Honkai Star Rail finally opens up pre-registrations globally, alongside a potential release date announcement

Shortly after the final closed beta was announced, pre-registrations for the highly anticipated Honkai Star Rail have finally opened up alongside a planned release date, according to the App Store page, of April 26th. This sci-fi quasi-sequel to the anime action RPG Honkai Impact takes the series into a brand new setting: space itself. A star-faring turn-based RPG from the same developers of the legendary Genshin Impact as well, Honaki Star Rail is easily one of the most hyped releases of 2023.

Honkai Star Rail might be a semi-sequel to Honkai Impact, but the similarities are pretty sparse aside from the anime style that all of HoYoverse’s games are known for at this point. Both are sci-fi in nature, but Star Rail ups it to 11, taking you to an outer space adventure full of spaceships, different planets to explore, and more.

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But that’s not all! Whereas both Genshin Impact and Honkai Impact were action RPGs, utilising a fully active combat system, Star Rail instead returns to their JRPGs roots by using a turn-based system instead. You’ll have time between every action to decide what to do next, and instead of using your reflexes to dodge and weave between attacks, you’ll be picking and choosing your next move.

Of course, just like any other turn-based RPG worth its salt, there’s a massive cast of characters for you to encounter and collect using the game’s gacha system. Each one will serve a different purpose in your party, be they tanks, damage dealers, healers, or even a hybrid of all three.

Honkai Star Rail is a departure from HoYoverse’s usual style of game, but it looks absolutely excellent. If you’re interested, you can finally pre-register at either of the links below this article. In the meantime, let’s hope that release date is confirmed officially in the near future!

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Honkai: Star Rail