Announced on October 8th of 2021,Honkai: Star Railis the latest game from HoYoverse, creators ofHonkai Impact 3rdandGenshin Impact. Closed Beta signup was announced on the same day, and the first closed beta has just run its course at the time of writing. Due to the closed beta, a great deal of new information became available regarding the mechanics and structure of HoYoverse’s latest title.
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Honkai: Star Railis a turn-based RPG, featuring HoYoverse’s usual array of well-written characters and stunning environments. It seems to be set in a new world separate from that featured inHonkai Impact 3rd, providing a brand-new environment for players to explore. This article will go over everything fans know so far about HoYoverse’s newest project.
Updated June 07, 2025, by Nahda Nabiilah:Honkai: Star Rail continues getting developed as HoYoverse runs the second Closed Beta Test for the game. Of course, fans can now expect more polished gameplay and a complete system. For example, a new feature, Eidolon is introduced. Those who playedGenshin Impact will know it as the Constellation, where a character gains new effects if players gain copies of them. Now that more is known about Honkai: Star Rail, this article has been updated to include more things players need to know about the upcoming HoYoverse game.
8It’s Currently In Second Closed Beta Test
Fans who are interested in testing the game before its release canpre-register forHonkai: Star Rail’s second Closed Beta Test. The developer also has another program, the Galaxy Explorer program. Unlike CBT which is short-termed and can be shared around, the Galaxy Explorer program is long-term, and those who are selected have to sign an NDA.
There’s currently no certainty on when the game is going to be officially released, but from the CBT 2 progress, most people can agree thatHonkai: Star Railhas a solid base ready.
7Expect Some Familiarities, But In Different Terms
Players who playedGenshin Impactwill easily adjust to the items in-game. They have a similar use, but different names. For example, the premium currency, Stellar Jade, is known asPrimogems inGenshin Impact. Meanwhile, Adventure Log is equivalent to Adventurer’s Experience, and Credit is equivalent to Mora.
Honkai: Star Railplayers also have to ascend and level up their character and equipment. The weapons (known as Light Cones) will have asuperimposefeature. InGenshin, this is known asrefinement, where they sacrifice a similar weapon to upgrade existing ones. As for artifacts, they’ll be known asrelicsin this game.
6Seven Elements And Seven Paths
InHonkai: Star Rail, the characters aren’t categorized based on their weapons. Instead, each of them has differentPathsandElements, there are seven Paths and Elements available. As of CBT 2, the Paths are:
Meanwhile, the available Elements are:
5Auto-Battle Is A Common Practice
In a turn-based game, auto-battle is a common practice, so fans can also expect this inHonkai: Star Rail.This feature will become available at one point in the game, and as of CBT 2, players can activate it by pressing the button on the top-right of the screen, next to the pause button.
Because the game is set to be a turn-based RPG, people shouldn’t expect flexible gameplay as they can do inGenshin Impact. However, the game does have some degree of exploration and open-world feels into it.
4Familiar Characters, But A New Story
Honkai: Star Railfeatures a few familiar faces fromHonkai Impact 3rd.However, it appears that, while their names and appearance are familiar, many of their backstories are completely different. This is most noticeable withHimeko, who appears in the world ofHonkai: Star Railas an adventurous scientist who found the Astral Express (the train used to travel across the stars in the game). It became stranded in her homeworld, repairing it after many years and then setting out on her journey across the stars.
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Other characters returningfrom Honkai includeBronya, Seele, and Welt.Notably (and intriguingly), unlike the other three, Welt is stated to be the same character that fans already know fromHonkai Impact 3rd, having journeyed to this new universe through the Space Portal, as seen in theHonkai Impact 3rd Manga volume 9, Alien Space. The game also features a number of entirely new characters. These includeDanheng, a Traveler with a Mysterious past who bears some resemblance toGenshin Impact’s Zhongli;March 7th, an excitable girl with a camera and no memory of her past; andGepard, a noble captain of the Silvermane Guards from the city of Belobog.
3Large Explorable Dungeons
Honkai: Star Railappears to have a big focus on dungeon exploration. The trailer shows off a variety of locales to explore, and hints at a number of different dungeon mechanics. Characters can be seen usinga large gear-shaped platform to move to higher ground, suggesting that a certain amount of platforming will be necessary totraverse the game’s many dungeons.One shot in the trailer heavily implies thatstealth mechanics may be utilized in certain areasin order to avoid guards and progress undetected.
Enemies can be seen in the world when exploring dungeons, and turn-based battles will begin when the player makes contact with these foes.Using an attack to preemptively strike foes in the worldallows the player to gain the upper hand in the ensuing fight. It appears that one of the first areas players will explore is the City of Belobog, a city that serves as the last bastion against an ever-blowing blizzard. Players will have to wait and see exactly what sorts of foes and challenges await them there.
2Dynamic Turn-Based Combat
Honkai: Star Rail, in a vast departure from HoYoverse’s previous games, features a turn-based combat system.A team of up to four characters face off against the enemy, taking turns to attack and use skills.Combat is initiated by running into an enemy in the open world, and players can perform an attack in the open world that, assuming it hits, causes all the enemies in the ensuing battle to take damage at the start.
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Characters also have a special attack they can use in the open world to trigger special bonuses going into the fight, like buffing the party or debuffing enemies. Each character is associated withone of seven different elements. Different enemies are resistant to certain elements and vulnerable to others. Each character has abasic attack, a skill, and an ultimate skill.They also each have a Talent and a Passive Skill. Different characters' abilities have different properties that can be beneficial in combat, like applying buffs, debuffing foes, or striking multiple targets. Notably,while attacks and skills use up a character’s turn, ultimate skills do not.It is also worth noting that skills cost energy to use, and energy can only be regained by using the basic attack for that character, or by taking damage.
1Players Can Use Materials To Improve Characters' Skills
Much like a number of other mobile games,Honkai Star Railallows players to enhance aspects of their characters by using materials obtained by defeating enemies, finding them in the world, or as rewards from quests. Each character’s individual Attack, Skill, and Ultimate Skill can be upgraded in this way.
Players looking to get the most out of their characters will likely need tospend time gathering the materials to fully upgrade each of their skills. It appears that a multi-floor dungeon challenge similar toGenshin Impact’s “Spiral Abyss” will be one such way of gathering materials.
Honkai: Star Railis coming soon for PC and IOS.
