Honkai: Star Rail is the newest offering from studio MiHoYo. What is their follow-up to Genshin Impact going to be like?
Three years after the release of Genshin Impact, MiHoYo are back with another free-to-play title. What is Honkai: Star Rail and how similar will it be to the previous titles from the developer?
What is Honkai: Star Rail?
Honkai: Star Rail is the highly anticipated upcoming turn-based RPG created by Genshin Impact developers MiHoYo. The title centres around the Astral Express, an intergalactic train that will enable you to journey throughout the Star Rail universe.
Honkai: Star Rail gameplay
After its release, Genshin Impact became one of the most successful games in recent memory. Its open world and vast character base mixed with the beautiful art direction led to the widespread adoption of the title across the world.
It would be easy for the studio to replicate that exact same formula for their next title but that will not be the case with Honkai: Star Rail.
The new game will focus on a turn-based combat style. Players will be able to move freely through vast open maps but those maps will remain relatively linear.
There will also be fewer side activities for players to enjoy. Genshin features a whole host of things like fishing and side quests to divert from the main story. HSR is more tightly focused on the combat system.
Parties will be made up of four characters. Players will be able to freely control them as they move through the vast open areas of the game. Strategic combat remains a focus, where players can utilise special abilities of each unit with unique abilities and attacks.
The anime art-style will be familiar to returning players but that new combat system will provide freshness and a new challenge.
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Honkai: Star Rail characters
As with all of the previous MiHoYo titles. There is a huge focus on characters in HSR. The diversity and choice that players have with the character selection is a huge selling point for these games.
These characters each have star ratings assigned to them based on their rarity. They will be obtained by using Star Rail Passes or Star Rail Special Passes in-game. They can be obtained by playing missions and events in HSR, and are used to perform warps.
Warps are the gacha game system for Honkai: Star Rail. It is the microtransaction mechanic that will allow HSR and other MiHoYo games to remain to be free-to-play. There will be four different types of warp in Honkai: Star Rail.
The first warp that players perform will always be for the character Asta. Sheis the first that is given to new players to the game.
There are currently 27 characters that have been revealed for the upcoming RPG title. There will undoubtedly be more and more characters released for the game as time passes.
When will it be released?
More than 10 million people signed up to the pre-registration for Honkai: Star Rail. The game will release on Wednesday, April 26. We've put together a handy countdown that shows exactly when the game will release depending on which region you live in.
Players who have completed the pre-registration can now pre-download the game.
What platforms will the game be available on?
HSR is releasing on PC, Android and iOS devices. It will also come out on PlayStation consoles in the near future but an exact release date for that port is not available.
There is no current word on whether the game will be available on Nintendo Switch or Xbox consoles. However, Genshin Impact is available on those consoles so hope should be that HSR follows that same pattern.
Stay tuned to esports.gg for all of the latest Honkai: Star Rail and gaming news.