Honkai Star Rail, PC review. The stellar express already leaves with free seats

miHoYo’s space adventure and new installment in the saga, Honkai Star Rail, reinvents the classic turn-based RPG in its own way.

miHoYo is known throughout the world, especially for Genshin Impact , a mass phenomenon that was criticized in its day for its similarity to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild . Even so, the title managed to attract millions of players and even today it continues to be played for as many numbers. Given the success, it was expected that miHoYo would launch a new F2P to the market and although it has been the case, they have managed to give a twist to what is already known.

Honkai Star Rail is a new iteration of the Honkai 3rd Impact saga but abandoning the frenetic action of the latter for a slower and unprecedented combat system in the company’s titles; the shifts. After playing for several weeks, this is our verdict.

Get on the train, road tracer

Honkai Star Rail puts us in the shoes of the savior of the Galaxy —amnesiac, of course— who joins the crew of the Star Express, a train that travels the universe solving problems between planet and planet. Inside, the hero has an artifact with great power that comes from one of the many deities that govern the universe and that serve both to offer abundant history to the video game and to define the combat classes.

Although the plot is one of the great achievements of Honkai Star Rail , we cannot ignore the lack of communication between the player and the video game, because as a good Korean title, it is customary to narrate events in a hasty and small way. dose. Unless you are a fan of unraveling the lore of everything you get your hands on, you will feel very lost in the early stages of the adventure. Of course, there is abundant text and everything is localized to Spanish .

Honkai Star Rail, PC review. The stellar express already leaves with free seats

The story is also the perfect and limiting excuse to change the scenery from time to time, because unlike Genshin Impact where there is an open world that we can explore at will, Honkai Star Rail behaves more like a traditional JRPG . This means that we cannot progress between scenarios unless we complete the tasks of the current planet we are on.

The variety of maps is quite generous and although they are not as large as those of Genshin Impact, there are more details here and there to stop at in closed rooms. In addition, humor reigns throughout the adventure as well as the puzzles and secondary missions. Their scenarios are small and being used to their previous work they may not know much but they also make Honkai Star Rail focus more on the experience they want to bring to the user.

And here comes the most important change with respect to its best-known game; Honkai Star Rail is a turn-based action role-playing title . Like those of a lifetime. Even so, he manages to bring freshness to this old well-known mechanic, enough not to want to miss a single fight out of so many that take place in the game. We have different archetypes of fighters, all of them linked to the deities that dominate the universe. The typical one that protects the group, the healer, the one that supports the team or those that do damage to their enemies. And like the elemental wheel of Genshin Impact, each one offers advantages and weaknesses against the rest.

When entering combat we can carry out basic attacks that in turn recharge the ability to use special abilities of each character and a final ability that is presented on the screen with a spectacular animation sequence. The grace of this combat system lies in the fact that each enemy has two life bars, one being the one that protects the aforementioned called Firmness and another with his life points. Hitting his Firmness with the element he’s weak to leaves him open to more damage from the party, a moment that should be taken advantage of.

Although it seems simple, the mechanics are complicated by the more enemies on the screen, the order of attack, the use of available abilities and the recharge of the ultimate ability. Not to mention that we carry the ideal equipment to counteract the affinities of the attacking group. In addition, each element inflicts different states such as freezing, bleeding, damage over time or reducing statistics. And be careful because the enemies can also cause them to us.

Except in certain situations, miHoYo has managed to balance the number of fights and their duration, making them something refreshing, challenging and fun . We can also stop to think about any movement since there is no time limit to enter commands, which will undoubtedly delight many lovers of turn-based combat. And if we are looking for revelry there are certain points scattered around the map where the enemies follow one another in waves and, incidentally, report extra experience and other materials necessary to make tools.

There is a gacha mechanic, a feature that is becoming common in many games and, of course, new characters are constantly being added. It works in a similar way to what is seen in Genshin Impact, that is, obtaining Stellar Jades or rail passes as they are called here that grant rolls. There is a perpetual banner and other temporary ones, the latter being the most interesting since they offer the new additions in their percentage of obtaining.

Although —going back to compare their previous success with this new one— they are two totally independent games with different gameplay, miHoYo has hit the spot by making both titles feel the same in terms of handling the interface and understanding the usual mechanics it means. They don’t use the same interface but it is simple enough that anyone who jumps from the previous one to this one gets to the controls quickly .

Since its launch, there have been several events that have been launched for the game, some with greater success than others, and new characters have been implemented. Likewise, the company uses the same compensation model in relation to maintenance and festivities for the players, giving away spins, money or supplies for their day to day. There is a future for the video game with new areas, plot arcs and everything that can be expected from a video game of this type, so there is Honkai Star Rail for a while .

As a last point, although the title has online connectivity, it is not at all similar to what we are used to. Here there is no cooperation or shared world, it is only possible to benefit from the help of your colleagues in a passive way. When creating certain instantiated content, we are given the possibility of using a character previously configured by our friend to fight, controlled by us, at our side. We can also lend ours from our character file if we wish.

miHoYo style

Audiovisually Honkai Star Rail is what is expected of it. Good graphics, optimization, very cool details and modeling to match. The art is Asian, anime style and house brand. In closed settings, the game gains a lot in detail, lights and reflections, but outdoors, and despite being closed settings, it is one step behind Genshin Impact. The latter breathes life while Honkai Star Rail lacks a bit of sparkle , something that feels like we belong in the game. Obviously relying entirely on instantiated zones makes it feel that way.

We have texts translated into Spanish and, in our opinion, located at a much better quality than in Genshin Impact. There are a multitude of jokes, jokes and set phrases that we all know and we do not remember having seen errors in the texts, although it does not mean that there are not. The soundtrack is quite good and hits all different styles, although once again, a step below miHoYo’s previous game. All voices are available in Japanese or English with well-known voice actors and actresses such as Skyler Davenport from Final Fantasy VII Remake, Makoto Furukawa from One Puch Man or Tanaka Rie from Resident Evil Village among others, not counting of course former voices of Genshin Impact or previous company games.

CONCLUSION

Honkai Star Rail is a great game that will give you hundreds of hours of fun without opening your wallet. The game is nice in that sense and if you are passionate about classic RPGs with turn-based combat you will love how it innovates in this regard. The story could be told in a better way but it will certainly hook you. Highly recommended considering that it can be played on both desktop and mobile (and soon consoles) for free.

PROS	CONS
Totally free and kind to our wallets.	In general it is a point below Genshin Impact.
Many hours of content and very enjoyable.	The stages are small and visually repetitive.
A very refreshing turn-based combat twist.

Pros & Cons