HONKAI: Star Rail is entering into its third iteration and it seems that HoYoverse has no plans to slow down.
3.0 introduces a new cast of characters, and the opening of the storyline oozes with secrets and twists.
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Honkai is bringing ancient history to its sci-fi adventure, adding a new twist to the game, which is almost two years old at this point.
Out of all of HoYoverse’s titles, HSR has been improved the most with every update.
Each new set of characters is balanced and consistent with existing ones and doesn’t feel like overpowered additions.
The new Amphoreus story arc also feels like it benefits from the lessons learned during the previous Penacony and Xianzhou Luofu arcs.
The writing is much more straightforward, and while there is still plenty of lore and exposition, it’s a lot more digestible.
It also does more showing than telling, making the storyline feel more cohesive and elegant.
Amphoreus strikes a balance between allowing you to experience the story from the new characters’ viewpoints, while also keeping a focus on Trailblazer.
The new characters feel more fleshed out than previous additions, each with a backstory and obvious good and bad points.
Similarly to how the characters develop as you get further into the game, so does the story.
It begins off fairly straightforward, but quickly crumbles as you explore the world and its conflict.
We quickly became invested in the story and characters and how they linked to parts of the story that had already been established.
It strikes the balance between adventurous epic and tragedy, mixing parts of Greek and Roman mythology to leave easter eggs for history buffs.
However, there are still issues when it comes to presentation, which seems to be a staple of Honkai: Star Rail at this point.
The English dub misses voice lines for a number of characters such as Himeko, Dan Hend, Trailblazer, Firefly and Kafka.
The last two are particularly glaring, as we haven’t seen these characters for a while, and we’d love to have seen voice lines for these touching moments.
There are some fun new exploration mechanics, like the Hand of Zagreus, a floating hand that can grab objects and clear the path forward.
New mechanics also play with time manipulation as well as light and dark to add more changes to the gameplay.
The one new addition we weren’t so keen on is the chance to change the story with the As I’ve Written feature.
Thematically, it feels a little off, but it does allow us to explore more stories with the story’s characters.
The new characters don’t feel meta-defining just yet, but Amphoreus offers a new strong character that can be unlocked for free.
There are a number of new quality-of-life updates as well, upping Trailblaze Power, and improving the equipment system to help people build their characters.
Honkai: Star Rail 3.0 hits the mark on every level, and we’re sure it will continue to captivate us throughout 2025.
If you want to read more gaming reviews, check out our Dynasty Warriors: Origins review.
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