Since miHoYo/HoYoverse actually listened to my bug report and fixed the issue outlined in a previous review I wrote, I'm changing my review from a negative one to a positive one.

Truth be told, my original comment of going into Honkai with relatively low expectations, especially how frequently shilled it was to YouTubers and streamers alike, still stands. It was the main driving force that prevented me from trying Honkai for literally years. I've heard of this game since at least 2018 but never really gave it the time of day until recently.

And my god, this game is...truly something special. At the time of writing this, I am captain level 46 and just unlocked Chapter 18 of the story. And without really spoiling anything because I don't want to spoil anything, getting through all the technical issues and general jank has been so, so worth it.

Alright, from the top. Going forward, this is gonna follow a similar format to my other reviews. If you're familiar with my style, you know what you're getting into. If you're not - read on.

Honkai Impact's story has a really slow start. Many players will echo this sentiment. The first several chapters are honestly not very interesting. They're there for basic world and character building but I think they do it rather poorly. Especially chapter 1 with its quick pacing and confusing writing. The game likes doing this throughout the entire run where it throws a bunch of characters and names at you without explaining anything about them. Starting with chapter 9 though, things pick up really fast and it just hooks you in a way that becomes difficult to detach.

Seriously, after chapter 9, I found myself marathoning this game for days and days on end, eagerly wanting more. It's insanely good in that respect. You can think of it as Steins;Gate's anime adaptation where it starts off incredibly slow, but once it picks up - it doesn't slow down, and it's great.

Granted, there are several things I find confusing but I won't get into them in this review, because, again - spoilers. But everything else, from the action packed cutscenes to the character interactions, but especially the anime cutscenes you get at the end of certain chapters, makes it all so worth it.

To a newcomer, such as myself, Honkai's story can be overwhelming. But it's about pacing yourself and taking things in one at a time. Don't be like me and immediately jump into events as a new player or into stuff like the Elysian Realm without playing the story. Trust me, you will have so many questions and not a lot of answers.

Honkai's gameplay is admittedly very simple. It's a lot simpler than Genshin Impact if you're coming from that game out of curiosity, much like I was. Or maybe it'd be more accurate to say that Genshin Impact is a more complex version of Honkai Impact? Either way, there is a decent amount of overlap between the two games in how they handle combat. Every character has a basic attack, some combos they can do and an ultimate ability.

Make no mistake though. That's where the similarities between the two games in their gameplay end. Honestly. While Genshin is more focused on exploration and discovery of the open world, Honkai is way more focused on the action. Almost everything in this game is broken up into separate missions with not a lot of room for open-world exploration. A lot of missions take place in simple, confined arenas where there's just you, the enemies and really not much else. There are some stages and places in the game where there is open-world exploration, sure, but the exploration aspect is really shallow and underwhelming.

But what Honkai does well in its combat, it does it really well. Though you can tell that things were kept simple just to appease the mobile market, as this was originally a mobile game, what's there is still enough to provide you with a decent amount of entertainment. Figuring out which characters can comfortably combo together is honestly a treat, and once you get the rhythm down - it's hard to pull yourself away from it. Combat is fast, fluid, frantic. The combos are flashy and in-your-face, and it's all full of so much personality. Though some characters are better than others - I'll give you that, but that doesn't detract from my overall enjoyment.

My biggest issue with gameplay is just how poorly explained some mechanics are. The game has what I call the "Neptunia syndrome", where their preferred method of teaching the player anything is by overloading them with tutorial prompts and a bunch of cryptic text that only serves to confuse the player. This is especially true if you venture out into events with event-specific gameplay. It's just not handled very well and it ends up usually driving me away to do other things that I'm more familiar with. Another case of where I think "show, don't tell" would've worked better. They handle this better in their future games, but in Honkai - yeah. It's archaic and confusing as all hell.

I'll be honest with you. I think that Honkai Impact looks really ugly. Even for a 2016 mobile game, the game just doesn't look good. Lots of low resolution textures. Lack of attention to detail in a lot of areas. The artstyle kind of just zig-zagging from chapter to chapter. And the overall presentation of the game really leaves a lot to be desired in so many areas. If graphics can be a big turn-off for you, I don't think Honkai will impress you in this front.

The sound & music is an entirely different story. Honkai's OST is a banger. The generic battle & menu music after a while it all just becomes background noise to me, but some of the vocal tracks in this game? Genuinely beautiful tearjerkers. Starfall being my personal favorite so far. It's legitimately a beautiful song. And Honkai has SO MANY OF THEM. I don't know why they go so hard on the vocal tracks, and especially with the animations that this game has like I mentioned earlier, but these two combined make getting through the game's story so worth it. Seriously, this game is worth playing purely for the animations and the music, I'm not exaggerating.

Optimization...well, if you saw my old review, you'll know I don't have a very positive opinion on that. During version 5.6, which is when I got into the game, I encountered so many technical issues just trying to play the game. From getting softlocked and being forced to continue playing on Android, to just certain things not working properly, I've just encountered a lot of technical hiccups. Granted, everything I've encountered has been fixed as of version 5.7, sure, but it's still something I encountered.

Another thing I encountered, and this one directly relates to the Steam version of the game, being that the game can just immediately blue screen your computer upon launching the game. Comes with a bonus side effect of corrupting your GPU drivers. As far as I know - this has still not been fixed so, for that reason alone I've decided to stick to the launcher version of the game rather than the Steam version. Though I do use this version to track my playtime in Honkai. There's also the fact that you cannot transfer your account between Steam & HoYoLab, so you're locked out of playing the game with your account on mobile if you need to.

One last thing - the control. Pretty, pretty please do not play this game with mouse & keyboard. Please use any controller on-hand, trust me on this. I don't know what they were thinking, but the default mouse & keyboard control is horrible. Just don't bother with it.

If you can get past every negative I mentioned, or if you can learn to tolerate them to experience the good parts of the game, give Honkai a try. You have A LOT to look forward to and experience with the game. It's a great game that's genuinely worth getting into.

Though I recommend the launcher version over the Steam version.

Since miHoYo/HoYoverse actually listened to my bug report and fixed the issue outlined in a previous review I wrote, I'm changing my review from a negative one to a positive one. Truth be told, my original comment of going into Honkai with relatively low expectations, especially how frequently shilled it was to YouTubers and streamers alike, still stands. It was the main driving force that prevented me from trying Honkai for literally years. I've heard of this game since at least 2018 but never really gave it the time of day until recently. And my god, this game is...truly something special. At the time of writing this, I am captain level 46 and just unlocked Chapter 18 of the story. And without really spoiling anything because I don't [i]want[/i] to spoil anything, getting through all the technical issues and general jank has been so, so worth it. Alright, from the top. Going forward, this is gonna follow a similar format to my other reviews. If you're familiar with my style, you know what you're getting into. If you're not - read on. [h1]Story:[/h1] Honkai Impact's story has a really slow start. Many players will echo this sentiment. The first several chapters are honestly not very interesting. They're there for basic world and character building but I think they do it rather poorly. Especially chapter 1 with its quick pacing and confusing writing. The game likes doing this throughout the entire run where it throws a bunch of characters and names at you without explaining anything about them. Starting with chapter 9 though, things pick up really fast and it just hooks you in a way that becomes difficult to detach. Seriously, after chapter 9, I found myself marathoning this game for days and days on end, eagerly wanting more. It's insanely good in that respect. You can think of it as Steins;Gate's anime adaptation where it starts off incredibly slow, but once it picks up - it doesn't slow down, and it's great. Granted, there are several things I find confusing but I won't get into them in this review, because, again - spoilers. But everything else, from the action packed cutscenes to the character interactions, but especially the anime cutscenes you get at the end of certain chapters, makes it all so worth it. To a newcomer, such as myself, Honkai's story can be overwhelming. But it's about pacing yourself and taking things in one at a time. [b]Don't be like me and immediately jump into events as a new player[/b] or into stuff like the Elysian Realm without playing the story. Trust me, [b]you will have so many questions and not a lot of answers.[/b] [h1]Gameplay:[/h1] Honkai's gameplay is admittedly very simple. It's a lot simpler than Genshin Impact if you're coming from that game out of curiosity, much like I was. Or maybe it'd be more accurate to say that Genshin Impact is a more complex version of Honkai Impact? Either way, there is a decent amount of overlap between the two games in how they handle combat. Every character has a basic attack, some combos they can do and an ultimate ability. Make no mistake though. That's where the similarities between the two games in their gameplay end. Honestly. While Genshin is more focused on exploration and discovery of the open world, Honkai is way more focused on the action. Almost everything in this game is broken up into separate missions with not a lot of room for open-world exploration. A lot of missions take place in simple, confined arenas where there's just you, the enemies and really not much else. There are some stages and places in the game where there is open-world exploration, sure, but the exploration aspect is really shallow and underwhelming. But what Honkai does well in its combat, it does it [i]really[/i] well. Though you can tell that things were kept simple just to appease the mobile market, as this was originally a mobile game, what's there is still enough to provide you with a decent amount of entertainment. Figuring out which characters can comfortably combo together is honestly a treat, and once you get the rhythm down - it's hard to pull yourself away from it. Combat is fast, fluid, frantic. The combos are flashy and in-your-face, and it's all full of so much personality. Though some characters are better than others - I'll give you that, but that doesn't detract from my overall enjoyment. My biggest issue with gameplay is just how poorly explained some mechanics are. The game has what I call the "Neptunia syndrome", where their preferred method of teaching the player anything is by overloading them with tutorial prompts and a bunch of cryptic text that only serves to confuse the player. This is especially true if you venture out into events with event-specific gameplay. It's just not handled very well and it ends up usually driving me away to do other things that I'm more familiar with. Another case of where I think "show, don't tell" would've worked better. They handle this better in their future games, but in Honkai - yeah. It's archaic and confusing as all hell. [h1]Graphics, Sound & Optimization[/h1] I'll be honest with you. I think that Honkai Impact looks really ugly. Even for a 2016 mobile game, the game just doesn't look good. Lots of low resolution textures. Lack of attention to detail in a lot of areas. The artstyle kind of just zig-zagging from chapter to chapter. And the overall presentation of the game really leaves a lot to be desired in so many areas. If graphics can be a big turn-off for you, I don't think Honkai will impress you in this front. The sound & music is an entirely different story. Honkai's OST is a banger. The generic battle & menu music after a while it all just becomes background noise to me, but some of the vocal tracks in this game? Genuinely beautiful tearjerkers. Starfall being my personal favorite so far. It's legitimately a beautiful song. And Honkai has SO MANY OF THEM. I don't know why they go so hard on the vocal tracks, and especially with the animations that this game has like I mentioned earlier, but these two combined make getting through the game's story so worth it. Seriously, this game is worth playing purely for the animations and the music, I'm not exaggerating. Optimization...well, if you saw my old review, you'll know I don't have a very positive opinion on that. During version 5.6, which is when I got into the game, I encountered so many technical issues just trying to play the game. From getting softlocked and being forced to continue playing on Android, to just certain things not working properly, I've just encountered a lot of technical hiccups. Granted, everything I've encountered has been fixed as of version 5.7, sure, but it's still something I encountered. Another thing I encountered, and this one directly relates to the Steam version of the game, being that the game can just immediately blue screen your computer upon launching the game. Comes with a bonus side effect of corrupting your GPU drivers. As far as I know - [b]this has still not been fixed[/b] so, for that reason alone I've decided to stick to the launcher version of the game rather than the Steam version. Though I do use this version to track my playtime in Honkai. There's also the fact that you cannot transfer your account between Steam & HoYoLab, so you're locked out of playing the game with your account on mobile if you need to. One last thing - the control. Pretty, pretty please do not play this game with mouse & keyboard. Please use any controller on-hand, [b]trust me on this.[/b] I don't know what they were thinking, but the default mouse & keyboard control is horrible. Just don't bother with it. [h1]Overall[/h1] If you can get past every negative I mentioned, or if you can learn to tolerate them to experience the good parts of the game, give Honkai a try. You have A LOT to look forward to and experience with the game. It's a great game that's genuinely worth getting into. Though I recommend the launcher version over the Steam version.