Since launching in late April,Honkai: Star Railhas already made big waves within the gaming community. The exciting combination of turn-based combat and a gacha system has many players investing time and money topull for theHonkai: Star Railstrongest charactersfor their teams.Star Rail’s overall story, which is still incomplete, has also intrigued players so far.
As many HoYoverse fans know,Honkai: Star Railshares a name with action RPGHonkai Impact 3rd.While this is the case, the developer has established that the former isn’t a direct sequel, despite featuring similar characters such as Bronya, Seele, and Himeko. Nonetheless, there might still be some people who are wondering whether they should play throughHonkai Impactto understand what’s going on inStar Rail.
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The Honkai: Star Rail and Honkai Impact 3rd Comparison
HoYoverse previously confirmed that it’s creating a multiversethat includes the worlds withinHonkai: Star Rail,Honkai Impact 3rd, andGenshin Impact. They are all connected through the Imaginary Tree, which originated inHonkai Impact, and was described as the origin of life where universes and bubble worlds were born. The Imaginary Tree was also tackled inStar Rail’s Data Bank, which referred to it as a theory of the universe widely accepted within the scientific community. This meant that bothHonkaigames exist in the same universe, which explained why there were alternate versions of certain characters. Jarilo-IV and the Xianzhou Luofu can also be considered bubble worlds born from the Imaginary Tree.
However, newbies aren’t necessarily required to get throughHonkai Impact 3rd’s story first to understandHonkai: Star Rail. The latter’s main story so far can stand on its own even without prior knowledge of its predecessor’s lore. Players can easily digest the story through character dialogue and documents they can pick up as they explore the open world. They can also access lore pieces via the character voice lines and theshort entries written on Light Cones.
There have been much speculation already about what’s coming next in the Trailblazers' adventure. It’s possible that they’ll meet future playable characters along the way, who may or may not be part of recent leaks. Another theory involves the Unknown God, who’s appeared inHonkai Impact 3rdandGenshin Impact, showing up inHonkai: Star Rail. Nothing is set in stone yet, but it would be interesting to see how all three games will tie in together. Especially sinceStar Railalready hasImaginary-element character Welt Yang, who was a former Sovereign of Anti-Entropy and believed to have come fromHonkai Impact’s universe.
Combat-wise,Honkai: Star Railis turn-based, which is a completely different mechanic fromHonkai Impact 3rd’s slasher fighting style. So, players have more freedom to experiment with team compositions as they acquire more characters inStar Rail.If anything, the most notable similarity it shares withHonkai ImpactandGenshin Impactare the weapon upgrades.
There might also be gamers who would want to dive deeper into HoYoverse’s extensive lore, and it’s perfectly understandable if they decide to play bothHonkaigames simultaneously to get the most out of their stories. This could also be a great chance to spot existing and upcomingHonkai: Star Railcharacters who were also inHonkai Impact 3rd.For instance,Silver Wolf’sHonkai Impactcounterpart was Bronie, aka an alternate version of Bronya Zaychik that’s wearing a Haxxor Bunny battlesuit.
Overall,Honkai: Star Railplayers won’t have to pressure themselves to know everything aboutHonkai Impact 3rdto get through its story. Whether the two games would intersect in the future or not is still a big question that HoYoverse might not be able to answer for now, but it would be an exciting in-game event if it does happen.
Honkai: Star Railis now available on Android, iOS, and PC. A PlayStation version is currently in development.
