Honkai: Star Rail
Fresh off the success of Genshin Impact, HoYoverse talks about creating spacefaring RPG Fresh off the success of Genshin Impact, HoYo verse talks about creating spacefaring RPG Honkai: Star Rail to stand alongside it, swapping open worlds and real-time combat for deftly assembled dungeons and slick turn-based combat
FORMAT PS5, PS4
ETA OUT NOW
PUB HOYOVERSE
DEV HOYOVERSE
PLAYERS 1 (WITH SOCIAL ELEMENTS)
Few free-to-play games have managed to appeal to PlayStation players as strongly as Genshin Impact. HoYoverse’s debut on the console has offered constant updates, compelling combat, and a sweeping adventure that easily surpasses 100 hours – all for the grand cost of nothing. (Like all free-to-play games, there’s monetisation through lootbox-like gacha elements, cosmetics, and such, though its generosity is part of its appeal.) So, with such a massive success on its hands, how is the developer going about launching a new game to stand beside it?
Honkai: Star Rail is the new game, and has about as many differences to its sister game as it does similarities. Freshly launched on PS5 and PS4, it’s a science-fiction turn-based RPG where you (an amnesiac hero, either male or female, with a fierce baseball bat) and your fellow trailblazers hop from planet to planet on space train The Astral Express, solving cosmic problems before choo-chooing into the sunset to tackle the next one. We spoke with HoYoverse (which asked to be credited as a studio only) to take a look at what this locomotive is packing under its smokestack.
WORLD SHAPING
“Classic sci-fi concepts like ‘venturing into the stars and discovering civilisations scattered throughout the universe’ inspired the background of Honkai: Star Rail,” share the team about the almost Star Trek-like setup. On the hunt for Stellarons, corruptions that fragment the universe around them (one of which has been absorbed into your main player character, The Trailblazer, which is why they have no memory of their past), the train’s crew explores not just different worlds but cultures too.
Of course, we have to ask about the engine in the room – why set the game on a space train? “To embark on such a grand exploration across the mysterious universe, the core component, a vehicle to accompany you along the way, is vital!” they say. “That is why the team spent hours trying to figure out an exciting and fun method to travel through the galaxy. A spaceship is apparently a common choice – however, we believe it can be a little too hardcore, not novel or cool enough.”
The team acknowledge that space trains have appeared in science-fiction before, but the idea to use it has a more straightforward origin: “Many members of the team love taking vacations by train!” they say. Of course, this meant research and trips to make sure it felt right. “Up
