[Mobile Games] Not only is it the newest game from the creators of Genshin Impact, it's also the best. Honkai Review: Star Rail

[#Steeven.™]

After having completed the content of Honkai: Star Rail three times, I can only think of its final release to pass it on to me for the fourth time.

Talking about Honkai: Star Rail as "the new game from the creators of Genshin Impact" is good to situate. The definition takes us to a common place, to an area that combines very high expectations with desires that we can never see fulfilled. Talk about a good game, iconic unique characters, and a story more focused on little things than big events. HoYoverse is synonymous with technical quality and spectacular playability. A company with its lights and its shadows that, ahead of the game, has just released the best video game of its entire career.

 

Here begins the journey of Honkai: Star Rail
Honkai: Star Rail gives us a starting point that will be familiar to players. We are the chosen one, a male or female character who has appeared out of nowhere and who, for reasons he cannot understand, is key to the future of an entire galaxy. Also to understand the deities that govern the universe of the game and that promise to become an inexhaustible source of theories for lore enthusiasts. In short, we are a Trazacaminos, someone without direction who, led by circumstances, joins the crew of the Star Express to solve the problems of the universe.

The main plot is just an excuse that has to be interesting enough to launch a game as a service whose great stories are housed in each of its small worlds. The Star Express will make stops on different planets to solve problems –its own or that of others– giving rise to a more condensed action that gains in intensity and similarities with the JRPG classics. We do not have before us a new open world, but an old-fashioned level structure. However, the reduction of scale does not imply that there are cuts in ambition.

The elements that could be spread over kilometers of journey in nature are condensed. It is easier to explore these small levels without missing anything, acquiring resources to improve the characters at the same time that we progress naturally in the adventure. The smaller map also serves, in addition, to increase the level of detail. In Honkai: Star Rail you can even interact with certain items of street furniture, which the developers took advantage of for a few self-laughing jokes and weirder player habits.

 

The map is easier to explore and the level of detail is increased
The game wins in almost all aspects by reducing the terrain, although there are some decisions that do not quite fit. If Honkai: Star Rail is reminiscent of a classic JRPG, it's not just because of the positive aspects, which are the majority. There are also some elements like artificial barriers and somewhat strange behavior of the uncontrollable characters that are in the cities. It is true that it is not something dramatic, but perhaps we expected somewhat more elegant decisions when it comes to guiding players or preventing them from entering certain areas.

Honkai's other big change: Star Rail
In addition to giving up the open world, Honkai: Star Rail also says goodbye to another of the elements that characterized the HoYoverse games. Real-time action disappears in favor of turn-based combat. It's not better or worse, but it's certainly different. Each character can carry out three movements: basic attacks, abilities and ultimate spells. The variables may seem few, but when it comes down to it, the game does not give up offering us challenging battles that force us to use strategy.

 

Honkai: Star Rail's combats are simple, but they are very well carried out
To a large extent the complication of combat is related to the limitation of resources. We'll start each fight with two charges to cast abilities that are shared among the four characters on the field. When using a spell, one is lost and when attacking with a basic hit, it is recovered. This gives rise to complex situations. If we don't manage charges well, it will be impossible to take advantage of synergies between characters or maintain a constant rate of healing while continuing to deal damage to enemies. In its main fights, Honkai: Star Rail will always try to get us into this type of situation.

You have to know the characters well and use balanced teams that can attack enemies by taking advantage of their weaknesses. Although they don't pack as much of an impact as in Genshin Impact, there are seven different items here as well. Each enemy will be weak to some of them, causing them to lose their stance bar. When this bar is broken, the enemy takes additional damage, is slowed, and suffers a different status effect depending on the element that broke it. It's a combat system with only four or five things to take into account, but it combines very well with each other.

 

The similarities with Genshin Impact
In order to master the combat, it will be important to know our team and create a formation with four characters that complement each other. In addition, you will have to invest time in making each unit level up. The progression in Honkai: Star Rail is almost identical to that of Genshin Impact. It is noted that it is a voluntary decision of HoYoverse, who does not want players already used to their systems to have to discover new mechanics in this regard. This is where the developer's usual lights and shadows come in.

You will touch 'farmear' to level up characters and manage resources well. It will also be inevitable to get artifacts that increase the statistics of each unit and that will require many hours of play if we are looking for perfect combinations. The weapons, now called Cones of Light, are even more unique than in Genshin Impact. There are up to seven types, which makes it more difficult to find multipurpose items. In return, yes, the game is kind to free to play players by offering a good amount of resources. As usual in this type of game, in the initial section of the adventure there are constant gifts.

 

We can not spend money, but it is mandatory to interact with the 'lootboxes'
The most criticized, understandably, will be the random rewards. Honkai: Star Rail forces us to participate in the so-called gachapones if we want to obtain characters. A system that is present in all the great games of the company and that returns here after having generated a lot of criticism among users. It should be noted that it is not necessary to spend money, but it is inevitable to interact with the loot boxes. Even 'free to play' players must use these types of systems with the currency obtained for free.

 

A bet for the future
Honkai: Star Rail is a Game-as-a-Service, and due to its nature, it is not guaranteed that an analysis on its release version will do it justice in a couple of years. However, there is an obvious detail. It starts from a much higher base than Genshin Impact had in its version 1.0. HoYoverse has learned from its mistakes, removing almost everything that players criticized regarding the gameplay. There are even more postgame modes, including a 'roguelike' mode. It was my favorite addition and it deserves –soon it will have- an article just for it.

Having played through both closed beta versions, completing as much content as I could, preparing for this review forced me to face the beginning of the adventure a third time. Having said that, the most positive conclusion is that I already want to start a trip again that, this time, seems to be the definitive one. Honkai: Star Rail doesn't just feel like "the new one" anymore, I also think it's "the best game from the creators of Genshin Impact".

 

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