Honkai: Star Rail vs Genshin Impact

[CecieAngel]

Hey everyone,

first of all I am not sure if this thread is at the right place and hope someone can correct me if its wrong.

I want to start a little discussion about comparing Honkai: Star Rail and Genshin Impact.

 

I was thinking about playing Genshin Impact for a while and was just hesitating because of the lot of time needed for the trophies. After Honkai was released and I haven't started Genshin yet I was wondering what of the two games I should start since playing both of them simultaneously is too much of an effort for me rn.

In general I want to know which one is the "better" game. The interesting criteria for me are mostly the gameplay and the trophies.

According to the trophy guides on psnprofiles Honkai is much easier (3/10) and less time consuming (100h) than Genshin (7/10 and 200h). Can anyone confirm this relation? And how tedious (or grindy) can the trophies be?

Regarding the gameplay I'm curious about your personal opinions of the two games compared to each other. Are the gameplay mechanics the same? Or maybe you can give pros and cons and examples what you like and dislike.

 

Edit:

At the time of writing I totally forgot about a third option: Tower of Fantasy. To spice things up we can add this to the discussion since I think all of these share the same type of game 😄

Edited April 25 by CecieAngel

[Izularia]

It really depends on what you are looking for in a game. I played Genshin when it was released, but not for that long, and I only recently tried to go back to it again, but I just don't like it as much as Honkai: Star Rail. Mind you, this is only my personal opinion since both Genshin and Honkai are good games. 

 

Genshin's gameplay is way more action-focused and you have very active gameplay that requires you to switch between characters of your party in the right moments. Honkai, however, is purely turn-based. Characters have to wait until it's their turn and you can wait as long as you wish before you actually take action, making it way slower and a lot of times more tactical, especially when you try the higher stages of Memory of Chaos or Pure Fiction (those are the main endgame modes of Honkai). That being said, Genshin has its own approach of being tactical, but due to its action gameplay it's not as big. 

 

Another huge aspect of Genshin is the exploration part. You have a big open world with a lot of exploration points which can (in my opinion) be overwhelming since there's so much to see. If you're a big fan of open world, big maps and lots of collectables in a game, then you might love that, though! Honkai: Star Rail consists of several smaller maps that you'll progress through. There's still stuff you can collect, like treasure chests or puzzles, but it's not as overwhelming when you're new to the game. 

 

Genshin got a lot more fantasy-like aspects, whereas Honkai is very futuristic. Honkai's story did interest me more than Genshin, but that's solely depending on your own taste, so it doesn't mean much. Both games have amazing characters and which characters you'd prefer is also only a question of your taste. Genshin does have a much bigger roster though due to being the older game. 

 

Another thing I noticed is that Honkai feels a bit more generous with giving out the game's currency for banners (to get characters), but that is just a feeling and I am not 100% sure. 

 

So, personally I prefer Honkai, but Genshin is just as good and might suit your taste more. 

 

Edited April 25 by Izularia

[CecieAngel]

13 hours ago, Izularia said:

So, personally I prefer Honkai, but Genshin is just as good and might suit your taste more.

Thank you for your detailed review! I got a first idea of the defferences of the games. I actually like games with a big open world and much to see.

But I'm open for more personal opinions 😊

[OctorokHero]

If the trophies are your highest priority, Star Rail definitely wins out. There are some progression-based trophies that will take time investment, but a majority of the trophies are tied to completing major quests. For Genshin, you'll have to find a massive amount of treasure chests, which will take either following a guide meticulously or investing the time and effort to unlock items that can seek them out; you also have to get a clear of the endgame mode Spiral Abyss, which is constantly getting harder. Star Rail is also the more player-friendly one; it's far more generous, there is auto-play for grinding unlike Genshin, and some limited-time events get archived so you can play them later (with less rewards) which Genshin does not do.

 

Gameplay-wise, personally Genshin wins out for me. Even when I've been playing for so long I have minimal need to grind, it's still fun to notice something new in the open world and get sidetracked finding secrets; I also like the greater variety of minigames they introduce in events. Star Rail is much more limited in exploration, and I prefer Genshin's real-time action gameplay to Star Rail being turn-based. The stories are what keep me playing these games, and they both have their ups and downs; I feel like I like Genshin's story more overall, as it has more overarching plotlines and a more connected world while Star Rail's arcs are more disconnected from each other, but lately I find myself more invested in Star Rail's more modern characters and settings.

 

My beginner tips for Genshin would be to prioritize the story, as you don't want to end up locked out of an event or unable to access upgrade materials for characters, and don't accept a quest unless you intend to complete it immediately, as piling up too many unfinished quests could lead to them creating conflicts with something else you're trying to do. I also think the opening region and story arc is rather generic, but if you stick with it, you'll start finding more interesting set pieces in the second region. For Star Rail, don't be too hasty to increase your Equilibrium level (increases rewards you can earn, but also enemy strength), as you can't decrease it unlike in Genshin, so if you get overconfident, you may wind up with a boss becoming too strong and requiring more time invested to get past.

[Dantes_994]

I've played Honkai first just to be clear. Love the shit out of it.

Tried Genshin a few months back and, while the music is magical and the world as pretty as a, well, picture, there is so much in terms of "quality of life" that is simply not present in Genshin compared to Honkai that i'm baffled that the games are made by the same company. Even more so that they are coexisting.

 

That really made me drop Genshin after around 8 hours of playing.