The meaning of Honkai: Star Rail is simple: players go on an innovative journey through the Universe, revealing the secrets of stellarons living in different worlds. But since Hoyooverse is behind the development of this game, inspired by the Japanese role-playing game, a bar for Honkai: Star Rail is high, and it must comply with the standard established by other developer games. From Genshin Impact to the Honkai Impact 3RD, our expectations were high because we explored the depths of the Herta and Jarilo-Vi space station in Honkai: the second closed beta version of the Star Rail-and we were not disappointed.
Note : This article contains spoilers for Honkai: Star Rail. Please act with caution.
Visual effects
Following the trends of Hoyooverse to release games with anime graphics, fans of the genre will not be disappointed, since Honkai: Star Rail continues her legacy. The artistic style of the game is uncompromisingly beautiful, with interstellar charm, which is borrowed from the Honkai Impact 3RD, but includes some fantasy elements from Genshin Impact. Honkai: Star Rail takes place in a more modern universe, where the characters are equipped with mobile phones (of course, with individual phones) and where the norm is moving in space.
It is difficult to bother with visual effects, since Trailblazer explores various worlds that are not similar to each other. Scientific and fantastic elements bring a layer of consistency to completely different locations in a closed beta version. In addition, while the interior of the Herta space station, similar to NASA, and the architecture inspired by Yarilo-VI industrial revolution, differ significantly, there is a constant topic in the design of enemies that makes a graphic shift between worlds less extreme.
characters
Since Honkai: Star Rail is a continuation of the Honkai Impact 3RD beloved game, the pioneer meets the characters from the first series in addition to new persons. Khimeko, Velt, strength, armor, Natasha and Kokolia are some characters that appear in the game in the early stages, but their roles differ from those that they played in the Honkai Impact 3RD. The characters became older, their motives have matured, and their design has changed significantly.
Players who are poorly familiar with the franchise will not miss too much. Closed beta testing did a fantastic work on the representation of the characters, as if we had never met with them, with an exciting dialogue between actors who allowed their personalities to truly prove themselves. The design of new and old characters is beautiful and visually different from Genshin Impact, which dispels early fears that two games look too similar. In addition, there is a healthy ratio of men’s and female game characters!
The battle
The step-by-step combat system Honkai: Star Rail will appeal to lovers of Japanese role-playing games. From a collision with the enemy and bonuses for the first blow, interruptions using Ultimates and a gameplay based on speed, Star Rail coped with the implementation of some of the mandatory elements for classical cheering experience.
But there is a large snag that can make the battle extremely boring: all battles are based on the destruction of enemy shields. Each enemy has two strips of HP: the first is a shield, and the second is their actual HP. Only the elements indicated over the enemy’s head can cause significant damage to its shield-and it is strongly recommended to attack with the right elements, otherwise the battle will continue forever. As soon as the enemy’s shield is broken, it turns off by several moves, allowing the players to deliver a final blow.
Study
To step on the astral express and for the first time to visit Belobog and the underworld was a pleasure-these safe areas seemed interactive and they were really interesting to investigate. However, the enemy areas felt a little not enthusiastic. Since each area is divided into segments similar to dungeons (a line that seeps into the design of the card), the study of research was not very exciting.
The characters cannot jump, but the run is unlimited-there is no irritating endurance scale that you need to pay attention to. Fans of classic Japanese role-playing games will not have problems with Honkai research functions: Star Rail, but players who are accustomed to the truly open world of Genshin Impact can find the first slightly constrained.
Story
History of Honkai: Star Rail rotates around the trip on the astral express in the Universe, traveling to different worlds, as well as planting and landing members of the crew along the way. The pioneer, who was joined by Dan Heng, joined in different worlds to resolve crises caused by Stellaron-a dangerous precious stone that also lives inside the pioneer.
Only the space station of Hertha and Yarilo-VI participated in the closed beta testing. And although the story is essentially convincing, the plot is still not ripe so that we can make a final opinion about it. A closed beta version did a great job, presenting both areas and preparing the grounds for the journey of the pioneers, but the conclusion of each region was a little not impressive.
For example, so much was done before the final battle in Jarilo-VI, but the defeat of the antagonist left too many open ends-especially for players unfamiliar with the story of the character from the Honkai Impact 3RD. Nevertheless, Honkai: Star Rail is still in development, so Hoyooverse will most likely present more plots to create peace and characters, which, as we hope, will have a greater impact on the narrative.
General gameplay
Although Honkai: Star Rail is far from perfect, Hoyoverse clearly invested a lot of work and research in its development. Closed beta version looked improved, with several insignificant problems that hardly interfered with the gaming process. English localization also exceeds other games of the developer, providing smooth dialogs and impressive characteristics that made all the characters memorable.
A step-by-step mechanic supporting an auto-game and a study without jumping is made by Honkai: Star Rail with an ideal game for mobile devices. The release of a large-scale game that requires slightly less attention than Genshin Impact is perhaps a reasonable step, given that the players are no longer locked in their homes.
In general, Honkai: Star Rail is a truly exciting game that can be played both by accident and with strategic thinking. Simple control makes it portable, which allows players to sit in Astral Express from almost anywhere in the world, and the exciting plot leaves a lot of impressions for the next chapter of the trip.
Check out Honkai: Star Rail vs. Genshin Impact-comparing Hoyooverse games with the open world to find out similarities and differences between two games.