No game captured what it's like being online in 2023 like Honkai: Star Rail

pcgamer.com:

In addition to our main Game of the Year Awards 2023, each member of the PC Gamer team is shining a spotlight on a game they loved this year. We'll post new personal picks, alongside our main awards, throughout the rest of the month.

My Steam folder is stuffed with screenshots of Honkai: Star Rail. Every time I log in there's a new text message from one of the characters that I immediately have to share with everyone I know. Usually they message me to say hi and update me on what they've been doing since I last ran into them. One of the characters called me «Fam» and then asked me for career advice. Another one entered a group chat to greet everyone in full, grammatically correct sentences, and then signed off with a GIF of sparkling roses like a mom on Facebook. 

I get to respond to all these messages as Star Rail's main character Stelle, who might be the most me a videogame protagonist has ever been. She lives to annoy her pals with deadpan humor and non sequiturs. She's the kind of girl who will say your photos look nice before you've even sent them just to see your reaction.

Star Rail is more goofy than its dramatic, sci-fi trailers make it seem. Right now, there's an event where Stelle meets a streamer, Guinaifen, who is going ghost hunting. «High risk, high reward, high view count,» she tells you before recruiting you as her social media manager. You investigate ghost sightings and make posts with the sort of sensationalist titles I see on YouTube all the time, like «MIND BLOWN!!! Check out this cosmic horror that can duplicate itself!» And each post gets comments from people with Reddit-style usernames like «Chicken_Dinner» and «GuinaiFAN_Truther». 

When they're not an excuse to learn about new characters who you