Genshin Impact developer MiHoYo has announced that Honkai: Star Rail will launch on April 26 for PC, iOS, and Android. PlayStation 4 and 5 versions are also currently in development.
The game takes place after the events of Honkai Impact 3rd on a space train called the Astral Express. The protagonist is planted with something called Stellaron, which is defined as a destructive seed that will eventually bring disaster. Somewhat similar to Genshin Impact, players will unlock new characters to join their party as they progress through the story.
Honkai: Star Rail features a vast universe filled with a variety of different cultures and environments, such as the ice-covered Jarilo-VI and the eastern fantasy-inspired flagship Xianzhou Luofu.
The game also focuses on turn-based combat rather than the real-time combat found in Genshin Impact, as well as familiar microtransactions and gatcha features.
In IGN’s Honkai: Star Rail closed beta preview, we said: “Honkai is shaping up to be a well-made game with an interesting enough universe, story, and characters making me want to come back to it and see it evolve over time.”
George Yang is a freelance writer for IGN. He’s been writing about the industry since 2019 and has worked with other publications such as Insider, Kotaku, NPR, and Variety.
When not writing about video games, George is playing video games. What a surprise! You can follow him on Twitter @Yinyangfooey