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FORMAT PS5, PS4 ETA OUT NOW PUB HOYOVERSE DEV HOYOVERSE PLAYERS 1 (WITH SOCIAL ELEMENTS)

Few free-to-play games have managed to appeal to PlayStation players as strongly as Genshin Impact. HoYoverse’s debut on the console has offered constant updates, compelling combat, and a sweeping adventure that easily surpasses 100 hours – all for the grand cost of nothing. (Like all free-to-play games, there’s monetisation through lootbox-like gacha elements, cosmetics, and such, though its generosity is part of its appeal.) So, with such a massive success on its hands, how is the developer going about launching a new game to stand beside it?

Honkai: Star Rail is the new game, and has about as many differences to its sister game as it does similarities. Freshly launched on PS5 and PS4, it’s a science-fiction turn-based RPG where you (an amnesiac hero, either male or female, with a fierce baseball bat) and your fellow trailblazers hop from planet to planet on space train The Astral Express, solving cosmic problems before choo-chooing into the sunset to tackle the next one. We spoke with HoYoverse (which asked to be credited as a studio only) to take a look at what this locomotive is packing under its smokestack.

WORLD SHAPING

“Classic sci-fi concepts like ‘venturing into the stars and discovering civilisations scattered throughout the universe’ inspired the background of Honkai: Star Rail,” share the team about the almost Star Trek-like setup. On

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