned each week, tasking you with clearing specific Shadow Realms for rewards. It’s a recurring commitment rather than a one-time unlock, so factor in a standing weekly chore once Act II is behind you rather than treating it as a checklist item you tick once.

HoYoverse’s Version 7.1 Special Program aired on September 12, 2026, confirming Version 7.1 for September 23 with Vesna and Vodyanitsa in its first banner phase (September 23 – October 13); it premiered on the official Twitch and YouTube channels at 08:00 AM UTC-4. Press coverage ahead of the broadcast expects the stream to preview the next Snezhnaya-focused update and detail plans for the game’s sixth anniversary on September 28, though HoYoverse itself hasn’t confirmed what that means for Chapter VII specifically. By our reading, a Chapter VII Act III is the logical next step given the two-act pattern already shipped, but nothing about its existence, name, or unlock criteria has been officially stated anywhere — treat any Act III detail you see before the program airs as speculation, not patch notes. For a running tally of what’s actually confirmed versus what’s still a leak, the 7.1 confirmed vs leaked breakdown is the better place to track that as details land.

• Huntsman’s Cabin, new Snezhnaya World Quests, Prime Ice Constructs and the Snezhnaya Adventure Journal — all behind “Gunfire in the Silent Lands”
• Tidesong Cavern and The Korolevskiy Theater — behind “Silence Alone is Disfavored”
• Snezhnaya Daily Commissions and the Exaiphanes Blade — behind “Great Deeds on the Tundra”
• The third-person shooter combat mode and the Eye of Graeae system — both roll in gradually across Act I, not from a single quest
• Cycle Training’s weekly Shadow Realm activity — behind Act II’s prerequisite quest, itself gated by finishing “Wraith’s Nocturne”

Sources and Confidence

This table separates what the studio has confirmed from what comes out of press previews, and what is still just circulating. Every link below was fetched before publishing.