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This sci-fi RPG is nearly as good as Genshin Impact - Honkai: Star Rail Quick Review

11K View2023-04-29

Honkai: Star Rail

9.1

Action RPGActionTurn-basedRPGAdventureOpen WorldAnimeEditors' Choice

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PLAY IT OR SKIP IT?

Play it! Honkai: Star Rail is a sci-fi RPG that’s better than developer MiHoYo’s Honkai Impact 3rd and comes very close to the charm of the much-loved Genshin Impact. Star Rail’s immersive storyline, beautiful graphics, and deep turn-based combat have kept me thoroughly entertained.

TIME PLAYED

I played Honkai: Star Rail for seven hours. The tutorial took me around forty minutes, and the rest of my play time has been dedicated to various lengthy questlines. I’ve also acquired seven characters and leveled five of them to their current max of level twenty.

WHAT’S AWESOME

• Story. Honkai: Star Rail’s narrative feels very different from Genshin Impact in that most of its characters aren’t bubbly or energetic. Star Rail takes a more serious tone, although that doesn’t mean that it can’t be funny at times as well. The personalities of characters like March 7th and Herta really shine through the dialogue. And no matter how much banter I was exposed to, I didn’t feel like it got in the way of the story.

• Turn-based combat. Honkai: Star Rail’s turn-based battles feel very different from combat in Genshin Impact and Honkai Impact 3rd. Because it was turn-based, I approached combat more strategically in Honkai: Star Rail and needed to be mindful of things like status effects, weaknesses, and the cooldown of enemy abilities. It gets challenging too; by five hours into the game, I found myself struggling against some of the opponents I was facing. I was pushed to play with many different team compositions, which only added to the fun of this well-crafted system.

• Gacha. When it comes to gacha rolling, Honkai: Star Rail is pretty generous at the start. I managed to pull one five-star and two four-star characters through the limited-time event banner. I didn’t have to spend any money since the game handed me all the resources I needed to pull fifty times. Even without rolling the dice, the main quest brought me five characters to play for free.

• Exploration. Even though Honkai: Star Rail isn’t an open-world RPG like Genshin Impact, I still had plenty to explore through each mission. Most missions function as stand-alone levels where I needed to explore confined areas and defeat enemies to get to the objective. These areas feature a bunch of destructible objects that provide resources, hidden items with lore about the game, and chests that provide loot. I enjoyed scouring for loot and never really left a mission until I had scanned every inch.

• Tutorial. Honkai: Star Rail’s in-depth and helpful tutorial really improved my early time with the game. It took its time teaching me all the fundamentals, as well as introducing details needed to understand the story and setting.

• Visuals. I’ve never doubted MiHoYo’s ability to deliver superb visuals since I first played Genshin Impact, but even by those heightened standards Honkai: Star Rail is stunning. From combat animations to character designs, every element of the game features a crisp, pretty look.

• Voice acting. The voice acting in Honkai: Star Rail is impeccable. Every character has a memorable voice imbued with a ton of emotion and personality.

• Music. Honkai: Star Rail’s music ties everything together by setting the mood for each cutscene and area. It also adds intensity to combat and a sense of fun and lightheartedness to exploration.

WHAT SUCKS

• You can’t jump. It’s a little annoying that I can’t jump in Honkai: Star Rail, especially when a quick leap over a ledge or some small obstacle would get me to my destination faster.

💬 Are you going to play Honkai: Star Rail or will you skip it? Tell me in the comments!