Honkai: Star Rail’s release date was revealed by developer HoYoverse following the end of its final closed beta testing period. The game is a turn-based RPG from the same creators of the popular open-world RPG, Genshin Impact. Although Star Rail is, technically, part of the Honkai franchise, it is something of a side story, told apart from the Honkai Impact series. The title follows the adventures of the main character, known as the Trailblazer, along with the many allies they make along the way – particularly, those of the Astral Express, such as Himeko, Dan Heng, and March 7th, for instance.
Much like Genshin Impact, the acquisition of new characters and weapons (Light Cones) in Honkai: Star Rail is through a gacha system, in which players pull for characters based on both their luck and their pity count. With Honkai: Star Rail’s release date now broadly known, it will not be long until players can start effectively pulling for the characters that they want, in order to properly build them and set them into useful team comps. This will be used to face enemies among the many destinations they shall be visiting, looking to help the local populations from each planet.
Honkai: Star Rail’s Release Date & Platforms
As announced by HoYoverse, Honkai: Star Rail’s release date for PC, Epic Games Store, iOS, and Android is on April 26. Pre-installation starts on April 23. With the end of the final closed beta on March 24, the game arrives nearly a month after its last testing period. The developer also revealed that the PlayStation version of the game is still in development, but that it does not have a fixed release date – or even a release window for that matter. Much like Genshin Impact, Honkai: Star Rail will be a free-to-play title, which has in-game microtransactions. It is expected to be frequently updated as a live service game.
Honkai: Star Rail Characters At Launch
The confirmed Honkai: Star Rail characters at launch are expected to be the same ones as those featured in the final open beta. In HoYoverse’s press release regarding the release date, there is no mention whatsoever about any new characters being added with the launch, meaning that the game will come out with the same 27 playable heroes it had in its most recent testing period. If there is a plan for a new character release along with the game itself, the developer will likely make an announcement closer to the launch. The most recent characters to be added were Bailu, Yanqing, Qingque, and Tingyun.
The playable characters in Honkai: Star Rail are divided into two distinct tiers: 4-star and 5-star. 4-stars are the most common type of hero and are easier to obtain in the gacha system. In fact, some of them are even given out for free, as was the case Serval, handed out after the final beta subscriptions surpassed a certain goal. 5-star characters, on the other hand, tend to have better stats and skills than most 4-stars but they are much harder to obtain. Below is a list of all 27 confirmed Honkai: Star Rail characters and their respective tiers:
Honkai: Star Rail Character Name | Rarity Tier |
|---|---|
Bailu | 5-Star |
Blade | 5-Star |
Bronya | 5-Star |
Clara | 5-Star |
Gepard | 5-Star |
Himeko | 5-Star |
Jing Yuan | 5-Star |
Kafka | 5-Star |
Luocha | 5-Star |
Seele | 5-Star |
Silver Wolf | 5-Star |
Trailblazer | 5-Star |
Welt | 5-Star |
Yanqing | 5-Star |
Arlan | 4-Star |
Asta | 4-Star |
Dan Heng | 4-Star |
Herta | 4-Star |
Hook | 4-Star |
March 7th | 4-Star |
Natasha | 4-Star |
Pela | 4-Star |
Qingque | 4-Star |
Sampo | 4-Star |
Serval | 4-Star |
Sushang | 4-Star |
Tingyun | 4-Star |
Each Honkai: Star Rail character follows something known as a Path. Essentially, Paths are the game’s interpretation of classic RPG roles or jobs. The Destruction Path, for instance, is a good offensive role for one-on-one battles, while The Abundance Path takes on a healer role in a team comp. In total, there are 14 Paths, with only seven of them being playable at the moment. Characters also have control over Elements, and there are seven of them in the game.
Honkai: Star Rail’s Gameplay Details
Honkai: Star Rail’s gameplay is divided into two main instances: exploration and combat. Players will be able to walk around different maps and areas while interacting with NPCs and finding treasures. Additionally, they will also be able to engage in battles against enemies. Turn-based combat is the core of the title’s gameplay. Players will need to build a team of up to four characters and use them to inflict Weakness Break on opponents. This is a status that makes them vulnerable to more damage and unable to act. This is how the previously mentioned Elements come into play.
Unlike in Genshin Impact, where the Elements are combined to provoke strong Elemental Reactions, Honkai: Star Rail’s combat system is centered around using the correct Element against a foe’s pre-established weaknesses. Hitting an enemy that is weak to Ice Damage with Ice Damage will contribute more to inflicting the Weakness Break status, for example. Additionally, Elements have different effects, such as DoTs (damage-over-time) and debuffs, when they inflict Weakness Break.
When it comes to Paths, players should look for balanced teams to cover broader encounters. Having a team full of The Destruction characters may not be advantageous when facing large groups of heavy-hitting opponents, for example. Similarly, only having The Abundance characters will see a prejudicial lack of damage output that will likely make players’ progressions slow down significantly. Having a striker (The Destruction), a buffer (The Harmony), a shielder (The Preservation), and a healer (The Abundance), for example, is a better spread team for Honkai: Star Rail’s gameplay. Nonetheless, team comps will ultimately come down to character availability, their respective skills, and player preference.
Honkai: Star Rail’s System Requirements
The game is expected to run on most devices due to the fact that Honkai: Star Rail’s system requirements are not too demanding. Android users will need a device with Android 7.0 OS, at least a Snapdragon 835, Dimensity 720, or Kirin 980 CPU, and 3 GB of memory to be able to run the game. The game uses 8 GB of storage on Android. When it comes to iOS users, players should check the list of supported devices, but it is worth mentioning that the game runs on iPhone 8 Plus, so any model that is better than that should be compatible.
For PC, Honkai: Star Rail’s system requirements are a bit different. To run the game on the platform, players will need a Windows 7 64-bit OS, an Intel Core i5 equivalent processor, 8 GB of RAM memory, a GPU equal or equivalent to NVIDIA’s GeForce GTX 970, and 12 GB for storage. When it comes to the PC version, the game is a bit more demanding, but most PCs that run Genshin Impact should be able to run Honkai: Star Rail.
Source: Honkai: Star Rail/Twitter
