Honkai: Star Rail Review (PS5) | Push Square

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Genshin Impact sent ripples through the gaming industry in 2020, and Honkai: Star Rail has already successfully repeated the same feat. Currently the biggest gacha game on the planet per Sensor Tower revenue rankings, this turn-based RPG takes many of the same systems from HoYoverse’s fantasy open world and bends them into a more bite-sized package. The result is a game that’s more manageable to make progress in, but still utterly life-consuming if you want it to be.

The presentation is exceptional, and elevated in this PS5 port, where it runs at a flawless 60 frames-per-second. While the gameplay doesn’t necessarily benefit from the increased framerate – combat is more tactical in nature compared to Genshin’s real-time gauntlets, and exploration is predominantly linear in the three main environments available so far – the clean visuals and smooth performance enhance the anime aesthetic, which really sings in several key set-piece scenarios.

You play as a Trailblazer, recruited to an intergalactic organisation named the Astral Express. This squad of special agents rides its space train through the deep recesses of the cosmos, investigating and resolving conflicts relating to mysterious MacGuffins known as Stellarons. While there’s a lot more going on narratively than our short synopsis would lead you to believe, it effectively gives the developer the freedom to explore various different planets and their inhabitants.

As of this review’s publication, there are three main locations: Herta Space Station, Jarilo-VI, and the Xianzhou Luofu. Unfortunately, across these, the developer simply can’t control itself narratively, and a lot of the dialogue is completely overwritten. It doesn’t help that the source material is