Genshin Impact sent ripples through the gaming industry in 2020, and Honkai: Star Rail has already successfully repeated the same feat. Currently the biggest gacha game on the planet per Sensor Tower revenue rankings, this turn-based RPG takes many of the same systems from HoYoverse’s fantasy open world and bends them into a more bite-sized package. The result is a game that’s more manageable to make progress in, but still utterly life-consuming if you want it to be.
The presentation is exceptional, and elevated in this PS5 port, where it runs at a flawless 60 frames-per-second. While the gameplay doesn’t necessarily benefit from the increased framerate – combat is more tactical in nature compared to Genshin’s real-time gauntlets, and exploration is predominantly linear in the three main environments available so far – the clean visuals and smooth performance enhance the anime aesthetic, which really sings in several key set-piece scenarios.
You play as a Trailblazer, recruited to an intergalactic organisation named the Astral Express. This squad of special agents rides its space train through the deep recesses of the cosmos, investigating and resolving conflicts relating to mysterious MacGuffins known as Stellarons. While there’s a lot more going on narratively than our short synopsis would lead you to believe, it effectively gives the developer the freedom to explore various different planets and their inhabitants.
As of this review’s publication, there are three main locations: Herta Space Station, Jarilo-VI, and the Xianzhou Luofu. Unfortunately, across these, the developer simply can’t control itself narratively, and a lot of the dialogue is completely overwritten. It doesn’t help that the source material is translated from Chinese, so occasionally you’ll get little bits of Mandarin seeping into the main text, often mispronounced by the English voiceover cast.
While there’s some good narrative content on the first two planets, and generally there’s a stronger sense of personality and humour than in Genshin, the Xianzhou Luofu segment is overwrought with intergalactic politics and it becomes borderline impossible to follow what’s going on. The developer may be taking over the world one gacha game at a time, but we sincerely hope it hires an editor with its unthinkable income, because it really needs one at this point.
Of course, any narrative concerns evaporate when you’re in battle, and Honkai has a great system. While it’s not the most complicated RPG on the planet, completing some of the more difficult endgame content requires you to build out your units thoughtfully, and mix-and-match them in different ways. At its very core, you’ll effectively be dealing with different classes, from healers to damage dealers, but you’ll also need to consider elemental types, buffs, debuffs, and preservation.
All of this feeds into the gacha system, with rotating banners of characters available periodically, which you can pull for. You can guarantee any given unit by pulling up to 180 times, with tickets purchased using in-game currency you earn from completing objectives. While the developer is relatively generous when it comes to rewards, unlocking every playable hero is not going to happen unless you spend some kind of money, whether it’s on a monthly pass which accumulates additional currency for each day you login – or on big lump sums.
Naturally, you don’t actually need every unit to enjoy the game, and those who spend thoughtfully can save up for the characters they like and have a perfectly fulfilling experience for free. The business model works because, much like with Genshin, HoYoverse invests an enormous amount of development effort into ensuring each playable hero has a unique kit, whether it’s a work-shy mah-jong superstar or an emo assassin who cuts himself to deal additional damage.
Each character comes with a set of truly gorgeous animations, which you’ll be able to trigger in battle. The novelty of these does begin to thin as you experience them over and over again, but the game’s so colourful and attractive throughout that it never entirely outstays its welcome. Plus, as you start building more and more characters, you’ll find yourself rotating through various different teams depending on what the circumstances demand. This is all part of the appeal.
And there’s a treadmill-like nature to it all you should be aware of. Levelling up units and assigning them the right equipment takes weeks, sometimes months, with a lot of time spent on resource gathering and farming. There are limitations to the number of actions you can take per day, and sometimes you’ll need to wait for materials to recharge. This is the mobile game aspect, and it’ll no doubt irritate console players who just want to get on without obstruction.
But it’s important to remember this is a live service game, with regular events and a constant churn of content. There is no end here, and while there are numerous story-based quests to complete, the real goal is simply making a little bit of progress every single day towards your goals. Whether it’s levelling up a character, ascending them, or simply earning resources to spend on the next banner – it never really ends, and that’s kind of the point to it all.
Those familiar with Genshin will know that HoYoverse acts on a regular update cadence, which sees new content added every six or so weeks. This means that PS5 players will already have access to an additional third or so of narrative content that wasn’t available in the mobile version at launch, and you can expect the scale of the release to continue from here on out. It means the story isn’t finished – in fact, it’s unlikely to ever be finished. Honkai Impact 3rd, for example, has been going for seven years and is getting a new chapter later this year.
The content that the developer does add is generally great, though. There’s been some obscene variety this year alone, from a tycoon-style museum management simulation to a logistics-inspired item stacking minigame. Everything loops back to the narrative and the core turn-based battle system, but HoYoverse is already finding unique ways to keep things fresh. And that’s without even mentioning the obscenely addictive roguelite sub-mode named Simulated Universe, which takes the team-building aspects to an entirely new level, and was recently reinvented with an alternative, dice-based reimagining.
All this is to say, you’ll likely get out of Honkai: Star Rail what you invest into it. Those willing to walk the treadmill and engage with the constant churn of content will find themselves organically unlocking more characters, creating better builds, and forming stronger teams. However, those reluctant to engage on a daily basis and commit to the game’s daily demands may find themselves falling behind. The one grace here is that, unlike Genshin, this game is a lot more bite-sized and a bunch more forgiving, so it’s easier to keep up with.
Conclusion
Honkai: Star Rail, already a tremendous success, transfers to PS5 flawlessly – and is almost guaranteed to become one of the most-played games on the platform. In some ways its bite-sized nature means it’s more at home on mobile, but its beautiful anime art style and stunning animations deserve to be experienced on a big screen. While its narrative is occasionally overwritten, and it demands players invest a lot to experience it to its fullest, this is a live service executed impeccably. And the truly exciting thing is that the best is yet to come.
Comments 39
Happy to tackle any questions on this!
The narrative is overwritten at times, but it is a major improvement to Genshin's. Genshin had a whole companion mission dedicated to finding tax forms.... So much fun.
I'll take long winded anime Warhammer 40K any day. Praise the Merciful Medicus! All hail Yaoshi!
Also, pretty good and fair review for one of my favorite games this year. Glad you and many others on Playstation get to enjoy it!
@get2sammyb How many hours of sleep do you get in a day?😂 I was wondering why there were no comments until I realised that the review was posted at 3:30am😂.Seriously tho great review, and I think when I finally have the time(next year summer) I think I'm gonna take the plunge. I really dig the sci-fi look so much more than Genshin's.
@Constable_What Till this day Warhammer is one of the few franchises that seems so difficult to get into🤣. Books, games, comics, board games(I think?), and I think it's all been going on since 1876 or something😂
Any good entry points you would say? I might play the space marine games, they seem pretty sick.
@homelesscretin Haha, I'm on a different time zone at the moment so I slept very well, thank you!
@homelesscretin Warhammer 40K Darktide just got a HUGE update that has made the game actually good. I think that's the best place to start to get your foot in the door, you get acquainted with Nergel Heresy, the Inquisition, and the atmosphere of the 40K universe. That's only on PC and Xbox rn tho.
Warhammer 40K: Space Marine is also a great place to start! It's getting a sequel soon as well, and it's a fun game that can be bought for cheap!
Inquisitor Martyr is pretty decent as far as ARPGs go. It's kinda janky, but still fun. I'd recommend that for around 10 bucks rn.
Honestly, how I got into it was the Dark Heresy tabletop. I had to do a lot of research to create my Psyker Inquisitor Gunnar Harloke, and playing that character for a few months really got me invested into the lore, especially after being "tricked" into a Slaanesh ritual at an inn. Luckily, no one but me knew about it, so I wasn't summarily executed by our Commisar player. Lmao
It's such a fun universe, and there's a LOT of similarities with Honkai Star Rail and 40K. I'm not just saying that. Especially how the Aeons are portrayed in HSR, they are anime versions of the 40K daemon princes.
@get2sammyb Great review. I agree that the story does get overwritten during the Xianzhou arc that has been released so far. I like how you used preservation instead of "defense". Does it take you 180 pulls to get the premium banner? I always get it in 90 or just under.
If it wasn’t for BG3 this would be my GOTY
@Constable_What No PC or xbox I'm afraid so I'm gonna have to skip darktide
Just checked out space marine and its absolute peanuts for the ps3 so I'll definitely check that out. That arpg doesn't seem so bad as well to be honest.
But bro. Your fourth paragraph.... has totally lost me😂. Like what language are you speaking????😂. You sound so excited too, but I have no idea whats going on😭.
I've never ever played an actual tabletop rpg. I think I should put it on the bucket list tho😂
@get2sammyb Ahhh everything makes sense now😂
@homelesscretin If you can get some good friends together, with a couple pizzas, some beers, some good music, it's a blast. There's nothing like, spending an hour trying to break down a solid brick wall because the party doesn't want to take a fork in the road, so the Game Master finally relents and has it fall on top of someone. Wounding them.
Great fun!
@z0d15g0d I got Jingliu in 22 pulls today, which was great. Usually takes me the full 90, but I've also gone 180 as well.
@homelesscretin Rogue Trader is coming out in December. I’m personally going to use that as a starting point for Warhammer, as it’s an RPG and should have lots of lore within it.
@Constable_What Definitely on the bucket list😂. Just one more question oh scholar of warhammer, have you read any of the books?🤔. As an avid reader, is there a good entry point in literary form or is that super complex stuff for when you're deep in the universe😂
@ShadowofSparta Duuuuuuuuuude, 🤯🤯🤯
I just searched this up and I don't know how this slipped by me. Looks great! Glad you mentioned it😂
@get2sammyb Nice! I'm gonna try for her later today she seems more useful than Yanqing who has been my main ice damage dealer but his "get hit and lose buff" mechanic is very annoying. Looks like she synergises well with Blade too.
@homelesscretin I think maybe the Gaunt's Ghosts series! It's written in such a way that sci-fi fans can just jump in like any other sci-fi book series and enjoy it.
There's so SO much going on in 40K... It's a genre in and of itself.
@get2sammyb Can you transfer your mobile save to PS5?
@Constable_What Thanks for the recommendation.
Also, sixteen books?😂 Everything truly requires so much time😂
@W0rl0ck Yes, you can. There are some stipulations attached, and I'll do a guide on this soon. But it's completely cross-save, yes.
Had every intention of not touching this as I'm already well over a thousand hours into Genshin but I've recently quit Destiny 2 so I need something to fill that gap. Hate gacha but love what Hoyo make. I'm in!
Thanks for the review @get2sammyb
You said "but still utterly life-consuming if you want it to be." How is this compared to Genshin, a game I picked up out of intrigue and am still playing 1000+ hours later. I've read elsewhere that it's a little less of a time-sink, more streamlined and easier to put down. I know you touched on it briefly, but do you have any deeper thoughts on that?
I am half tempted to just wait and play through the whole game, or most of it in X years as I really don't need another all consuming game in my life! But it's hard because there is a massive difference between enjoying the journey as you go along, and racing through at the end, but there is a lot of filler content in between the good stuff.
@get2sammyb Good news thanks
I sense some bias as you like this game. Luck-based gacha system alone deserves some points drop.
mrbone wrote:
Wait, what? Are you suggesting a reviewer should rate a game they like badly?
I'm really not crazy about the gacha stuff...but I can't deny everything else about it looks awesome. Maybe after I finish Mirage I'll give it a shot.
@get2sammyb I love seeing your twitter posts on your gatcha rolls, so glad to see this game holds up well on PS5! Genshin 'suffers' from adding important lore into its time-limited event content, does Star Rail suffer from the same? I hate missing important lore because I wasn't playing a game at the right time, so I don't want to get too serious about a game that I might miss important information by just not being there. Appreciate your insight!
Gacha is an immediate turn off.
@Papers92 The premium characters have companion missions that delve into their backgrounds and they are replaced once their banner event is over. The banners are doing a rerun from the 27th of October and each banner runs for about 2 weeks so if you like the game you can experience all the lore.
@PepperMintRex It's not for everyone but I'd much rather pay for a fully fleshed out playable character than a cosmetic item which is all a lot of games offer these days.
@Papers92 I'm not sure there is THAT much important lore in the Genshin side content. Perhaps the fleshing out of a few characters, but nothing I can think of that was integral to the plot. A lot of it feels like Anime-filler to me compared to the real stuff.
@themightyant I think it's different in HSR as the most recent side story answered quite a lot of questions for players which were only loosely touched upon in the main arc.
@themightyant No, but need to add some objectivity. As I said, Gacha system alone should cause at least 2 points deduction. Gacha is worse than add on/DLC where you get what u want. Then the weak story part and others etc. And my comment above was also based on previous Sammy's mention of how much he is addicted to this game.
Kinda funny to see the gacha being one of the cons. That's to be expected of like every gacha though. It all comes down to how lucky you are with pulls.
I know people obsessed with this game that haven't use a cent in it, that's the "beauty" of gaas games, they have to be fun to their target so they come back for more.
TLOU wasn't that and now it's in purgatory and others will follow until Sony understands Bungie can carry those "plans" alone no need to make 20 of them.
@mrbone understood. Though automatically deducting 2 points because it’s gacha, isn’t that also just bias because you don’t like the system? Which is what you accused Sammy of? (Btw the Metacritic is also 80, so it’s not like Sammy’s review is an outlier)
Do I like gacha? Not particularly. In a perfect world we’d be able to get all characters and the game wouldn’t have any gating mechanics or similar. But I also understand games like this couldn’t be made on a normal budget, they are too big, and their ongoing development budgets are prohibitively huge. Normal £70 game and DLC wouldn’t generate enough ongoing interest to pay for it. So I’m glad they exist. Choice is good.
Moreover if it’s anything like Genshin’s gacha, and reviews suggest it is, then it’s very generous and you don’t have to pay a penny if you don’t want to, that’s how most people play. Of course if you have a gambling addiction, or want specific characters and are weak willed then you should steer well clear, as they are out to get you.
@z0d15g0d thanks for that, good to know that it’s different to Genshin in this regard. Shame for PS players they will have missed some of this
Honestly I talk a lot of smack about free to play games and while I still think a lot of my complaints hold true for this game, I really can't deny that the presentation is up there with the best of them. I still have yet to manage to pull anything worthwhile when I gacha, so if I wind up struggling down the line because I didn't pull any higher rarity character then I'll go back to calling F2P garbage...but until then I'm actually enjoying myself.
@ATaco - Use your first 50 pulls on the discount banner and then forget about gacha. You'll get a guaranteed 5* unit from it and everything else you get there is a bonus. The free 4* units the game gives you will carry you for a long time.
As a day one Genshin player with well over 1000hrs played, I can tell you for a fact that these Hoyoverse games are not P2W, they rely on FOMO. Avoid falling into that trap, invest in the units you have been given and you can't go wrong.
If you really love Turnbase RPG like LoH, Tales of, Final Fantasy or smt series, then auto love this game. Btw, the cons "luck-based gacha system" should "take-off". This is defaut for all gacha-mobile gaming not "spec-game"
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