Honkai: Star Rail Gameplay Overview – In this Honkai: Star Rail Gameplay Overview, I’m going to run through everything you need to know in terms of the types of characters you’ll gain, how combat and weapon upgrades work, what the Warp System is, and how different the Multiplayer Mode is this time around. Honkai: Star Rail is developed by HoYoverse, the same creators of the popular free-to-play Action RPG, Genshin Impact. If you’re interested in knowing what Star Rail is all about and how it compares to Genshin Impact, then this article is for you!

Honkai: Star Rail Gameplay Overview (F2P Turn-Based RPG)

Honkai: Star Rail Gameplay Overview – What Is Honkai: Star Rail?

Honkai: Star Rail is a continuation of sorts of Honkai Impact 3rd, even though the game is set in an alternate sci-fi universe, which mostly features different versions of previous Honkai characters, making this worth visiting especially if you’ve been a fan of the Honkai universe. But there are some returning NPCs such as the intergalactic traveler Welt Yang, who finds himself in the middle of events that are currently happening in Star Rail.

As a Trailblazer humanoid who has been implanted with a Stellaron or “seed of ruin”, players will go on a series of quests to find the cure for a destructive force inside them and to prevent further disasters from transpiring across the universe. You essentially visit one planet to the next by boarding the space train, Astral Express. Despite its sci-fi nature, you’ll recognize the similarities of Star Rail with Genshin Impact, in terms of the overall character design, the overworld’s art style, and quick combat pace. However, the major difference is that Star Rail features a turn-based combat system similar to classic JRPGs like Final Fantasy X and X-2.

Honkai: Star Rail Gameplay Overview – Characters And Skills

Every character in Honkai: Star Rail has a Rarity, an Elemental Affinity, and a Path associated with them. Rarity can either be 4-star or 5-star where 5-star characters will generally have stronger stats and abilities, but will be much more difficult to come by. As of writing, there are over twenty potential companions revealed so far.

And then you have Elemental Affinity, which is self-explanatory, as well as a character’s Path. Path refers to the class, archetype, or playstyle that defines a specific person’s strengths and overall role in combat. At the moment, there are a total of 7 different Paths assigned to all the available characters. These range from The Destruction Path, which makes them a general all-around DPS, to The Erudition, which is strong at dealing damage against multiple foes, to The Harmony, which specializes in buffing teammates.

Furthermore, Star Rail also mimics Genshin Impact’s level-up systems. For example, you can level up your character by using certain materials. Once they hit the base cap’s maximum level, they’ll be eligible for “Ascension”. This means that you’ll need to consume specific resources to raise your level cap further.

Next, characters will have Traces and Eidolons. A Trace is part of a skill tree that provides extra stats, passive abilities, or even enhances existing skills. Trace upgrade materials can be obtained by playing the game normally. Eidolons, on the other hand, is an upgrade path that will grant more impactful effects similar to Genshin Impact’s Constellations. Because of this, you need to obtain duplicate characters to experience significant improvements in their buffs, particularly Basic Attacks and Ultimates. And since this system is linear, you can’t jump from one path to the last so Eidolons have to be unlocked in sequence.

Honkai: Star Rail Gameplay Overview – Equipment

When it comes to equipment, Honkai: Star Rail’s version of weapons and accessories are known as Light Cones and Relics, respectively. Light Cones don’t have physical manifestations so they won’t appear on your character but confer stat boosts for HP, Attack, and Defense. You can also expect to gain a passive ability to improve other attributes such as Crit Rate. But to do this, it’s important to make sure that both the character and weapon’s Paths are aligned or the same. It’s also possible to enhance the corresponding stats and passives that Light Cones provide by leveling them up and superimposing them with multiple copies of the same weapons, respectively.

Next are Relics consisting of a wide array of trinkets including hats, gloves, and shoes. They also grant stat boosts and come in sets that have passive abilities like increasing your attack by a certain percentage. These grow in strength depending on how many items in a set you have equipped.

Honkai: Star Rail Gameplay Overview – Combat

Honkai: Star Rail is different from anything HoYoverse has ever done before in that this title follows a tactical turn-based combat system, which highlights the elemental abilities and buffs that players can cast. But just like in Genshin Impact, you’ll be roaming the world with a single active character that could then be swapped at any given time.

Fights are also initiated by literally striking an enemy in the overworld map, damaging a random target even before the fight begins. Once combat starts, you’ll be able to make use of your entire 4-roster party. Right from the beginning, you’re given the chance to activate an effect. This effect lets you buff your allies or debuff and attack your foes. Character turns are determined by a speed stat known as Action Order, which also defines how quickly they can act again.

Players can choose to perform a Basic Attack or use a Skill during their turns. Basic Attacks are much weaker but cost no resources. Skills require the use of Skill Points that are generated by activating Basic Attacks. Players start with 3 Skill Points for every battle so they won’t begin combat slowly. Doing so also lets them efficiently build up more resources in the long run. As the fight goes on, each character accumulates Elemental energy. Once the corresponding energy meter has been filled, you’ll be able to activate a powerful Ultimate Ability.

Currently, there are 7 Elements in the game, namely, Physical, Fire, Wind, Lightning, Ice, Quantum, and Imaginary. Using a foe’s elemental Weakness against them will deplete their Toughness level or stagger bar. Once this bar is completely empty, they’re briefly stunned, skipping their turn in specific rounds of the fight. They also become susceptible to taking damage over time due to Elemental Attacks. For example, Physical causes Bleeding, Ice causes Frozen, etc.

One improvement in Star Rail’s combat is Auto-Battle, which lets you relax while your characters fight opponents of similar or lower levels and farm resources. This Auto-Complete option is also available when breezing through the game’s dialogue and story. What’s more, is that you can speed up combat if you’re finding it too slow so gone are the days where you have to sit through long skill animations!

Exploration and Activities

Honkai: Star Rail is not an open-world game. Instead, you’ll visit one small area after the next unlike in Genshin Impact, which has interconnected locations. This makes it so that the pace of the game is faster since you’re able to jump on the space train to conveniently go around and explore what you can. You’ll also tend to frequent some planets more than others to farm for certain rewards and treasures.

One unique interaction while you’re learning more about the game is the messages you receive on your phone. It’s a nice touch, especially when you’re trying to make sense of the world around you. For example, you can consult your “Astral Express Family” to clear things up like asking what Relics are and how these are connected to Stellarons whereas other NPCs will contact you to initiate missions.

In terms of activities, you can choose to participate in several of them to gain as many rewards as possible. These include the Simulated Universe, Calyx, and Assignments. In the Simulated Universe, you’ll be clearing multiple domains where every level features random enemies, layouts, and rewards. And as you hop from one challenge to the next, the difficulty increases, but fear not since you’ll be able to select three companions to assist you. Once you come out victorious, you’ll gain Blessings that can be further enhanced to effectively boost your stats.

Next is the Calyx, which essentially involves defeating waves of enemies. The more waves, the greater the difficulty but you also increase the chances of getting extra character and Light Cone materials as well as credits. Note, however, that you need Trailblaze Power to enter and raise the number of Challenge Waves you’ll be participating in. You can either wait for these to be replenished or acquire more of them using Stellar Jades, a premium currency that you earn in-game.

And finally, you have Assignments where you send some of your inactive characters to go on missions to gather extra experience materials just like in Genshin Impact.

Warp System

Honkai: Star Rail is a free-to-play title but there’s going to be a Warp System that closely follows in the footsteps of Genshin Impact. This is the main way to acquire new and powerful characters and Light Cones since you pull them from Banners or Warps. Star Rail Passes are used for Starter and Regular Warps whereas Star Rail Special Passes are reserved for time-bound Event Warps. You’ll then need in-game currency like Undying Embers, which you receive from duplicate pulls, or Stellar Jade to buy more Passes in the Store.

It appears that there’s going to be a Pity System where too many Warp attempts will reward special items. For instance, you’re guaranteed to receive a 5-star character within 50 pulls should you go for the Starter Warp. The same could be said for Regular Warps where a bulk 10-pull will at least give you a 4-star character or Light Cone.

Multiplayer Mode

The final topic of interest in Honkai: Star Rail is Multiplayer or co-op. Here, you’ll find a clear departure from the mode implemented on Genshin Impact. Sure, you can still add friends in-game but they won’t be able to join you in order to explore the galaxy together. Instead, you’ll only have the option to lend or borrow characters as a form of support in combat.

Final Thoughts

Honkai: Star Rail is shaping up to be another highly-anticipated live service title from HoYoverse with over 10 million pre-registrations as of today. It features multiple systems inspired by Genshin Impact such as the exciting combat and the ways in which characters progress and how equipment is improved. But it’s worth mentioning that even if you haven’t played Genshin Impact, there are still various activities and events to gain many rewards from that’ll get you hooked and invested within a few hours of playing. Plus, its turn-based combat system will bring back delightful memories from older JRPGs.

Honkai: Star Rail will be launched on April 26, 2023 via PC, iOS, and Android. The date for the PlayStation release has yet to be disclosed. This free-to-play turn-based RPG will also have cross-save support, allowing players to easily hop from PC to mobile and vice versa.

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Which Honkai: Star Rail systems do you think need to be improved? Will you be jumping in the Astral Express on the day of launch? Let us know in the comments section below! For more previews, be sure to check out Jagged Alliance 3 Preview (Turn-Based RPG) and Elder Scrolls Online Necrom Preview – Arcanist Class and More!.