| Honkai: Star Rail | |
| Developer: | miHoYo |
| Producer: | David Jiang[1] |
| Engine: | Unity[2] |
| Series: | Honkai |
| Genre: | Role-playing |
| Modes: | Single-player |
Honkai: Star Rail is a role-playing gacha video game developed and published by miHoYo (with publishing outside mainland China under Cognosphere, d/b/a HoYoverse). It is miHoYo's first turn-based game, featuring the main character, who is referred to as the Trailblazer, travelling across planets through the Astral Express to help and connect the worlds while resolving disasters caused by "Stellarons" and other third-parties. The first closed beta test was launched on October 27, 2021. It was publicly released internationally on April 26, 2023,[3] for Windows and mobile devices. Additionally, the PlayStation 5 port was released on October 11, 2023. The PlayStation 4 version is still yet to be announced, as revealed at the latest Summer Game Fest with a trailer.[4] It is the fourth installment in the Honkai series, utilizing some characters from Honkai Impact 3rd and some gameplay elements from miHoYo's previous game, Genshin Impact.
Partially due to the popularity of Genshin Impact, the game had already received widespread expectations before its launch. It was nominated for the Most Wanted Game Award at the Golden Joystick Awards in 2022,[5] won the Best Popularity Award of World Science Fiction Game Annual Awards in 2023,[6] and Best Mobile Game Award in the Game Awards 2023.
Honkai: Star Rail follows the gameplay style of classic Japanese role-playing games: players build up a lineup of characters and control a team of up to four in turn-based combat.[7] [8] In addition to various stats that affect characters' strength, each character has an elemental Type that affects the kind of damage dealt to targets, a character class referred to as a Path (see Story and Setting § Setting) that defines their combat role, and a set of unique abilities called Traces used in combat.[9] [10] Each character can equip a weapon known as a Light Cone, that has various effects that activate if the Paths of both the character and Light Cone match. Characters can also equip various Relics, similar to Artifacts in Genshin Impact.
Elements of open-world and dungeon exploration are present, with multiple mechanics, including the gacha system, carried over (with slight differences) from Genshin Impact. Both games have gacha mechanics, in which players spend in-game currency that can be earned in-game or purchased with real money to receive new characters and weapons.
| Herta Space Station | Herta | - | - | - | |
| Jarilo-VI | Bronya Rand | Silvermane Guards | Qlipoth | Preservation | |
| The Xianzhou Luofu | Jing Yuan Imbibitor Lunae | Cloud Knights | Lan | The Hunt | |
| Penacony | Oti Alfalfa | The Family | Xipe | Harmony | |
| Amphoreus |
Some Paths were led by Aeons who are now deceased, but continue to exist without the influence of their Aeons. The main character of the game known as the Trailblazer, a mysterious amnesiac possessing a Stellaron, follows the Path of Trailblaze, a Path created by the deceased Akivili. Pathstriders of Trailblaze seek to "explore, establish, and connect" among different worlds.
Different Paths are portrayed as antagonistic, protagonistic, or neutral. The primary antagonist of the game is Nanook, who controls the Path of Destruction, along with the Emanators of the Path of Destruction. Other Paths, such as the Path of Abundance, are not necessarily seen as antagonistic, but are involved in rivalries with The Hunt and other Paths, who view the immortality granted by the Path of Abundance as a curse.
Aside from the Path of Destruction, the Stellaron Hunters are a somewhat antagonistic antihero group throughout the game, who search for and collect Stellarons across the universe and claim to be able to see the future. The main characters are often in conflict with the Stellaron Hunters, though they more or less end up aiding each other on their journeys.
The following table lists all currently confirmed playable characters in alphabetical order. All playable characters are associated with a specific world or faction, except cosmic characters, whose respective associated worlds are either unknown, dissociated, or extinct.
All characters wield one of 7 playable paths: Abundance, Destruction, Erudition, Harmony, the Hunt, Nihility, and Preservation.
The Astral Express was released in April 2023.
| Name | Type | Path | width=20% | Voice Actor | Description | Cits |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Trailblazer (Caelus) | Changeable | Changeable |
| The main protagonist of the game. An artificial body, in the form of a human being, that contains a Stellaron. Players can choose to play as either Caelus (male) or Stelle (female) as the Trailblazer and may enter their chosen name to be used throughout the story. After being awakened by Kafka and Silver Wolf in the Herta Space Station, they joined the Astral Express to eliminate the threats posed by the Stellaron. | [13] | |
| Trailblazer (Stelle) |
| |||||
| Dan Heng | Wind | The Hunt |
| A reserved young man who acts as the train's guard. He often spends more time in the Astral Express data archives than in his own bedroom. | ||
| Himeko | Fire | Erudition |
| A scientist who fixed the Astral Express when it became stuck in her home world as a teenager. She later becomes the train's navigator and is the most senior active member of the Nameless. | ||
| March 7th | Changeable | Changeable |
| A cheerful girl with no memory of her past before the Astral Express crew rescued her from being encased in ice. She took the name "March 7th" as it marked the day of her rescue. | ||
| Welt Yang | Imaginary | Nihility |
| The former Anti-Entropy Sovereign and the second-most senior member of the Nameless, whose true name is Joachim Nokianvirtanen. He traveled from the world of Honkai Impact 3rd, hoping to form new alliances to hold off future threats. |
Herta Space Station was released in April 2023.
| Name | Type | Path | width=20% | Voice Actor | Description | Cits |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Arlan | Lightning | Destruction |
| The head of the space station's security department. | ||
| Asta | Fire | Harmony |
| An astronomer and the space station's lead researcher who comes from a wealthy family. Arlan often has to rein in her spending. | ||
| Herta | Ice | Erudition |
| Member #83 of the Genius Society and the space station's true master. She is an Emanator of Erudition who appears as a bionic puppet modeled after her younger self. Her true form has yet to be revealed. | ||
| Ruan Mei | Ice | Harmony |
| Member #81 of the Genius Society and a life sciences expert. A completely amoral scientist with dreams of becoming an Aeon herself in the future. | [14] |
Belobog was released in April 2023.
| Name | Type | Path | width=20% | Voice Actor | Description | Cits |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bronya | Wind | Harmony |
| The commander of the Silvermane Guards and Cocolia's adoptive daughter. She became Belobog's Supreme Guardian after Cocolia's death. | ||
| Clara | Physical | Destruction |
| A young girl and a self-taught mechanic in the Underworld, a region in Belobog located underground. In most of the story and during combat, she is accompanied by the robot Svarog (Voiced by: Wang Yuhang, D.C. Douglas, Hiroki Yasumoto, Choi Nak-yoon). | ||
| Gepard | Ice | Preservation |
| The dutiful captain of the Silvermane Guards, who is Serval's and Lynx's brother. He is the middle sibling of the Landau family. | ||
| Hook | Fire | Destruction |
| The self-proclaimed boss of The Moles, a group of children who go on adventures and play pranks throughout Belobog's Underworld. | ||
| Luka | Physical | Nihility |
| An Underworld fighter and a member of Wildfire, a grassroots faction based in the Underworld. He tries to support his friends and neighbors, even at his own expense. | ||
| Lynx | Quantum | Abundance |
| A polar explorer who is Serval's and Gepard's sister. She is the youngest sibling of the Landau family, as well as a friend of Pela. | ||
| Natasha | Physical | Abundance |
| An Underworld doctor and the true leader of Wildfire. | ||
| Pela | Ice | Nihility |
| The intelligence officer of the Silvermane Guards. She is a friend of Lynx and the drummer in Serval's rock n' roll band. | ||
| Sampo | Wind | Nihility |
| A notorious scam artist wanted across Belobog who ends up supporting the Trailblazer in his own way. He is a member of the Masked Fools, a group that worships Aha, the Aeon of Elation. | ||
| Seele | Quantum | The Hunt |
| An Underworld resident and a spirited member of Wildfire. She grew up at the same orphanage as Bronya. | ||
| Serval | Lightning | Erudition |
| A brilliant mechanic who is Gepard's and Lynx's sister. She is the eldest sibling of the Landau family and has an affection for rock n' roll. |
The Xianzhou Alliance comprises six flagships: the Yaoqing, the Zhuming, the Yuque, the Fanghu, the Xuling, and the Luofu.[15] The Xianzhou Luofu was released in April 2023.
| Name | Type | Path | width=20% | Voice Actor | Description | Cits |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bailu | Lightning | Abundance |
| A Vidyadhara doctor of the Alchemy Commission on the Xianzhou Luofu who often tries to escape her responsibilities. She is the heir apparent to the Imbibitor Lunae, the title of the leader of the Vidyadhara race in the Luofu. | ||
| Dan Heng • Imbibitor Lunae | Imaginary | Destruction |
| Dan Heng's true Vidyadhara form, whose appearance closely resembles to his previous incarnation and the former Imbibitor Lunae, Dan Feng. Despite his name, he does not hold the title of Imbibitor Lunae, as this was intended for Bailu. | ||
| Feixiao | Wind | The Hunt |
| One of the seven Arbiter-Generals and the general of the Xianzhou Yaoqing who bears the title "The Merlin's Claw." | [16] | |
| Fu Xuan | Quantum | Preservation |
| The head of the Divination Commission on the Xianzhou Luofu. | ||
| Guinaifen | Fire | Nihility |
| A street performer who resides on the Xianzhou Luofu after the Antimatter Legion destroyed her home planet. Her true name is Guinevere, but Guinaifen is the local name chosen by her friend Sushang. | [17] | |
| Hanya | Physical | Harmony |
| A judge of the Ten-Lords Commission on the Xianzhou Luofu. She is Xueyi's younger sister. | [18] | |
| Huohuo | Wind | Abundance |
| A trainee judge of the Ten-Lords Commission on the Xianzhou Luofu. She has a fear of inhuman beings, but ironically attracts them due to a heliobus she calls "Mr. Tail" (Voiced by: Liu Beichen, Aaron Veach, Takeshi Hirabayashi, Han Bokhyun) sealed in her tail by other judges of the Ten-Lords Commission. | [19] | |
| Jiaoqiu | Fire | Nihility |
| A counselor and a foxian healer of the Alchemy Commission on the Xianzhou Yaoqing. He loves cooking dishes with heavy amounts of spice, even using spices in combat. | [20] | |
| Jing Yuan | Lightning | Erudition |
| One of the seven Arbiter-Generals and the general of the Xianzhou Luofu who bears the title "The Divine Foresight." He summons the Lightning Lord to aid him in combat. | ||
| Jingliu | Ice | Destruction |
| The leader of the now-defunct High-Cloud Quintet who bore the title "Transcendent Flash." She was the sword master of the Xianzhou Luofu and Jing Yuan's mentor until she succumbed to Mara, a curse that causes its host to become insane, and began attacking her former allies. | ||
| Lingsha | Fire | Abundance |
| A Vidyadhara healer and the Cauldron Master of the Alchemy Commission on the Xianzhou Luofu. | [21] | |
| Luocha | Imaginary | Abundance |
| A foreign trader who is often seen carrying a huge coffin. His true background is a mystery, but Jing Yuan suspects him of having smuggled a Stellaron onboard the Luofu, and Welt Yang suspects him of being linked to Void Archives from his past. | ||
| Moze | Lightning | The Hunt |
| A Shadow Guard of the Xianzhou Yaoqing. | [22] | |
| Qingque | Quantum | Erudition |
| A librarian and a diviner of the Divination Commission on the Xianzhou Luofu. She prefers spending her time slacking off and playing Celestial Jade rather than working. | ||
| Sushang | Physical | The Hunt |
| A young Cloud Knight who wields a large sword and yearns to become a legend. A friend of Guinaifen, she assists in some of her acrobatic stunts and almost always appears in her livestreams. | ||
| Tingyun | Lightning | Harmony |
| A Foxian Amicassador of the Sky-Faring Commission on the Xianzhou Luofu. It is revealed shortly before she snaps her neck that she is the vessel of Lord Ravager Phantylia. Her current status is unknown, as the Nameless questioned whether Phantylia used her true body. | ||
| Xueyi | Quantum | Destruction |
| A judge of the Ten-Lords Commission on the Xianzhou Luofu and Hanya's older sister. Her natural body was destroyed, but she was resurrected into an ingenium puppet body. | [23] | |
| Yanqing | Ice | The Hunt |
| The lieutenant of the Cloud Knights on the Xianzhou Luofu and Jing Yuan's retainer who seeks to become the Luofu's sword master. | ||
| Yukong | Imaginary | Harmony |
| The head of the Sky-Faring Commission on the Xianzhou Luofu and a former pilot during wartime. | ||
| Yunli | Physical | Destruction |
| A sword hunter from the Xianzhou Zhuming and the granddaughter of its general, Huaiyan. | [24] |
Penacony was released in February 2024.[25]
| Name | Type | Path | width=20% | Voice Actor | Description | Cits |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Black Swan | Wind | Nihility |
| A mysterious Memokeeper from the Garden of Recollection, a memory-collecting faction that follows Fuli, the Aeon of Remembrance. She later accompanies the Astral Express in traveling to Amphoreus. | [26] | |
| Boothill | Physical | The Hunt |
| A cyborg cowboy and a member of the Galaxy Rangers who seeks revenge on the IPC for destroying his home planet and his daughter despite the enormous bounty they placed on his head. | [27] | |
| Gallagher | Fire | Abundance |
| A security officer of the Bloodhound family who also works as a bartender. His existence is the result of the amalgamation of traits from all Family members put together. | [28] | |
| Misha | Ice | Destruction |
| A bellboy at the Reverie Hotel. His existence is a reflection of the true Watchmaker, Mikhail Char Legwork. | [29] [30] | |
| Robin | Physical | Harmony |
| An elegant Halovian singer (Song vocals by: Chevy in all languages) and Sunday's sister who has secretly gone missing at the start of the Penacony story. | [31] | |
| Sparkle | Quantum | Harmony |
| A member of the Masked Fools who can shapeshift into anyone, taking on whatever identity she finds interesting at a given moment. | [32] |
| Name | Type | Path | width=20% | Voice Actor | Description | Cits |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Blade | Wind | Destruction |
| A swordsman who abandoned his body to become a blade and a former member of the now-defunct High-Cloud Quintet who went by the name Yingxing. He is cursed with immortality after a failed ritual resulted in him becoming Mara-struck. | ||
| Firefly | Fire | Destruction |
| A young girl clad in a mechanical armor called SAM (Voiced by: Gan Ziqi, Adin Rudd, Jun Kasama, Jang Seo-hwa). She joined the Stellaron Hunters in the hopes of finding the meaning of life and a way out of her doomed fate. | [33] | |
| Kafka | Lightning | Nihility |
| A soft-spoken woman who is incapable of feeling fear. She personally implanted a Stellaron into a body now known as the Trailblazer during the opening events of the game. She is one of the first two people, along with Silver Wolf, that the Trailblazer met. | ||
| Silver Wolf | Quantum | Nihility |
| A master hacker who has excelled in a skill that alters reality called "aether editing." She is one of the first two people, along with Kafka, that the Trailblazer met. |
The Interastral Peace Corporation (IPC) is a megacorporation that manages the economy across the entire cosmos.
| Name | Type | Path | width=20% | Voice Actor | Description | Cits |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aventurine | Imaginary | Preservation |
| A senior manager of the Strategic Investment Department and one of the Ten Stonehearts, whose true name is Kakavasha. His Cornerstone is "Aventurine of Stratagems." | [34] [35] | |
| Jade | Quantum | Erudition |
| A senior manager of the Strategic Investment Department and one of the Ten Stonehearts. Her Cornerstone is "Jade of Credit." | [36] | |
| Topaz & Numby | Fire | The Hunt |
| A senior manager of the Strategic Investment Department and one of the Ten Stonehearts, whose true name is Jelena. Her Cornerstone is "Topaz of Debt Retrieval." Her partner, the Warp Trotter "Numby" (Voiced by: Lu Minyue in all languages), can locate treasures within a particular radius. | [37] [38] |
| Name | Type | Path | width=20% | Voice Actor | Description | Cits |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Acheron | Lightning | Nihility |
| A cosmic drifter who lacks a sense of direction and claims to be a Galaxy Ranger, earning the ire of Boothill, who points out she's an imposter using their name. She is an Emanator of Nihility, whose true name is Raiden Bōsenmori Mei. She carries a long sword reminiscent of an ōdachi. | [39] [40] | |
| Argenti | Physical | Erudition |
| A cosmic drifter and a Knight of Beauty who travels the cosmos performing heroic deeds like an old-fashioned knight-errant, hoping to one day see the reappearance of Idrila, the currently missing Aeon of Beauty. | [41] | |
| Dr. Ratio | Imaginary | The Hunt |
| A narcissistic Intelligentsia Guild member who often conceals his appearance with an alabaster head. | [42] [43] |
Honkai: Star Rail began development in 2019 with the goal of "exploring new directions for the Honkai series". The production team has about 500 people, most of whom are fans of science fiction works and turn-based role-playing games.[50] This project is HoYoverse's first attempt at a turn-based combat mechanism game. The team has stated that this genre is very popular in the game market and can lower the difficulty threshold for players to get started. In previous surveys conducted by HoYoverse, many players expressed that they enjoy this type of game. There were concerns about whether this type of game is too retro, but the production team believes that as long as the quality of the game is enjoyable, it can attract players.
Like other works in the Honkai series, it is in no way "too hard-core science fiction". The setting of Honkai Impact 3rd is Earth, but the plot mentioned that there were other planets in this worldview. Therefore, the production team of Honkai: Star Rail decided to expand on this concept of "a universe". The basic setting revolves around taking a train and traveling around the major planets in the universe. The production of each planet in the game takes around one year. The production sequence is to first determine the worldview and theme of the planet, then create the characters and detailed setting information, and then finally write the plot. The design of the planet "Xianzhou Luofu" is based on East Asian fantasy, and has been described as "silkpunk".
In terms of combat mechanism, producer David Jiang said that this game adopts "command-based combat." He said that Honkai Impact 3rd and Genshin Impact were heavy on the role-playing aspect, but they did not include command-based and turn-based combat. In addition, some players reported that Honkai Impact 3rd was too action-oriented and too difficult to operate. Therefore, Honkai: Star Rail pays more attention to strategy than the player's operational skills. Persona 5 was the team's inspiration when deciding to develop a turn-based role-playing game.
Producer David Jiang hopes that Honkai: Star Rail can achieve the immersive feeling of "as if you are in the world of the work", and create a "playable animated series".[51] In order to enhance player immersion, the production team integrated artificial intelligence technology into the behavior patterns of non-player characters.[52]
The game was revealed in October 2021 at the end of the Honkai Impact 3rd online concert, Starfire Sonorant, then later on the game's official YouTube channel.[53] On October 27, the game launched its first closed test[54] and its second closed beta test on May 25, 2022.[55] On August 15 of the same year, the game received support from the "Special Fund for Cultural Development" issued by the Culture and Tourism Bureau of Xuhui District, Shanghai, where the developer is located.[56] On August 23, 2022, a game story trailer was unveiled on the opening night of Gamescom 2022.[57]
On January 17, 2023, the mobile version of the game received the game version number approved by the National Press and Publication Administration, and the game was approved for distribution in mainland China[58] [59] On February 10, 2023, the game conducted its third closed test[60] On the same day, the Apple App Store page revealed that the official launch date of the game was April 26.[61] In the international market, miHoYo launched more than 2,000 sets of ads on Google Play one month before the public beta of the game. The main advertising channel was Google AdMob[62] and the main advertising areas were Japan, Hong Kong, the United States, Vietnam, and Thailand.[63]
On April 25, miHoYo released the game's opening theme animation "Star Travel".[64] The game was officially launched globally on April 26. On April 28, miHoYo held its first theme exhibition "Galaxy Gathering" in Xujiahui.[65] From April 29 to May 13, miHoYo undertook train advertisements on Xiamen Rail Transit Line 1 and jointly issued NFTs to promote the game.[66] On mid-May, HoYoverse began to put up ads for the game in Japan, which are prominently displayed in Akihabara in Tokyo, as well as collaborating with Chichibu Railway in Saitama Prefecture to launch a special steam train service, which ran for a month. [67] On July 13, miHoYo launched a high-speed train named "Star Dome Railway High-speed Railway Brand Special Train" with an uncertain route, used to promote the game.[68]
Honkai: Star Rail received "generally favorable reviews" according to review aggregator Metacritic.[69]
Eurogamer recommended the game for its "delightfully goofy humour, charismatic voice cast, and truly magnificent combat", despite the writers' tendency to "give one sentence explanations for important details, yet spend eight paragraphs overexplaining the simplest plot twist".[70] Rock Paper Shotgun called the game "still in its early stages but (...) incredibly good fun to play", comparing it to "Star Ocean, but if everyone was hotter and you could gamble". The reviewer praised the combat system for being deep yet approachable, and noted that, like in Genshin, spending money was not necessary to progress, as all content in the game could be cleared with the characters players receive for free.[71] PC Gamer appreciated Star Rails "impeccable visual style and strategic depth" and its "elastic tone, which fluctuates from the heroic optimism of a space opera, to the dark comedy of a Nier game, with a lot of Final Fantasy 14s soap opera storytelling mixed in". To the reviewer, the game's main draw was its "sheer creativity" and that it "distills what's most satisfying about turn-based RPGs: tactical, team-based decisions."[72]
However, some people have criticized the character designs, saying that they lack creativity, especially those of female characters, saying the outfits worn by female characters in Genshin Impact had more variety.[73]
On the eve of the game's launch, the number of pre-registered players in mainland China reached 22.98 million, and 10 million outside of mainland China.[74] On the day of pre-download on April 23, 2023, the game topped the App Store's Top Free Apps list in more than 113 countries and regions,[75] and ranked first in the overall list in mainland China, the United States, Japan, and South Korea. After the game was launched globally on April 26, it topped the best-selling list of the App Store in mainland China within 5 hours, and was in the top ten of the best-selling list in 42 countries and regions. On April 28, 2023, HoYoverse announced that the game downloads exceeded 20 million.[76]
| Year | Award | Category | Result | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | Golden Joystick Awards | Most Wanted Award | ||
| 2023 | World Science Fiction Game Annual Awards | Best Popularity Award | ||
| Google Play Awards | Best Game | [77] [78] | ||
| Best Story | ||||
| Best for Tablets | ||||
| App Store Awards | iPhone Game of the Year | [79] | ||
| The Game Awards 2023 | Best Mobile Game | [80] | ||
| 2024 | 13th New York Game Awards | A-Train Award for Best Mobile Game | [81] | |
| 27th Annual D.I.C.E. Awards | Mobile Game of the Year | [82] [83] |