need to know
what is that? Sci-fi RPG featuring anime protagonists
release date April 25, 2023
expect to pay free play
developer Hoyoverse
the publisher Hoyoverse
review date RTX 3080 Ti, i9 12900K, 32GB RAM
steam deck not supported
Link Official site (opens in new tab)
Honkai: Star Rail is supposed to be turn-based, but combat progresses at the speed of character action games. Plan your moves correctly and your team will dash and dodge around the screen as if you were in direct control. The payoff is that you’ll be treated to eye-popping, anime-inspired combat.
The camera tilts and shifts as your character strums a guitar that electrifies enemies, splits the screen with a time-bending scythe, screams for protection from his robot dad, or submerges the camera underwater to cast heels. or Each character is full of personality and their acrobatics on the battlefield are extremely expressive.
At its most climactic battles, Star Rail combat is a lot like Genshin Impact. Character stylish ultimate With his abilities, you can control the entire scene. But this sci-fi RPG character of his is more than just a signature movement keybind like Genshin. Everyone gets the pivotal moment of a particular encounter. That means it’s essential to create a roster of different characters and know exactly how they synergize.
Star Rail’s cast of animated protagonists fits its flexible tone with plenty of Final Fantasy 14’s soap opera storytelling mixed in, from the heroic optimism of space opera to the dark comedy of Nier games. . , and her two crew members travel to different planets and step into the politics and problems of the local people. It helps avoid the misery of having to sit through long stretches of world-building like. Starrail wastes no time and plays like a modern-day girlfriend RPG, but there are a few caveats to free-to-play gacha games.
Ditching the open-world structure established in Genshin allows Star Rail to focus on building a meaningful cast of side characters through quests and lost dialogue. The NPC will periodically text her to ask for help or just check in. Each time gives us the chance to personify his Trailblazer in a much more playful and compelling way than Genshin’s Traveler. My him Trailblazer sends emojis and spam question marks to his friends. She’s tired, confused, and trying her best. She’s a truly relatable character for anyone trying to live in 2023 and what it’s like to be online.
Star Rail is also unsurprisingly entertaining, routinely teasing your decisions and delivering dialogue responses that shrug off the melodrama of world-catastrophic events. Goofy responses and actions, such as telling a violent sentient robot that he has a nice haircut or sitting in a seat. teleport toilet. The writing of Star Rail is very aware of the tropes it unfolds, but balances that with sheer honesty when it comes to its most important characters and themes.
Leaving the space station in Star Rail’s intro, which serves as a hub for important characters and side quests, you’ll be dropped onto Jarilo-VI, a frozen planet that shares the same issues as Trailblazer. It’s one of only two planets that can, but more planets will be added over time, as is the region of Genshin.) Jarilo-VI is deceived by one of the cosmic gods, I was given the seed of disaster called Stellaron. Help your civilization thrive before it mutates and is cursed forever. Because Trailblazers have one of him inside of them, they are uniquely equipped to find a way to stop them.
You won’t spend a long time trekking through the snow before being escorted to Belobog, the planet’s last living city. On the surface, the city looks surprisingly prosperous despite being surrounded by a frozen wasteland. Heaters line the stone streets, and citizens gather around monuments dedicated to the ancient people who made the place livable. But struggling beneath the city is an entire society of miners who keep the lights on.
Star Rail doesn’t quite Final Fantasy 7 with Jarilo-VI’s portrayal of class division and anarchism. It’s actually softer than I’d like, but it does spend a lot of time exposing why extreme instability has become an excuse for extreme dominance by those in power. It doesn’t end with a fundamental solution to the problem, but it does suggest that Star Rail doesn’t have a story where a magical hero solves everything with his magical powers. Jarilo VI and his second planet (a bright, futuristic China with immortality issues) is another location with a cast of characters who can handle planetary issues on their own.
Chain reaction
Your role is to clean up the place so that change can occur. Enemies take several forms, from humans to legions of Evangelion-like robots with devastating powers. In Berobog, these metal monsters patrol the Stellaron-influenced sections. Exploration is like a limited version of Genshin’s third-person traversal. Sprint through streets and enter caves containing chests, mini-game hacks, and health pickups while avoiding and colliding with enemies. Sneak up on an enemy to see a list of elemental weaknesses and use one of his four character techniques to damage the entire party. You can start a battle with
Star Rail accelerates the tactical strengths of the best turn-based RPGs, creating an experience adaptable to all types of players.
Combat in Star Rails requires a combination of characters with support abilities that address the enemy’s basic weaknesses and mitigate incoming damage and debuffs. All characters have basic attacks, skills, passives, and ultimates (tools to stop the enemy’s advance). Attacking with the correct attribute will deplete the white bar and break the enemy’s weak point or increase the damage and slow the next turn. Ideally, you want to chain abilities to deplete enemy actions. However, you don’t always have the right elements and must deal with attacks that incapacitate, slow, and weaken your party’s movements.
I ran a party centered around Zel, a damage dealer with a unique ability to get an extra turn for killing an enemy. She pairs well with Bronya, a support who can use her skills to give allies a free turn. Able to land a blow, she was able to chain enough attacks to charge up a powerful ultimate. Other characters, like Serval from Rockstar, specialize in dealing regular damage to weaker enemies, allowing the rest of the team to focus on stronger monsters.
You can fight weaker monsters with brute force (or even auto battle) and not worry about matching elements, but some difficult encounters will force you to engage with the element system. Missions and repeatable encounters like Calyx Challenges (such as Genshin’s Ley Lines) collect items to increase a character’s level, lights his cones (weapons), relics (artifacts), and traces (talents).
Story encounters tend to be a roadblock if you don’t have a balanced roster. A low-level character like Genshin can work in a pinch due to his elemental affinity, but as you increase your Trailblazer level, enemies will hit hard and bring out their own mechanics. Jarilo-VI’s story boss summons a metal hand that steals one of the characters’ girlfriends and traps them until they escape. With the boss’s constant brutal attacks, you don’t have time to cut down on your hand’s health, and you’ll need to bring in someone who can quickly overcome your weaknesses before your team is wiped out.
By emphasizing each character’s individual skills and the interactions between them, Star Rail distills the most satisfying thing about turn-based RPGs: tactical, team-based decisions. In the 30 hours I played with him, I rarely had to spam basic attacks to get back to meaningful proficiency. Instead, I always had an ultimate or skill available to get me through the encounter.
Star Rail accelerates the tactical strengths of the best turn-based RPGs, creating an experience adaptable to all types of players. Combat encounters last only a few minutes, but the rapid exchange of powerful attacks intensifies every second. Mistakes are quickly felt, allowing you to quickly adapt and experiment with different team compositions. Your decisions shape the battle, but rather than punishing your low level (within reason), you’ll be asked to use the tools you have to come up with creative solutions. If Genshin is a surprisingly expansive open-world live-service game, Star Rail is a surprisingly clever permutation of modern turn-based RPGs, emulating the thrill of playing cards right without spending 90 hours. cleverly designed to parts.
In cash
The characters you have access to greatly affect how you approach battles, and individual levels can even determine whether you can even attempt them in the first place. To do so, there are some obstacles that send you back into the world. The most creative and modern RPG I’ve played.
A tonal chameleon deftly switching modes, I rooted for it.
Starrail’s gacha system is almost identical to Genshin. Instead of the original resin as an energy system to limit access to agricultural activities, Star Rail has Trailblaze power. Trailblaze’s power replenishes every 3 hours, but it’s always faster if you buy premium currency to increase it. And the drop rates for the rarest and most powerful characters remain low. Not that low, but low enough to take weeks of dedicated grinding and money.
None of Star Rail’s monetization systems are terrible, but the artificial complexity that exists in the various currencies and reward system makes it a less than smooth experience. It reminds me of having to smash a dungeon to meet the level requirements of Final Fantasy 14’s next story quest. is a place to provoke.You with gacha and energy system.
Star Rail, at least in its initial state, doesn’t sacrifice smart design by forcing monetization for complete satisfaction. With a free cast of characters, stellar combat, and a variety of side quests, it never feels like an excuse to throw in your wallet. It definitely makes it much easier to celebrate how fun it is to do.
Because when the star rail hits, it hits. The climactic boss battle at the end of the first planet is a battle with God in the middle of a blizzard where electric guitars blare and drums build. Music simmers in the background as she lifts a black vortex of cosmic energy to threaten your team. The scene ends, her health bar reappears, and the song kicks in with soaring vocals. All strategy and complexity vanishes, and Star Rail provides the final stage of action for the team.
Star Rail’s unbridled commitment to characters, worlds, and systems entitles you to glorious animated battles set in rock anthems. A tonal chameleon deftly switching modes, I rooted for it. It’s lively and imaginative in a way that Genshin’s fantasy world has never been possible before. It is a mystery what will happen in the future, but I am convinced that its originality is worth seeing.
