Studio hoYoverse (formerly miHoYo) is again drawing attention to its main franchise. This time Honkai's turn-based action RPG Honkai: Star Rail has been added to the list of Honkai games. Its development was announced back in 2021 — since then, the game has gone through several beta tests, a couple of presentations and local trial runs to understand what results should be expected from it. As expected, the results were great: even before the global launch, more than 10 million users downloaded the game, and about the same number joined them after April 26.If you have played Genshin Impact or Honkai Impact 3rd, you can easily imagine what level of quality you can expect from Honkai: Star Rail. If you are wondering whether you should run this game, then check out this article. In it, we will look at the most important aspects of the new game: we will talk about the graphics, the combat system, the non-linear story, as well as a huge variety of team building options.
Graphics like in Genshin Impact
Nothing unexpected. Honkai: Star Rail looks very good, and not only on ultra-settings. The game is designed in such a way that even low graphics parameters could not deprive you of the pleasure of its passage.
Like Genshin Impact, it combines 3D depth of locations with 2D drawing of characters and environments. They didn't experiment with stylistics either: we have a classic anime in front of us, but without excessive expression, rather restrained and pleasant to look at. The world is bright, animations are smooth, fights are colorful and exciting. It's a little annoying to watch the same inserts when using ultimatum skills, but this is a small price for the overall level of project development.
A story like in a first-class fantasy
HoYoverse know how to plot — they proved it with the example of Genshin Impact and Honkai Impact 3rd. In Honkai: Star Rail, the narrative has reached a new level. There are usually a lot of dialogues, they relate to the topic of saving worlds and space-time, but they are not devoid of everyday chatter, familiar to everyone. There are many characters around, each with their own concerns, character and manner of communication. There are also a lot of interactive elements around — what are the garbage cans alone, with which the hero develops a fairly “close” relationship.The story, as befits RPG games, is served not only through communication with the main and secondary characters. It is told through notes and books, through the biography of the characters, interaction with surrounding objects, and even through level design. This is a fairly high level and standard of a good role-playing game.
The combat system is like in card butlers... only better
Honkai: Star Rail battles are based on the system of Elements. All your opponents are vulnerable to a certain set of spontaneous attacks. For example, to fire, wind and physical. This means that the corresponding attacks will cause them increased damage and will be able to knock down the shield present in all enemies without exception.
When you attack an enemy with an Element to which he has no vulnerability, you deal much less damage. This greatly complicates the battle. And it doesn't matter how strong your character is — his characteristics mean less than the Element to which he belongs.
In some cases, an unreasonable choice of team can lead to the fact that you simply lose the battle. This will not lead to anything serious — you will simply be reborn at the checkpoint. However, the very possibility of losing makes you take team selection more seriously. And it also blocks some places on the map for you until you can (or don't want to) realize your advantages.
Team building, like in superhero movies
Each hero plays a role in defeating the opponent. Everyone is important. According to these principles, the creation of teams in Honkai: Star Rail is arranged. Indeed, at any given time you may need any hero. This is possible because a unique combination of element/class is implemented for each of them.
This principle is also driving in the quest to unlock all the heroes. Gacha in HSR is unfavorable to the players, but this only makes it more interesting. The chance of a legendary hero (or a Light Cone — a special power-up card) falling out is only 0.6%. To open them, you will need Star Express tickets or Star Jade crystals, a special game currency.
However, even epic characters will be enough for you to defeat many enemies. Let's repeat once again: in battle, it's not the stats of the heroes that are important, but the right choice based on the Element and class.
