HoYoverse’s upcoming RPG Honkai: Star Rail started its final closed beta on February 10th. Honkai: Star Rail is a space fantasy RPG and will have its global release on April 26th, 2023.
It’s very difficult not to compare any new games from HoYoverse to Genshin. At a glance, Honkai: Star Rail does feel very similar to Genshin Impact. Both games have richly designed characters, fabulous anime-style cutscenes, and intense storytelling. They both support PC and mobile platforms. Not to mention Honkai: Star Rail carried over many systems from Genshin Impact with minimal changes, like the Express Supply Pass, which is basically the Blessing of the Welkin Moon by another name.
A screenshot of Honkai: Star Rail’s “battle pass” shows that it is very similar to the one in Genshin Impact.
However, that’s also where the similarity between Honkai: Star Rail ends. Deep down, it has completely different gameplay, and the way players interact with the environment. This game feels more like HoYoverse paying tribute to the classic JRPG formula and makes for a pretty decent attempt.
Turn-Based Combat
Combat is the major difference between Honkai: Star Rail and Genshin Impact. Honkai: Star Rail provides turn-based combat with the Action Time Battle system. The action order list on the side of the screen shows the turn order of characters in battle. In the game, players have many ways available to them to gain the upper hand in the action order. They can perform a weakness break on the enemy with the right element and delay their moves, use ice skills to freeze the enemy or use their powerful Ultimate, which can be performed at any moment to seize the opportunity. Whether players make the most of the action order can be the deciding factor in many of the tough life-or-death fights.
A screenshot of Honkai: Star Rail’s combat.
The combat in Honkai: Star Rail feels decent. Providing fun strategic planning for fights against elites or bosses. Meanwhile, the 2x Speed and Auto-Battle will greatly help players in the grinding process. On the other hand, there are people who prefer the tension of real-time action combat, which turn-based combat lacks; those people will find little to love in Honkai: Star Rail’s combat.
Furthermore, Honkai: Star Rail does not contain any PVP or ranked content. So while those who seek the thrill of competing with other players will likely be disappointed, those who want a more casual solo experience won’t notice the lack.
A screenshot of Honkai: Star Rail’s combat.
Space Comedy
Honkai: Star Rail maintains the high-quality storytelling Genshin Impact is known for, while delivering a fresh story. The game follows a team of Trailblazers traveling the universe on the Astral Express, a train that can fly through space and warp to star systems, helping the people they meet to fight against crisis after crisis. It melds sci-fi and fantasy in interesting ways.
The story of Honkai: Star Rail feels like a JRPG: it is all about adventure, fighting against evil, and sharing precious moments with teammates. This time, the teammates fight alongside the protagonist and will also be a part of the side quests, especially March 7th, a clever and quirky girl who is enthusiastic about all things. In this way, the journey in Honkai: Star Rail never feels dull or lonely.
A screenshot of Honkai: Star Rail’s story.
The cutscenes are the icing on the cake. The game provides high-grade cutscenes like other HoYoverse games and brings lip-sync for all four audio-supported languages. We tried switching to different languages during the test and kept an eye on the characters’ lips. Though some details still need polishing, the overall immersive feeling of the lip-sync is magnificent.
A comparison of lip-sync between the English audio and Chinese audio
Honkai: Star Rail’s story feels more light-hearted and humorous. It feels like the game’s writers had unlimited funny ideas, making the game full of interesting surprises. The game caught me off guard and had me burst into laughter many times with amusing lines when I was interacting with some insignificant object like a trash bin or a road lamp. The story fully fits the slogan in the trailer: “a space comedy”. But Honkai: Star Rail did not go too far with it; the story is appropriately serious during climactic moments, saving the quips for the more casual parts.
A screenshot of a line with a popular Metaverse meme in Honkai: Star Rail
Not an open world
Hoyoverse did not make Honkai: Star Rail into another open-world game like Genshin Impact. Instead, the game uses a linear map with some branches.
As a result, the developer may put more resources into graphical performance or have more control over level design. We do see some interesting puzzles that can significantly change the map and shortcuts that may be found in souls-like games. Both the characters and the map have more detail in their design.
A gif of the character’s stunningly smooth Ultimate in Honkai: Star Rail.
There are some scenes where the textures are a low resolution, and some even showed in cutscenes. It may be some yet-unpolished part in the closed beta that, hopefully, will be changed by the time the game is released.
Though the map scale of Honkai: Star Rail cannot match the one in Genshin Impact, it still encourages players to explore every corner of the map. There are chests, treasures defended by strong foes, puzzles, and side stories hidden inside each map, and each has surprises left for players even after hours of playing and exploring.
In Honkai: Star Rail, the map UI shows players the total amount and the types of treasure boxes.
No Multiplayer
The game does not have any multiplayer features as of the final beta. Unlike Genshin Impact, players cannot join other players’ worlds in Honkai: Star Rail. Instead, the game has a support feature. Every player may assign one of their characters (mostly the strongest or their favorite one) as a “support character”. Their support character may then help other players in specific battles, and the supporting player will gain some rewards from it. That is the only social activity inside the game at this moment, but things might change after future updates.
Final Thoughts
Continuing down the anime-style route, Honkai: Star Rail departed from HoYoverse’s trademark action RPG but is surprisingly fresh and fun. It has its own teary and joyous moments, the combat is easy to learn with deep strategic potential, and the characters are very attractive. It could be a great game for players who seek a game experience like a JRPG or loves the HoYoverse-style anime graphics. It’s not the next Genshin Impact, and it doesn’t have to be.