Honkai: Star Rail Gamescom Preview - Turn-Based Genshin's Turn In The Sun

thegamer.com:

People who accuse anime games of all looking the same probably don’t play them very much. To an outsider, FIFA and Pro Evo might look the same, or Apex Legends and Valorant, or Ghost of Tsushima and Assassin’s Creed. Anime games certainly share some general visual iconography and aesthetics, but for fans of the genre, there’s a sense of distinction. However, when I got my hands on Honkai: Star Rail at Gamescom, I found that it was just Genshin Impact. Staying so true to the style is a risk, but it’s not one without merit.

First a little bit of history. Both Genshin Impact and Honkai: Star Rail are made by Mihoyo, so the similarity is somewhat warranted. More to the point, Star Rail is a successor to Honkai Impact 3rd, which predates Genshin. It’s not so much that Star Rail looks like Genshin then, as it is that both of them look like Impact 3rd. However, Genshin Impact has been the title to receive worldwide adulation, so even if it didn’t originate this style, anyone (in the West, at least) who looks at Star Rail will see Genshin Impact. More to the point, they’ll see a turn-based Genshin, and I’m not sure how that’s going to land.

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Genshin’s greatest asset is its energetic chaos. There’s always something happening and it’s usually quite loud. You rush into battle with a flurry of blows and elements, destroying everything in sight. It’s exciting, but it’s also hard to know what’s going on sometimes. In my Genshin parties, I have often stuck with the fastest and most destructive characters, like the rapid spreading fire of Xiangling, even when that hasn’t been the most effective. Star Rail’s turn-based play was slower, but I also felt I got to know each