Exclusive: Genshin Impact players will enjoy these aspects of Honkai Star Rail — and more, says HoYoverse

Updated on February 5, 1 p.m. (GMT+8): Improved relevancy.

Genshin Impact’s massive success since its launch in September 2020 made the title synonymous with the title’s game developer, HoYoverse (previously miHoYo).

Now, they’re here to offer more — a brand new, turn-based RPG game called Honkai Star Rail.

At present, it’s impossible to talk about Genshin Impact without mentioning how HoYoverse managed to build an entire universe in Teyvat with rich lore that in turn created a global fandom in real life, celebrated through cosplay, merchandise, festivals, and more.

With such a huge active player base, and more than 10 million pre-registered users, the question that’s on top of everyone’s mind is: Will Star Rail attract Genshin Impact’s enormous fanbase? What can players expect from this tandem game title?

ONE Esports got the opportunity to ask this very question to HoYoverse in an exclusive interview to find out more about how the developers view the relationship between the two.

There’s a common thread between Honkai Star Rail, Genshin Impact, and other HoYoverse titles

You’ll notice that Honkai Star Rail features a cel-shaded artistic style, something that the developers chose to adopt across all their titles. More colloquially known as the “anime style”, it’s a visual artform that give 3D characters a 2D hand-drawn appearance.

The result is a highly stylized visual effect that’s often used in video games and Japanese anime movies. Even though it’s extremely popular in these industries, it’s only been around for slightly more than 30 years, according to Adobe.

Besides using similar art styles, HoYoverse also placed “emphasis on character creation, storytelling, and multi-layered gameplay, which Genshin Impact players are familiar with.”

However, its setting is completely different from Genshin’s fantasy world. Honkai Star Rail is the first time HoYoverse explores a science-fiction universe based on the concept of “interstellar journey.”

They hope that players will enjoy traversing the galaxy, explore numerous distinctive planets, and “resolve conflicts with the support of unique companions.”

“On top of the science-fiction concept, we incorporated fantasy and mythological elements [Aeon] and [Stellaron] to create an extensive and fatalistic narrative,” they said.

Adding to their lists of “firsts”, Honkai Star Rail is also their first foray into the turn-based genre. Instead of hacking and slashing through mobs or deploying fast elemental reactions, you’ll now be able to hone your strategic skills in every space fantasy battle.

The game developers believe that Honkai Star Rail truly reflects the vision and philosophy of their development and content creation — which is to produce content in various genres to give global players more variety and options.

“We would like to thank our fans from around the globe for their unwavering support, which enables HoYoverse to continue developing new projects,” they said.

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READ MORE: 3 compelling reasons why Honkai Star Rail is the next best RPG for Genshin players