Osborn: Lately, I have found that many games have been becoming boring. Not many games were fun to me anymore, and many new games just did not look appealing to me. One day I remembered that Honkai: Star Rail was set to release soon. I remember being really excited when the game was initially teased over a year ago. Pretty much as soon as I started playing it, I was having fun, and enjoying it. Even after playing it every day for almost two weeks now, I still enjoy it. Even though I have completed the main story (so far), there are still other small quests and puzzles for me to do. I really enjoy the combat, as it is turn-based, so it requires putting some thought into what abilities to use. The combat can get difficult, but most of the time, it’s not too challenging. Each character has 3 abilities, a basic attack, a skill, and an ultimate. Basic attacks usually do a small to moderate amount of damage and regenerate 1 skill point. Skill points are used to activate, well, skills. Depending on the character, skills can do a large amount of damage, heal, or even provide buffs and debuffs. Characters refill energy by dealing and receiving damage. Once a character has enough energy, they can use their ultimate ability. Depending on the character, ultimates can deal massive damage, heal for large amounts, grant shields, or grant buff or give debuffs to enemies. There are seven different paths that characters can follow, which determines their role in combat. The Destruction characters deal large amounts of damage while having higher survivability. The Hunt characters deal high damage to a single target. The Erudition characters deal large damage to multiple targets. The Harmony characters grant buffs to allied characters. The Nihility characters apply debuffs to enemies. The Preservation characters have large amounts of health and grant shields to allies. The Abundance characters heal allies. All in all, I have been loving Honkai: Star Rail and I would recommend that anyone who is looking for a new game to try out this game.

Weiss: Like Braden up there, I have also been playing a lot, and I have a lot to say about the game so far and what I expect in the future. First of all, I would like to say that I do enjoy the game and I have made it pretty far for the game being out for so little time. However, I can already see a few things about the game that I think should be changed, or perhaps added. Regardless, let’s go over some positive aspects that I have noticed so far.

The main aspect of this game that has stood out to me from the start is the combat and character gameplay design. I will openly admit that I was questioning this mechanic at the start of the game, but as I have been playing it more, I really do enjoy it. There is a decent selection of characters to choose from for the game being released so recently, and I really enjoy boss battles too. However, I find that some of the characters are quite underwhelming off the bat and there are a select few characters that are just leagues better than everyone else. To name a few of these characters, I highly recommend getting either Bronya or Tingyun to join you on your team.

Both of these characters stand out as possibly the best two characters in the game simply because of their buffing capabilities. Tingyun is a 4-star character with a unique ult that not only buffs damage, but it also grants energy to the unit that it is used on, charging up their ult faster. This can prove to be very helpful in many fights, and this is quite a lot coming from a 4-star character. Bronya, on the other hand, is a 5-star unit and another very powerful buffer. She can move a character of choice into the front of the turn sequence and grant them a gigantic damage buff. Along with this, her ult further buffs units’ attack and critical damage, making your damage character hit a lot harder than before.

Now, since teams consist of four characters, you do not only want to have a buffer on the team. What good is buffing if there is no damage dealer? The damage dealers I would recommend that you put on your team are Seele and/or Serval, because they are both very powerful units. However, these two may be hard to get to their maximum potential. Serval is a 4-star unit you get for free at the start of the game, and she is a very powerful Erudition (or AoE damage dealer) character. However, to get the most damage out of her, you really need to get duplicates of her to fill out her eidolons. You can get these from the gacha, but they are pretty costly and difficult to obtain. Unlike Serval, you only need one copy of Seele to witness her amazing damage output, but she is a limited-time 5-star character on the current featured banner. Unlike Serval, Seele does very high single-target damage, as she is on the Hunt path. She is definitely the best damage dealer in the game at the moment, which makes her well worth using as the centerpiece of your team.

Next, in order to keep your team healthy, I recommend using a healer in the third slot. The two standout (and really the only two healers) in the game at the moment are Natasha and Bailu. Natasha is a 4-star character that you can get for free by playing the game a bit, and her healing is nothing to look down upon. Her skill can also cleanse a debuff, so she is very good in that regard too. However, the best healer in the game currently is the 5-star character Bailu. She does not only heal an insane amount with her skill and ultimate ability, but she can also revive a character with her passive ability. This alone is game changing.

Overall, the last team slot is up to you. I currently run fire main character because of the taunt on all enemies, but you could run another buffer or debuffer like Pela or run both Bronya and Tingyun at the same time. Along with all of these characters, the story itself is quite interesting and I have yet to get bored. I would definitely recommend this to anyone thinking about trying a new game.