Credit: HoYoVerse

It’s been nearly three years since the release of Genshin Impact, and thanks to its absolutely dynamite reception, Chinese game developer and publisher HoYoVerse has assembled quite the impressive war chest for their new game developments. The company has a couple of games in the pipeline, such as the futuristic punk-flavored Zenless Zone Zero, but before then, we’ve got the next game in the Honkai franchise right around the corner. So, when does Honkai: Star Rail release?

When Does Honkai Star Rail Release?

Over the weekend, HoYoVerse announced that, after multiple closed beta periods and much development and testing, the release of their newest game, Honkai: Star Rail, is almost here. The game will be releasing in its full 1.0 version on April 26, 2023. Much like previous Honkai games and Genshin Impact, the game will be completely free-to-play, though of course there will also be gacha and premium currency elements for obtaining new characters and weapons. Don’t act like you don’t love rolling for new characters, we all do.

Unlike Genshin Impact, Honkai: Star Rail is a more traditional turn-based RPG. While you can still collect and customize characters to your liking, combat is a strictly turn-based affair, with both party members and enemies taking their moves in a sequence shown on the turn order bar. If you found Genshin’s action-RPG, element-manipulating combat to be a little overwhelming, Honkai: Star Rail’s approach may feel a bit more accessible.

How to Pre-Register for Honkai: Star Rail

Credit: HoYoVerse

With Honkai: Star Rail’s release right around the corner, HoYoVerse has opened up the pre-registration portal so that everyone who wants to play on release day can do so right away. Honkai: Star Rail will be available at launch on the following platforms:

• iOS mobile devices via the Apple App Store
• Android mobile devices via the Google Play Store
• PC via the Epic Games Store or HoYoVerse’s own launcher

Additionally, while it won’t be available at launch, HoYoVerse has confirmed that they are working on porting the game to PlayStation consoles, though they have not specified exactly which PlayStation consoles.

If you want to pre-register, just visit the official pre-registration page, click the “Register Now” button, fill in your HoYoVerse account info, and select the platform you wanna register on. HoYoVerse is holding a promotion where, if enough people pre-register, everyone who does so will get some freebies when the game launches. Naturally, these goals were crushed immediately with the overflow of pre-registers, so when the game launches, everyone gets the following:

• 50,000 Credits
• 3 Star Rail Passes
• “Trailblazer – Welcome” Avatar
• 4-Star Character Serval
• 15 Star Rail Passes

Additionally, if the total number of followers of the game’s socials exceeds 2,500,000, every player will receive an additional 2 Star Rail Passes and 50,000 Credits. You can find their socials on the pre-registration page.

Once again, Honkai: Star Rail launches on April 26, and what a launch it’s shaping up to be. Hope you’ve got your ticket and neck pillow ready, because this train is departing soon.