Honkai: Star Rail

 PC
User Score
6.4

Mixed or average reviews- based on 176 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 99 out of 176
  2. Mixed: 24 out of 176
  3. Negative: 53 out of 176

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  1. VendonJura
    May 8, 2023
    0
    Can not even play the game. Am getting an 1001_2 error. Reported that issue and like a week later, no changes.
  2. WelpM8
    May 7, 2023
    3
    Waos. Este juego me ha hecho bostezar más de 15 veces en menos de dos horas. Le doy un tres porque puedo.
  3. causalight
    May 11, 2023
    0
    Anything that requires effort the company refuses to do. Constantly releasing characters that function so bad they are borderline unusable. And now they're taking interviews and proudly telling the player base they won't make anything that shows their incompetence at making balanced, well designed characters or any progression based content. This game is run by a greedy company that'sAnything that requires effort the company refuses to do. Constantly releasing characters that function so bad they are borderline unusable. And now they're taking interviews and proudly telling the player base they won't make anything that shows their incompetence at making balanced, well designed characters or any progression based content. This game is run by a greedy company that's incapable of appreciating it's players. I'm tired of this incompetent, greedy, lazy company. Don't play this or any of their other trash… Expand
  4. CRimacDCE4
    Jun 13, 2023
    2
    Of course this game has good aesthetic design, and supremely fits what their market is that was established with Genshin Impact. It's not a terrible game, but it is nothing amazing by any means. Distilled, this is another gacha simulator with cute girls. These games are backed by a very immoral government at the end of the day, and the money spent in them gives return for said backing.Of course this game has good aesthetic design, and supremely fits what their market is that was established with Genshin Impact. It's not a terrible game, but it is nothing amazing by any means. Distilled, this is another gacha simulator with cute girls. These games are backed by a very immoral government at the end of the day, and the money spent in them gives return for said backing. Hard disagree with it.… Expand
  5. HunterSeeker
    Apr 28, 2023
    3
    Honkai Star Rail is a turn based RPG with a similar setting to the Star Ocean series. Where this game really falls apart is the storytelling. First off, it uses the overused and bad writing trope of having an amesiac protagonist. Even worse, one of the main characters that joins your party is also an amnesiac because the writers couldn't find a good way to tell a story without shoehornedHonkai Star Rail is a turn based RPG with a similar setting to the Star Ocean series. Where this game really falls apart is the storytelling. First off, it uses the overused and bad writing trope of having an amesiac protagonist. Even worse, one of the main characters that joins your party is also an amnesiac because the writers couldn't find a good way to tell a story without shoehorned amnesia. The worst part of the storytelling is simply the game throws a bunch of terminology and then they don't explain any of it. The whole point of having an amesiac character is so that other characters can explain the world to them but that doesn't happen in this game. For instance, what is a Doomsday Beast? What is an Emanator? Who are the Anti-Matter Legion? Who is this Stephen that Herta speaks up? What is a Stellaron? Why are Aeons showing up in a simulated universe? Basically, the game throws out all these terms and characters and doesn't explain them at all which makes the world building quite awful. Later on in the game, you get access to a Database which explains some of this but even that is awful story telling: the story should be told through dialogue and cutscenes, not through some optional encyclopedia.

    The turn based combat and graphics of the game are quite stylish. There are some quality of life features missing. For instance, every character has an out of combat technique that they can use but the overworld UI does not tell you what each character's technique does. Either you have to memorize them all or go into the menu to look it up every time. Combat is relatively straightforward with every character having 3 moves and 1 or 2 passive abilities: a basic attack, a skill attack, and an ultimate which can be used any time you want. The goal is to target enemy weaknesses to delay enemy turns and deal extra damage. Here, the quality of life is really nice because you get to see all weaknesses displayed in and out of battle.

    This is one of those games where there's just so many different types of crafting materials and currency that it's hard to keep track of it all. It'd be much better if it were much more streamlined. There's a way to have crafting/buying systems without having hundreds of different types of materials /currencies on day 1. Overall, you should avoid this game if you're looking for a good story and good character development. But if you're looking for a straightforward, turn based game, this might be the game for you.    … Expand
  6. Headshotsuperfr
    Jul 17, 2023
    0
    Greedy gambling game, walking simulator, trash story, Overall trash game. Could spend all day talking about this game's flaws
  7. Xelec_Bau
    May 20, 2023
    3
    good gameplay with bad monetization, upgrade system to stup*d u need duplicate char to get more powerful, stup*d energy system, wait for daily, claim system feel not rewarding why the reward not drop from monster instantly to make more rewarding
  8. TsukasaHiiragi
    Jul 31, 2023
    3
    Pro's

    Story is passable, if cliche Characters look good Fluid combat Con's Combat is a gatcha trap Spreadsheet style turn based combat Far too many currencies Predatory monetization Cannot skip animations or cut scenes Low content Typical toxic community Good story although tropey as heck and even somewhat cliche but once again, the typical predatory gatcha system that    Pro's

    Story is passable, if cliche
    Characters look good
    Fluid combat

    Con's

    Combat is a gatcha trap
    Spreadsheet style turn based combat
    Far too many currencies
    Predatory monetization
    Cannot skip animations or cut scenes
    Low content
    Typical toxic community

    Good story although tropey as heck and even somewhat cliche but once again, the typical predatory gatcha system that plagues the game, the turn based combat is atrocious and so overtuned, bosses are exceptionally cheap and boring, of the worst calibur often having multiple turns to your one and if you don't have the correct team lineup and/or even levelled appropriately you have no chance to beat them and guess what comes into play to help?

    Whilst indirectly pay to win, the better definition here would be pay to compete and even progress efficiently. The combat is entirely based on you, the player knowing how to effectively stop your opponents from attacking you, whilst breaking their defenses and exploiting weaknesses, not all characters start off good and require significant monetary investment before they become good, not to mention failure to prepare for boss fights, not having the perfect team to counter bosses makes for a very frustrating time, prepare to be annoyed at cheap mechanics and overpowered enemies.

    The gatcha system naturally with promises of better characters etc etc - absolutely no balance to the game here, as I mentioned everything is so specifically overtuned and frustrating that no skill is involved here unlike Genshin where you could actually use skill to beat bosses and encounters, this is entirely on-rails, linear as heck spreadsheet battles with the player always at the disadvantage, great game if you're willing to shell out a few thousand dollars every few months - its the miHoYo way after all, distract your players with waifu's and husbando's so the feckless masses will throw away their life savings to show off to their friends, and cosplay their favorite characters at cons - make no mistake, this is not a good game.    … Expand
  9. darsigg
    May 16, 2023
    4
    Low content, poor story, battle system is good visually but so dull
    more greedy then genshin impact
  10. Someaccountlol
    May 4, 2023
    3
    I actually love the combat system. I know a lot of people hate it, but I think there’s a lot of strategy in the team building. This is pretty much the only reason why I’m still playing, but I’m very much on the fence if I should continue. Now for what I hate (in my own opinion)… First, this game is hellish when it comes to progressing through anything, especially the main story. There’sI actually love the combat system. I know a lot of people hate it, but I think there’s a lot of strategy in the team building. This is pretty much the only reason why I’m still playing, but I’m very much on the fence if I should continue. Now for what I hate (in my own opinion)… First, this game is hellish when it comes to progressing through anything, especially the main story. There’s only 120 trailblazer energy which refills extremely slowly. Items and other progression materials are insanely difficult to get because of this. Sometimes I wonder if it’s worth spending weeks just to progress the smallest amounts for a somewhat bland story. Second, the side quests are the worst thing to get through. It is literally teleport/walk from point a to point b repeated 7-8 times. But what else are you gonna do to get trailblazer experience? By the way, fighting enemies doesn’t give you trailblazer experience and barely gives your characters any level up experience. Pretty much the only way to gain trailblazer experience to get on with the main story is to do these terribly boring side quests or wait for the extremely slow recharge of the 120 trailblazer energy. Third, this game IS a gacha game. You can indeed get through with just free to play units. There are a few units that are insanely more powerful than the rest though. Also, using the free to play units can get bland and if you want to try new characters, they are stuck behind a paywall. And it’s a pretty expensive paywall. (In conclusion, this game feels like a worse Pokémon game. Imagine playing Pokémon but only able to encounter 5 Pokémon per day. Good luck ever leveling up and progressing through the story. Also, you’re given 6 Pokemon to start out with instead of 1, and they don’t suck but aren’t particularly great. If you want more Pokémon, you have to pay $10 for each pokeball, so it better be worth it if you decide to spend. As you continue playing through the game, which mainly consists of you logging in just to defeat the 5 daily Pokémon for experience, you wonder how long it will take to complete the game and if it’s even worth the time leveling your team which you don’t feel too attached to because they’re the boring default Pokémon.)… Expand
  11. isidore12
    May 12, 2023
    3
    If you love the Open-world of Genshin Impact, the Combats, the Beauty of the sceneries, and if you hate its predatory Gacha system and Hoyoverse’s stinginess, then Honkai Star Rail is all you hate, and nothing of what you love.

    Technically, the game is a success. But it has been made for mobiles, and feels weird on PC. The game takes 2 weeks to finish the main story and all side    If you love the Open-world of Genshin Impact, the Combats, the Beauty of the sceneries, and if you hate its predatory Gacha system and Hoyoverse’s stinginess, then Honkai Star Rail is all you hate, and nothing of what you love.

    Technically, the game is a success. But it has been made for mobiles, and feels weird on PC.

    The game takes 2 weeks to finish the main story and all side quests. I feel sorry for whales who already spent $500. Still it takes months of grinding, I am not sure how that can work.

    The game is just plain linear, one long corridor. Dialogs cannot be skipped. Good luck surviving the boredom of the first two hours.

    Characters, scenery, pretty much everything looks grey and blue. It is quite depressive, and no near the beauty of Genshin.

    Combats are auto-play, meaning the game has an integrated bot feature. You click and forget, and come few minutes later on the fight is over. A game that you don't play, definitely for mobile and not PC.

    The game is Pay2Win, period. Paid Event banner characters are crushing any others. You can already feel the game won’t be enjoyable as a free player, all the good characters will be behind a steep paywall.

    The question I asked myself is: “is it worth investing in a game you are going to play 2 week every patch?” Unless you are a collector or a whale, and you feel rich by collecting 5 stars characters, it is a hard pass on HSR.

    As a 2nd opinion, I suggest you watch TenTen videos on Youtube.

    I’ll be trying out Blue Protocol, Wuthering Waves, and Diablo 4.    … Expand
  12. TheCrimsonFckr
    May 1, 2023
    0
    copy and pasted genshin game only where the story and gameplay is different. now genshin is already a bad game so... no skip buttons bad gacha system as a person who plays for characters but the gameplay is not my thing despite others loving this type of gameplay for me it feels too bland and uninteresting, well done on the animations tho. making unskippable cutscenes is a huge mistake atcopy and pasted genshin game only where the story and gameplay is different. now genshin is already a bad game so... no skip buttons bad gacha system as a person who plays for characters but the gameplay is not my thing despite others loving this type of gameplay for me it feels too bland and uninteresting, well done on the animations tho. making unskippable cutscenes is a huge mistake at least add a skip button or cinematics to that "cutscene" either way i only had about 15 minutes of gameplay until i got horrendously bored.… Expand
  13. ShimaRin
    Apr 28, 2023
    0
    This game is blander than watching paint dry and the combat is so boring you'd have more fun counting blades of grass than to play this sorry excuse of a game.the gacha is so predatory it's sickening
  14. gary012380
    Apr 28, 2023
    1
    At present, the new work has been played for about 3 hours, and it is almost impossible to play...
    It is simply to move over the same set of Genshin, change the UI and change the mode to change the game.
    Making so much money and making such a failed game...
  15. NYPYZAK
    May 3, 2023
    2
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. gacha destroyed the gameplay, the story is all about instant vision, the system is just a mobile game standard.… Expand
  16. sas647
    May 28, 2023
    0
    Another CCP backed, generic piece of mobile garbage that only exists to steal data and money (via scummy gacha mechanics) of people who are too stupid to realize and/or care. This is literal spyware and if you install this, your private data is likely compromised. Stick to real games, everyone
  17. KadentheKitsune
    May 20, 2023
    0
    If you're looking for a deep and complex turn based Combat system that's interesting and challenging, look somewhere else....

    If you want an interesting well written story and Characters, look somewhere else.... If you are looking for a game with awesome world building and lore, look somewhere else..... If you are looking for a solid f2p game you can play on PC or your phone, look    If you're looking for a deep and complex turn based Combat system that's interesting and challenging, look somewhere else....

    If you want an interesting well written story and Characters, look somewhere else....

    If you are looking for a game with awesome world building and lore, look somewhere else.....

    If you are looking for a solid f2p game you can play on PC or your phone, look somewhere else

    If you are looking for a blank and uninspiring Anime game that eats your wallet and treats your time like **** than maybe play genshin impact....    … Expand
  18. NumberOh
    May 29, 2023
    1
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. nothing special. Character bad, Poor Story, Gameplay not very good than Persona and Yakuza8. I don't know why i install it.… Expand
  19. KingXRay
    Apr 28, 2023
    4
    - Story is good at first space station part but many part don’t explain anything and confusing. The story after the space station are decent or even worst. Sometime story transition to next cutscene don’t make any sense feels like they cut out something or rushes skip when talking half way. Also after space station you will start to feel most of the talking have no voice now, and you start- Story is good at first space station part but many part don’t explain anything and confusing. The story after the space station are decent or even worst. Sometime story transition to next cutscene don’t make any sense feels like they cut out something or rushes skip when talking half way. Also after space station you will start to feel most of the talking have no voice now, and you start to get a lot of text reading with boring stuffs and random baby level of puzzle stuff to do.

    - Story voice line some parts have low volume and some part have loud volume, it seems they were recorded in different studio or places. It is annoying but more annoying part was mouse arrow keep teleport and blocking the center view of cutscene!

    - Main female character is voice by Yui Ishikawa Japanese voice actor that cast Mikasa/2B, but entire story she never opened her mouth to speak but using telepathy and stare at people by text all the time. The only time when she thinking in her own head, then you can hear her voice or in battle.

    - Stamina...it uses same stamina system in genshin where stamina is extreme low and extreme slow to recover, it takes 18 hours to recover!

    - The main story progress will become harder when you not able to grind for exp book to lv your characters when run out of stamina trailblazer power/resins very early progression. Later you will struggle even more because you don’t have good characters, because free characters will start to struggle with story battles and boss fights. Then main story also require your trailblazer level at certain level to unlock it, they lock you from progressing for few days, unless you willing pay real money to recover the stupid stamina trailblazer power/resin to grind for trailblazer exp.

    - You CANNOT skip story! Just like genshin lmao

    - A turn base game without option to skip animation! Yes, you CANNOT skip animation as well! You can x2 speed up but some animation was so goddam long even in x2 speed up jesus...

    - The gacha rate is same as genshin, extreme terrible lowest rate compare to all other gacha games out there. It was written as 1.6% chance of getting a 5* but so far looking at global players draw rate, it is around 1-1.1% chance only.

    - Daily quest, you only get 1 daily quest per day. But you also have daily training which comes with mostly easy task and you get 60 gem for complete all of them. You might also get some gems from beating boss or rare monsters, but still unsure is it one time thing or daily.

    - Simulated Universe is a weekly reward thing where you do not need all the strongest team or stamina and you can get all weekly rewards by just grind the easiest level over and over, the points increase until reach the cap of weekly.

    - Forgotten hall is the genshin abyss the most p2w end game content and most hated by f2p players.

    - Yes it also have battle pass, as always like genshin, it is the most worst battle pass out of all the games out there. I rather sub final fantasy 14 for 1-3 month to access everything without have to do any chores than this trash battle pass rewards.

    - Mutiplayer? NOPE! It doesn't have it, it is SINGLE PLAYER only! but you can add friends and use their chosen character for very few limited fight, you CANNOT use friend character in any of the main story content to help you cheese through at all!

    - Graphics. They are amazing good obviously and photo mode is the most painful thing in the world...camera movement and angles are all extreme restricted even not in photo mode!

    - Exploration. It is not open world, it is very small hub level area. Exploration is great at first as always but I think most of you who play any action games or genshin knew, you never explore again after you seen it.

    - Game stability, like genshin, they share the same bug that can sometime crashes or turn black screen and froze your pc if you playing it while having any web browser open. I'm on high end pc just so you know.

    Conclusion, I don’t see any worth of investing into this SINGLE PLAYER turn base game compare to other Japanese turn base gacha game where you have option to get strong by leeching in anyone raid and get material or weapon drops to get strong as f2p than honkai only option is pay gacha and stamina to get strong like genshin. Also in Japanese game you can even play 24/7 without running out of stamina so much better than honkai/genshin stupid long arse 18 hours for trailblazer power/resin to recover!!!!!    … Expand
  20. hellbard
    Apr 29, 2023
    0
    The unskippable cutscenes/dialogue, along side with a terrible story, makes this almost unplayable... Would be a 5 out of 10 with skippable dialogue/cutscenes.
  21. BergMattStudio
    May 3, 2023
    3
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Honkai series and they gave us a massively pathetic changes.
    This game is nothing but poorly executed with an only thing that good is music. The gameplay wise is just not fit to the series, It also take the breaking glass effect from DMC5 which is even worse. For a few minutes of gameplay, it's sort of fun, but for a few hours later, the gameplay is even more boring than Genshin by keep us collecting things and watch character skill animations, just like we're actually playing on a PowerPoint. I have nothing against turn-based, but It not what make Honkai series fun, remember GGZ? It was a good experience for a mobile game those days, and HI3rd also did the same thing. Now? It just nothing but a memory, HSR is nothing more than a worse version of Genshin Impact.    … Expand
  22. Jagerhauz
    Jun 7, 2023
    0
    Another donation dump from Hoyoverse, in a single player game. Yes, they give you gifts and all this useless currency that you will spend nowhere and will suffer saving up for good characters, because the starting characters are such **** that you don’t wish them on the enemy, the plot is interesting only in the first two locations, the rest of the plot is complete garbage, keep doingAnother donation dump from Hoyoverse, in a single player game. Yes, they give you gifts and all this useless currency that you will spend nowhere and will suffer saving up for good characters, because the starting characters are such **** that you don’t wish them on the enemy, the plot is interesting only in the first two locations, the rest of the plot is complete garbage, keep doing Hoyoverse donated dumps, you are very good at making money on ****… Expand
  23. fortigas
    Aug 12, 2023
    0
    El juego es un pay 2 fast, hay enemigos y situiaciones que estan llenas de dificultad artificial, es bueno para pasar el rato, no vale la pena meterle dinero salvo que hagas contenido y videos para yt o esas cosas, al final sera como toda moda pasara , fuera que es para 1 solo jugador, sinceramente desde que empece a jugarlo he ido perdiendole el interes al juego y es que llega a ser muyEl juego es un pay 2 fast, hay enemigos y situiaciones que estan llenas de dificultad artificial, es bueno para pasar el rato, no vale la pena meterle dinero salvo que hagas contenido y videos para yt o esas cosas, al final sera como toda moda pasara , fuera que es para 1 solo jugador, sinceramente desde que empece a jugarlo he ido perdiendole el interes al juego y es que llega a ser muy monotono, las misiones muy repetitivas y todo esta enfocado a llevarte a pensar necesitar pagar lo que vendria a ser el pase para tener chances y no, no tengo problemas con el sistema gacha, sino con la mecanica de bosses, es como dije antes es un pay 2 fast en toda regla, es mas o menos como el genshin solo que con menos que hacer.… Expand
  24. rkarlberg2
    Aug 7, 2023
    2
    This company is making millions a month - would be nice if they put more effort into these games. It's fun at first, but quickly becomes boring and the end game is terrible - very frustrating and you have to pay so much more to accomplish anything.
  25. PavlinIzIndii
    Sep 8, 2023
    0
    Chinese casino for the dumb. A lot of normal games are taken, but everything is made worse + donat. We don't need it on the PC.
  26. Ortana
    Sep 6, 2023
    0
    Rubbish persona 5 gacha filled ripoff. Trash gameplay mechanics. Massive L for mobile peasants.
  27. DimskiX
    Aug 14, 2023
    0
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Very high hopes were placed on the game.
    I am a long-time fan of honkai, so I was really looking forward to this game.
    But to my great regret, the more updates came out, the more this game began to infuriate me.
    Absolute slag in everything, starting with a stupid gacha system where your friends have everything falling the first time, and you have nothing, ending with an insanely empty world, complexity and a stupid grind
    I'm disappointed in you    … Expand
  28. Yvnushevskiy
    Aug 30, 2023
    0
    new imba heroes.
    0/10
    Waiting for fixes.

    how u can donate in the game when team that u collected is trash coz new hero OP
  29. guncooper
    Sep 7, 2023
    3
    + Good visual style
    + Character design
    + Simple and addictive gameplay
    + Quite an epic storyline
    + Lack of open-world is a plus for this game.

    - Gacha
    - Grind-walls everywhere
    - Daily energy limits
    - So little chance for good item drop
    - The story is quite short
    - Small amount of content
    - The battle mechanic is too simplified

Awards & Rankings

23
#23 Most Discussed PC Game of 2023

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
80

Generally favorable reviews - based on 23 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 18 out of 23
  2. Mixed: 5 out of 23
  3. Negative: 0 out of 23
  1. IGN France
    Oct 10, 2023
    80
    It's hard not to fall for the charms of Honkai: Star Rail. The storyline, even if it draws on Japanese anime clichés, is extremely rich, populated by sparkling characters and written with a great deal of humor. The gameplay is addictive and extremely clever, and the monetization knows how to take a back seat to the gameplay experience. A real success story.
    Read full review
  2. PCMag
    Aug 1, 2023
    80
    Honkai: Star Rail is a stylish and engaging turn-based RPG that marries a quirky sci-fi tale with anime-style graphics.
    Read full review
  3. Meristation
    Jul 7, 2023
    75
    A great role playing game with turn based combat, free and fun. It does not reach the quality of Genshin Impact but it is close.
    Read full review
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