Preview: Genshin Impact, Honkai: Star Rail Dev Has Quietly Become a PS5, PS4 Powerhouse | Push Square

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In the opening hall of the Makuhari Messe this Tokyo Game Show was an enormous, monolithic tribute to HoYoverse, a company fast becoming one of PlayStation’s most important developers. While the juggernaut Chinese studio may not get the same recognition as the likes of Naughty Dog or FromSoftware, its games are absolutely colossal in scale – and to underline our point, the company is registering greater profit margins than the entirety of Sony’s gaming division right now.

Its influence could be felt not just at TGS, but around Tokyo in general – especially in the Akihabara area. For example, we spotted one vendor adjacent to an arcade flogging Genshin Impact-themed pastries. Meanwhile, the fantasy open worlder’s characters could be seen decorating many of the streets, while billboards overlooked iconic photo spots. It’s not just in Japan either, by the way – Ximen station in Taipei is also wallpapered with the gacha’s colourful cast.

But while the organisation’s meteoric rise can be attributed predominantly to Genshin Impact, the developer’s catalogue is expanding. Obviously, Honkai: Star Rail will release on PS5 this coming 11th October, and is already a gigantic hit on PC and mobile. And then it’s got the urban flavoured Zenless Zone Zero cooking, which was confirmed for consoles late last week. We went hands on with both games on the show floor.

While there are common themes between Genshin Impact and Honkai: Star Rail, we think HoYoverse has done an incredible job differentiating the two. Achieving that a third time was always going to be difficult, however – and yet Zenless Zone Zero has a totally different vibe to the developer’s current two flagship titles.

This feels like a Dreamcast game in terms of