Honkai Star Rail: Pre-Register, Gameplay & All We Know

Honkai: Star Rail is set to be the latest title in the Honkai franchise from miHoYo, bringing their chaotic blend of anime visuals and different game genres to space in a tactical role-playing game. It was first revealed back in October 2021 to a strong fan reception from players who enjoyed the similarities to miHoYo's other title Genshin Impact, and its hints at open-world design, dungeon crawling, and turn-based combat. Honkai: Star Rail is likely to be an eclectic experience as per miHoYo's usual philosophy on design, but with it so far from release, you may want the rundown of everything we know so far. 

Is There A Honkai Star Rail Release Date?

There is no release date or release window for Honkai: Star Rail yet. Despite being announced back in 2021, and getting a new trailer at Summer Game Fest 2022, there's still no news on when it may come out.

The game's second closed beta began back in May and is set to finish on June 15, meaning that the title is making progress and players are getting access. We assume that the title will release sometime in 2023, and there is even a theory that it will release on March 7 of that year due to a character with that date as their name, but until we hear concrete news, it's better to take any estimate with a grain of salt. 

Honkai Star Rail Pre-Register For Closed Beta

Good news, Honkai fans - you can pre-register to play the game on PC, iOS, or Android.

To do so, head to this link here and get signed up. Check out the latest trailer to celebrate the Final Closed Beta.

Honkai Star Rail Trailers

The game's reveal trailer came in October 2021, showcasing a variety of environments and characters, while also alluding to a mystery that it seems you will spend part of the game uncovering. It starts in space as we see an interstellar train pass by before cutting to a first-person perspective of someone inside the train trying to catch stars. The following parts of the trailer, just a show a series of environments, ranging from a snowy mountaintop, a crumbling city with European architecture, an industrial town, and much more. 

It also hints at many of the gameplay elements that were later revealed to the public, showing scenes of characters freely exploring, someone opening a chest, along with heavily stylised and vibrant combat. 

The second trailer for the game came during Summer Game Fest 2022, where it revealed a new world that players will get to explore. It began on the Herta Space Station as an unknown character monologued to (who we assume) is the player character, speaking of how we would encounter allies that treat us like family and go on adventures in the near future. The new world we get a glimpse of only stays on screen for around a second, but it displays some east-Asian architecture that sets itself apart from the previously revealed world.  

Honkai Star Rail Gameplay

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While the game is sure to have some similarities with Genshin Impact, there is enough there to set itself apart, and from the gameplay we've seen during the closed beta, it seems promising. Firstly, it does have the open world zones, dungeon exploration, and vibrant art style of something like Genshin, but the combat and setting are very different. 

Honkai: Star Rail is ostensibly sci-fi: spaceships, planet killing lasers, and even mechs are all here, but there's still a regal and almost Dune-like appearance to the characters and environments. It's set in the same universe as the Honaki Impact 3rd game, but it has its standalone story, but fans of the previous game can look forward to some returning characters. 

The game also features a turn-based combat system in the vein of classic Final Fantasy. During gameplay, you can control up to four different characters to make up your team, using their different abilities and weaponry together in combat to gain victory. It comes with all the typical aspects you would expect, with moves to directly attack the enemies, and supporting abilities such as heals and buffs.  

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Each character has their own basic attack (based on their main weapon), a skill, an ultimate, a talent, and a technique. Over the game, you can customise these for the different characters as they level up, and you acquire new gear from shops or by scouring dungeons. Each character also has an elemental type, which currently consists of Physical, Fire, Ice, Lightning, Wind, Imaginary, and Quantum. 

The story sees you taking on the role of someone who has been implanted with a Stellaron, a.k.a. 'the seed of ruin.' The person who did this to you is aptly named Destruction, who is an Aeon, a type of god creature in the Honkai universe, so you will set out with allies to stop him from destroying all civilisation. 

Honkai Star Rail Platforms 

The game is set to release on Android, iOS, and PC for free. There's no news on whether the title will come to more platforms after release, but considering Genshin Impact got a PlayStation port and is set to get a Switch version sometime soon, we would expect the same for Honkai: Star Rail.