Honkai Star Rail Preview – Genshin Impact meets Star Ocean in style

thesixthaxis.com:

I went into Honkai Star Rail unaware of the fact that it’s a turn-based RPG. I’m not really sure how I managed to miss something so integral, but I guess I just assumed it would be another action game, given that both Genshin Impact and Honkai Impact 3rd, the two other best-known games from Hoyoverse, are action games. Instead, after getting through the beautiful intro sequence where a woman conducts music as monsters attack a starship, I found myself learning about how to juggle normal attacks, special attacks, and ultimate attacks, but in turn-based fashion. Honestly, it’s a nice change of pace, and it means it’s going to be a lot easier for me to commit to as a Genshin Impact fanatic.

Honkai Star Rail is set after Honkai Impact 3rd in a parallel universe. That’s somewhat irrelevant if you’re new to Hoyoverse games, but basically, you play as an amnesiac with a mysterious device implanted in your body, and you get to ride around space in a train visiting other planets and trying to help them. It feels a lot like a Star Ocean game in that respect, and I couldn’t love that more.

Combat has you balancing skill points gained from normal attacks with using those points for your special attacks, and also trying not to die. You also generate energy for your ultimate attack as you battle, with each character having their own selection for each of those things. Some characters can create shields for others or heal, while others might buff you and debuff the enemies, while others are standard DPS characters. The fun comes in trying to balance different elemental characters and find synergies between different team setups. Even in the beta, there’s a lot of potential for very silly teams here, and it’s fun to mess about with.

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