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The next game from Genshin Impact’s developer is out on April 26th

The next game from Genshin Impact’s developer is out on April 26th

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The sci-fi RPG Honkai: Star Rail hits mobile and PC this week, with a PlayStation version also in the works.

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The studio behind the massively popular online fantasy RPG Genshin Impact is back this week with its next game. Called Honkai: Star Rail, the game looks similar to Genshin but with more of a sci-fi twist. That means slick anime visuals, large worlds to explore, and a seemingly never-ending list of things to do, thanks to its live-service nature.

Here’s the basic premise:

Implanted with a Stellaron, the protagonist bravely set sail for the galaxy to drill down to the truth surrounding the so-called Cancer of All Worlds. Players will able to experience a vast universe abundant in distinctive cultures, landscapes, and scenery. From Herta Space Station where the story starts and you receive the prerequisite knowledge for the forthcoming journey, to Jarilo-VI where numerous dangers and conflicts are frozen beneath the snow, to the eastern-fantasy-infused silkpunk flagship Xianzhou Luofu where the topic of immortality is the cause of both development and strife.

It sounds pretty intense and at least looks visually impressive in trailers. More importantly, it involves players riding around on the titular space train to get around the universe, which is something I’ve wanted to do since I was a kid. In addition to the new setting, Honkai also changes things up from Genshin with a focus on turn-based combat, which you can read more about right here.

Honkai is similarly free to play and will be available on PC, iOS, and Android when it launches on April 26th. In fact, you can preinstall it now on those platforms ahead of the servers being live later in the week. The game is also coming to PlayStation, but there’s no word yet on when it’ll be launching.

This will be the studio’s first new release since Genshin debuted in 2020, though there’s more in the works as well with the post-apocalyptic action RPG Zenless Zone Zero, which currently doesn’t have a release date.