As I was playing the Final Closed Beta for miHoYo’s Honkai: Star Rail, I kept having one recurring thought: this doesn’t feel like a free mobile game, it feels like it’s Triple-A. Sure, it has all the usual trappings of a free-to-play gacha RPG – such as daily log-in rewards, an achievement list tied to rewards, and the usual cash shop offerings – but in the nearly 10 hours that I’ve put into Honkai: Star Rail already, I’ve never felt pressured or deemed it necessary to invest anything more than my time. It’s not far-off to say that, if it wasn’t for miHoYo’s beautifully bright color palette and high-res Anime-style aesthetics, this could easily be mistaken for a Sci-Fi entry in the Tales of series, or a turn-based version of Star Ocean. It has a level of polish that’s rarely seen in the mobile market, and I just can’t get enough of it!
Honkai: Star Rail is a Sci-Fi turn-based RPG from the creators of Genshin Impact and Honkai Impact 3rd. Right now, miHoYo is running their final closed beta test before the live launch on PC and mobile devices later this year. I’ve been interested in this new title due to its space-explorer, or “Trailblazer”, theme and the “science-fiction meets fantasy” elements that I’ve come to love from the Star Ocean and Phantasy Star franchises (Maybe it’s because they all have ‘Star’ in their titles? I also like Star Wars, so…) With fully-voiced dialogue and an eclectic cast of characters, Honkai: Star Rail doesn’t disappoint in creating a captivating and memorable universe.
LOST IN SPACE (STATION)
I’m pleased to say that my expectations for the “spacy-ness” of the level design were met almost immediately. Chrome-plated interiors paired with bright, neon lights line the interior of the starting space station I explored during the prologue. Interactable door panels have a Mass Effect-y vibe with a holographic-glow of orange and green. Virtual displays dot the environment with an alien writing, and the selfsame writing can be found painted in a bright orange across the walls or a clean white on the ground. A glimpse out of the occasional window shows an endless sea of stars, teasing you with adventures to come.
That said, the level design – at least in the areas I’ve explored so far – is fairly linear, with rare opportunities to go off the beaten path. Those few spots where you can often contain chests with valuable items, or challenging enemies that safeguard even more valuable treasure. Destructible objects, like metallic cylinders or health-restoring canisters, are strewn about corridors or pathways and can contain money or materials used in crafting. The mini-map displayed in the corner of the screen helped me navigate levels and find these side paths, so I was definitely encouraged to explore where I could. Once the fast-travel feature unlocks, you can always return to these corridors to explore any nook or cranny that were missed. Sadly the characters can’t jump, so exploration does feel pretty limited in what is essentially a 2D plane.
Enemies are similarly designed to evoke a sense of “alien” hostility and mysteriousness. Armored constructs, like incorporeal bodies wearing enchanted suits of armor, called the “Antimatter Legion” comprise the majority of foes met initially. With more deviation in enemy design as new planets are explored and regional factors determine how local enemies take shape, such as the flying crystalized birds or ice-wearing armored shades on the snowy planet of Jarilo-VI. They’re generic enough to be forgettable – with certain exceptions like the Dragon-esque ‘Doomsday Beast’ as the final boss in the starting area – yet feature a diverse roster for a variety of enemy types.
SPACE-COMBAT
Regrettably I haven’t fought in space (yet?), but combat in Honkai: Star Rail plays out much like a Persona title or similar turn-based JRPGs. Battles are initiated by either coming into contact with enemies or pre-emptively hitting them with your controlled character, which initiates the transition into a battle arena where the combat actually takes place. Your party consists of up to 4 active characters at a time, and each character has a unique Basic Attack and Skill Attack to use on their turn. Skills require Skill Points that are shared across the party and can be generated through the use of Basic Attacks – like a very simplified form of resource management. Skill Attacks are usually the more potent of the two and often have additional proc effects, such as dealing damage to adjacent enemies or inducing status effects like Shock or Freeze, and some characters – like March 7th – have a supporting Skill that can buff allies or provide defensive shields that absorb damage.
All enemies have some elemental strengths and weaknesses, so keeping a varied crew in your party is essential since each character has an associated element out of the 7 different types. Some elemental relationships are pretty self-explanatory, such as using fire attacks on the aforementioned ice-based enemies; however, others like the ‘Quantum’ and ‘Imaginary’ element types aren’t so intuitive. Thankfully, Honkai: Star Rail shows each enemy’s elemental weaknesses directly above their health bar, and will even highlight the elemental symbols to show which enemies the currently active character is effective against. You can even inspect enemies at any time to gain a quick snapshot of their level, abilities, and current status effects.
My favorite aspect of the combat is the ridiculous Ultimate abilities that each character has, which fill up a gauge to use it as characters attack or perform specific actions. My most enjoyable ones include the classy Himeko sipping tea while a giant space laser fires a beam of nuclear-level destruction, and the electric-guitar wielding (literally) Serval who summons down purple thunder to shock all enemies. Unfortunately, these Ultimate abilities also share my least favorite aspect about combat: cutscenes for these Ultimate abilities can’t be skipped. Likewise, no cutscene in Honkai: Star Rail can be skipped at the moment. I know this was an issue I, and many others, had with Genshin Impact as well, but it’s disappointing to see that miHoYo still hasn’t implemented this fan feedback into their design yet. Eventually, there is the ability to enable 2x-Battle Speed which helps to mitigate the length of these cutscenes – and of battles in general – but it’s a far cry from being able to skip them completely. There’s only so many times I can hear my main character shout, “Rules Are Meant To Be Broken!” before eventually turning down the volume entirely.
GACHA AND THE CAST OF CHARACTERS
Similar to their previous games, Honkai: Star Rail features a collectathon of interesting and unique characters to unlock through gacha. The random draws and limited-time events incentivize players to spend money in order to chase after specific characters. Normally, I’m not a fan of this style of monetization – especially in egregious titles like Tower of Fantasy – but, so far at least, Honkai: Star Rail hasn’t forced my hand to pull random draws other than once as part of the tutorial. Additionally, there are several additional characters that are unlocked as you progress through the story; an aspect I think they pull off remarkably well as it feels more like earning new party members in JRPGs like Chrono Cross or Dragon Quest rather than being forced to utilize the gacha.
Items called ‘Light Cones’ can also be rolled in the gachas. These items can be equipped to specific characters that match the corresponding ‘Path’, which are basically the character’s role-type or archetype in a party. These Light Cones both increase a character’s stats and provide a passive ability, such as increasing the wearer’s Attack Damage or enhancing their Defense. These are also found in-game through different quests or side activities and can be enhanced in order to boost the stat bonuses. Duplicates can also be Superimposed, which increase the effect of the passive abilities, or used as a material for increasing experience and leveling up other Light Cones.
There are currently 26 different characters to get in Honkai: Star Rail, not including your main character the ‘Trailblazer’, with half of them being 5-Star and the other half 4-Star – of which, many of the 4-Star characters can be earned in the campaign after hitting certain story beats. As I stated before, I really haven’t felt it necessary to spend any money on the gacha system as of yet. The story progression and pacing feel perfectly in-tune with how the average player will consume content, and the only incentive I’ve felt to roll the gacha was after I experienced the scythe-carrying Seele and her insane single-target damage as a Support – a feature to borrow another player’s chosen character for specific battles. From what I’ve seen so far, it is absolutely possible to finish the whole campaign without dipping into the gacha once (other than the instance where the tutorial makes you.)
THE METAVERSE SIMULATED UNIVERSE
Probably the most intriguing activity that I’ve done in Honkai: Star Rail is the ‘Simulated Universe’ project under the direction of the android Herta, the Herta Space Station’s true master where the beginning prologue takes place. These are small, seemingly randomly-generated dungeons that use predetermined Trial characters with set levels and abilities. There is an overarching narrative to these missions, but sadly in the beta there are currently placeholder signs that say the narrative cutscenes are still in development. Still, this side mission included some of the only topical dialogue I had seen – including a reference to Douglas Adams' The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and a not-so-subtle jab at the Metaverse – which had me laughing at loud.
What interests me the most about the Simulated Universe missions is how they are small, curated dungeons where after each encounter you are given a selection of ‘Blessings’ from the virtual ‘Aeons’ (powerful God-like beings that preside over the galaxy). These Blessings are randomized buffs for the duration of the Simulated Universe mission, such as increasing critical hit rate, adding shields to all party members at the start of a battle, or enhancing proc effects like Burn and Shock. It reminds me a lot of Vampire Survivors’ upgrade mechanic, and I like how miHoYo has integrated this roguelite mechanic into a more traditional turn-based RPG.
Full access to the Simulated Universe mode is locked behind story progression, but the initial mission that introduces this activity occurs right after beating the first major boss. It was undeniably fun enough to wet my appetite and motivate me to keep pushing the main story so that I could participate more in this particular mode. There are also exclusive rewards available through earning Herta Bonds and exchanging them for various rewards at the Exchange Shop in the space station. Additionally, weekly activities called ‘Periodic Assignments’ will refresh and keep content interesting and engaging while rewarding players with additional prizes. This will probably be the main activity that I personally make sure to log in each week for when Honkai: Star Rail officially launches.
COUNTDOWN TO LAUNCH
With that being said, this closed beta is the final testing ground before development wraps up. MiHoYo has not yet officially announced the release date, although a quick Google search indicates it may launch on April 26, 2023 according to information it may have extrapolated from the Apple iOS App Store. There’s still clearly more work that needs to be done – as indicated by the messages as a stand-in for some cutscenes – but the state of Honkai: Star Rail as I’ve been able to see thus far is as polished an experience as I could hope for. The fully-voiced character dialogue, visual acuity, and balanced combat and pacing all have me brimming with excitement to dive back into this space-faring adventure again whenever it does launch. I don’t even care that all of my progress in the beta will be wiped beforehand! Are you excited for Honkai: Star Rail? Let us know in the comments below!
Full Disclosure: Access to the closed beta was provided by PR.
