Genshin Impact developer's next game draws 2M sign-ups as its launch nears

pcgamer.com:

Take Genshin Impact, make it turn-based, and crank the anime dial up to 11 and you have Honkai: Star Rail, the next game from MiHoYo.

The free-to-play game just entered its final beta and the dates on its Apple App Store and Google Play Store page suggest it might release in April. The game's final beta started on February 10, and over two million(opens in new tab) people have pre-registered (basically wishlisting) for the final game on PC and mobile.

Before MiHoYo made Genshin Impact, it was making Honkai, a Evangelion-inspired sci-fi action series in which Earth is stuck in a battle with a malevolent cosmic force of the same name. Honkai: Star Rail continues after Honkai 3rd and borrows a lot of the successful parts of Genshin Impact's design.

You play as one of two main protagonists and explore planets with a crew of four characters. Each character has elemental attacks and plays a particular role within your team comp. It's a gacha game, so building a strong team to face harder and harder foes as you complete story and event missions is the whole deal. It even has Genshin Impact's artifact system (called Relics), incentivizing you to craft and grind for better and better gear.

I played some of the previous beta(opens in new tab) and was floored by its impressive combat animations. Very early on in the game you recruit Himeko. Her ultimate causes the camera to tilt upward as she looks to the sky and sees an orbital strike pierce the clouds. Honkai: Star Rail makes the flashiest(opens in new tab) Genshin Impact attacks look tame. If the gacha systems aren't too awful, I could see this game becoming an exciting alternative to MiHoYo's action game. 

The fact that it's turn-based helps elevate its flashy battles. Genshin