(25 votes, average: 3.76 / 5)
Loading...Honkai: Star Rail
Honkai: Star Rail is a turned based multiplatform sci-fi gacha RPG with beautiful anime graphics and top notch production value. Board the Astral Express and explore the galaxy while uncovering the secrets of the Stellarons in this narrative driven adventure. Honkai: Star Rail is developed and published by the same folks behind Genshin Impact and with that comes the same level of quality and attention to detail HoYoVerse is known for.
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Publisher: HoYoVerse Playerbase: High Type: Sci-fi Gacha RPG Release Date: April 26, 2023 Pros: +AAA production value. +Top notch storytelling. +Excellent character designs. +Cross platform support. +Simple but intuitive gameplay. Cons: -Entirely singleplayer. -Zero appearence customization options. -World is less interactive than Genshin. |
Honkai: Star Rail Overview
Honkai: Star Rail is a turn-based sci-fi RPG with fast-paced, anime-inspired battles that feel like a character action game. Players must make tactical decisions to control a team that dodges and dashes across the screen, showcasing each character's unique personality and acrobatics. The game resembles Genshin Impact in its climactic battles, but focuses on synergy between characters rather than solely on their signature moves.
The game follows the Trailblazer, the main character, and her two crewmates as they travel to different planets, dealing with local politics and problems. The plot is well-paced with the main story entirely voice acted. The world and its characters are further developed through countless optional sidequests, many of which are incredibly witty and fun.
Star Rail's combat system emphasizes tactical, team-based decisions, requiring players to use a mix of characters with different elemental strengths and supportive abilities. Characters have a basic attack, skill, passive, and an ultimate, allowing for creative strategies and team compositions.
Honkai: Star Rail Key Features:
- Turn Based RPG – Simple, yet intuitive turn based combat reminscent of classic JRPGs. Optimize a team for every occasion and swap out characters as needed to exploit enemy weakneses.
- Narrative Driven Adventure – Take part in an epic sci-fi adventure that spans numerous planets that's entirely voice-acted. Hundreds of well written sidequests also help flesh out the world and its characters.
- AAA Production Value – From its gorgeous graphics to excellent musical score, Honkai: Star Rail looks and feels like a triple AAA JRPG rivaling games like Final Fantasy and Xenoblade Chronicles.
- Rogue Like Simulated Universe – Explore the simulated universe, a unique area in the game that features rogue-like gameplay with increasing difficulty. With 100+ 'blessings', each run in the Simulated Universe is unique.
- Build Your Team – Collect, train, and equip 20+ playable characters each with their own unique strengths and weaknesses. A wide roster of fully equipped and leveled characters is required to succeed as a single team isn't enough to cover all 7 weakness types. Characters are acquired through a Gacha system similar to Genshin Impact.
- Play on Any Device - Play on PC, Mobile, or consoles with cross-save support. Start playing on PC and pickup where you left off on mobile!
Honkai: Star Rail Screenshots
Honkai: Star Rail Featured Video
Honkai: Star Rail Review
By Aey Igh,
Honkai Star Rail, the latest masterpiece from HoYoverse, manages to expertly blend the strategic elements of turn-based gameplay with the thrilling action of character-driven combat. The game delivers a breathtaking visual experience and a captivating story, all wrapped up in an immersive RPG package that is sure to keep players engaged and entertained. While Honkai: Star Rail is a gacha RPG, it looks and feels like a triple AAA JRPG easily on par with games like Final Fantasy and Xenoblade Chronicles.
Like Genshin Impact, Honkai: Star Rail is almost entirely a single player experience. Players can share a single character with friends through the game's support system, but besides that Honkai: Star Rail is a single player game.
The Gameplay Experience
In Honkai: Star Rail, players are treated to an intricate and fast-paced battle system that plays out like a beautifully choreographed dance. Combat is turn based and straightforward, but still feels rewarding. Players can control 4 characters at once with each having a single basic attack, a special skill, and an ultimate. Characters can be customized through their skill trees (called Traces), equipment (relics), and Lightcones.
Assembling a diverse team and understanding the synergy between characters is crucial to overcoming challenges. Players won't be able to just level up a single team either, as enemies have 7 different kinds of weaknesses. A single team won't be able to cover every weakness, so players need to ideally level up their entire roster of characters and mix and match them as needed.
A Compelling Narrative:
The game's story follows the Trailblazer, a protagonist who awakens under mysterious circumstances, burdened with a Stellaron which grants them a powerful and potentially dangerous ability. Joining forces with the Astral Express, a group of interplanetary heroes, the Trailblazer embarks on a quest to explore different planets and unravel the mysteries surrounding the Stellarons - seeds of disaster that can both help and curse civilizations. These Stellarons are mysterious objects that are also known as the "Cancer of All Worlds". The narrative weaves together elements of space opera, dark comedy, and soap opera-style storytelling, ensuring that players remain invested in the characters and their evolving world. The main storyline is entirely voice acted and well paced. The game's world is further developed with 100s of optional sidequests and notes scattered across the game world.
The Astral Express is a bit like the U.S.S. Enterprise in Star Trek. Our heroes, the Trailblazers, must traverse the galaxy interacting and aiding civilizations while discovering the secrets behind the Stellarons. With no prime-directive, our heroes do their best to aid those in need while learning more about these mysterious Stellarons.
The Characters and World Building:
The universe of Honkai: Star Rail is richly detailed, and the diverse cast of characters truly brings it to life. From the overly chipper and fun March 7th to the more serious Dan Heng, the characters themselves are one of the primary draws of the game.
Honkai: Star Rail's narrative shifts seamlessly from the heroic optimism of a space opera to the dark comedy reminiscent of a Nier game. By focusing on building a meaningful cast of side characters through quests and conversations, the game invites players to dive deeper into the lore and become more connected to the world and its inhabitants.
I found myself eagerly completing every sidequest in the game as besides the EXP rewards, the sidequests are almost universally well written and do wonders in fleshing out the game's rich lore. I also found myself laughing out loud at some of the sillier sidequests which are a welcome change of pace from the more serious and often dark main story.
Monetization and Gacha Mechanics:
As a free-to-play gacha game, Honkai: Star Rail does include monetization elements that might not appeal to everyone. The drop rates for the rarest characters (5 star heroes) and items can be low, and constructing an optimal team may require significant investments of time or money. Still, players absolutely do not NEED to have a team of all 5 star characters to complete the main story line. The game is entirely accessible to free to play users and players never need to spend money to complete the game. Spending money will of course speed things up, but it's never required.
A Promising Future:
Honkai: Star Rail has laid a strong foundation with its visually stunning graphics, engaging gameplay, and an enthralling story. The launch version of the game easily has 30+ hours of content for players to run through with tons of updates already planned. Like Genshin Impact, Honkai: Star Rail is also super accessible as its available on PC, Mobile, and consoles.
Final Verdict - Excellent
Honkai: Star Rail is easily one of the most polished story driven RPGs out there. It's incredible visuals, music, and charming cast of characters will keep players hooked. Anyone who enjoys JRPGs should absolutely give Honkai: Star Rail a chance. Even those skeptical of Gacha games should find something to like here. After all, it looks and feels like a AAA JRPG more than a typical gacha game.
Honkai: Star Rail Screenshots
Honkai: Star Rail Videos
Honkai: Star Rail System Requirements
PC Recommended Requirements:
Operating System: Windows 10 with 64 bit processor or newer
CPU: Intel i7 Processor
Video Card: Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060 or higher
RAM: 8 GB
Hard Disk: 20GB GB
Android System Requirements:
Operating System: Android 9 and up
CPU: Snapdragon 855, Dimensity 1000, Kirin 990, or better
RAM: 6 GB or more
Storage Space: 8.5GB
iOS System Requirements:
Operating System: Requires iOS 11.0 or later.
Device Specifications: iPhone XS, iPhone XR, or later models. iPad with Apple A12 processor higher
Storage Space: 9 GB
Honkai: Star Rail Music & Soundtrack
Coming soon!
Honkai: Star Rail Additional Information
Developer: HoYoVerse
Publisher: HoYoVerse
Engine: Unity
Global Release Date: April 26, 2023
Platforms: Microsoft Windows, Android, iOS, PS4, and PS5 (console versions releasing after PC/Mobile)
Development History / Background:
Honkai: Star Rail was first revealed back in October 2021 after the conclusion of the Honkai Impact online concert (Starfire Sonorant). The game's 1st round of closed beta testing happened later that month with a second round concluding in June 2022. A final closed beta took place in February 2023, a month before the official worldwide release on April 26.
Honkai: Star Rail is the 4th installment in the longrunning Honkai Series drawing inspiration from Honkai Impact 3rd, Tears of Themis, and Genshin Impact.
Since launching worldwide, the game has been an absolute smash hit in all major markets, but has been especially successful in east asia with it taking the top grossing spot in mobile app stores in China, Japan, South Korea. Since its release it regularly ranked high in Western app stores as well, but it dominated the most important markets in east Asia, earning $41.85m in its first 8 days.
