5 ways Honkai Star Rail improves upon Honkai Impact 3rd

HoYoverse has become a global phenomenon with the successful debuts of Genshin Impact and Honkai Star Rail. Despite the popularity of the two games, one should remember Honkai Impact 3rd, the title that launched the developer in the mobile gaming market. The company's latest release makes numerous references to the game and has many of the same cast members.

Many systems featured in Impact 3rd have been upgraded by Honkai Star Rail. Given the company's years of expertise delivering content in Genshin Impact, many of the mechanisms included in their latest offering are more similar to its predecessor than Honkai Impact 3rd.

This article lists the improvements that Star Rail brings to the table compared to Honkai Impact 3rd.

Note: This list is subjective and solely reflects the opinions of the writer

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How Honkai Star Rail improves on the mechanics of Honkai Impact 3rd

1) Better energy system

The Trailblaze power is essentially your currency to grind various items in the game (Image via HoYoverse)

Energy forms an essential system in the mobile gaming industry. In certain titles, you get a set amount of resources that will replenish over time.

Trailblaze Power and Stamina are the energy systems used by Honkai Star Rail and Honkai Impact 3rd, respectively. Due to its experience over the years, HoYoverse made the Trailblaze Power replenish a lot faster in the most recent release.

Unlike Honkai Impact 3rd, you do not need to expend this amount of energy to play the main story or complete events. This eliminates the option of allocating your energy between available story content and material or gear farming. You can play the main plot or the side content while simultaneously farming your essential materials.

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2) Better events and rewards

Events are a form of content that live-service games release to keep their audience engaged. Both Honkai Star Rail and Honkai Impact 3rd host various events for players' entertainment.

Honkai Star Rail's events actually have an underlying plot that involves the protagonist. Meanwhile, Honkai Impact 3rd has relatively limited event gameplay possibilities because its events rarely have stories. You can only finish them by completing a certain amount of missions.

Honkai Star Rail also offers more generous rewards than Honkai Impact 3rd. Even if you don't spend any money, the amount of Stellar Jade that Honkai Star Rail gives away is enough to get a 5-star unit in every patch. In comparison, Honkai Impact 3rd provides fewer rewards, and the primary source of income for the premium currency, Xtal, is daily and weekly challenges.

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3) Honkai Star Rail starts stronger

No matter what the game is, Hoyoverse delivers some heartwarming moments (Image via HoYoverse)

Honkai Impact 3rd's first chapters are frequently criticized, and for good reason. The game begins slowly, and it takes roughly nine chapters to unlock its full potential. After you finish the ninth chapter, you will be treated to a well-written story about the struggles of the three central characters, Kiana, Mei, and Bronya. However, the plot's lethargic start can turn many people off.

In contrast, Honkai Star Rail throws a political plot of struggle and revolution at you as soon as you choose your character, get aboard the train, and land on your first planet of Jarillo-VI. The first chapter is also quite well-written, as players are introduced to each character naturally and learn of their motivations.

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4) Relics are not gacha locked

Almost every character has a best-in-slot Stigmata set (Image via HoYoverse/ Braxophone)

Both games provide their versions of gears, which you can use to power up your character. In Honkai Star Rail, the gears are called Light Cones and Relics, whereas in HonkaiImpact 3rd, they are weapons and Stigmata.

Many free-to-play gamers in the Honkai Impact 3rd community worry that every new character has their best-in-slot stigmata and weapons hidden behind gacha banners. The title offers craftable alternatives, but they are inferior. A character with signature equipment can help tackle challenging content.

In Honkai Star Rail, only the characters' Light Cones are locked behind a gacha system. You can still boost your character stats by farming better Relic equipment parts. While these equipment have unpredictable stats, you do not have to spend your precious currencies to do more damage.

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5) Memory of Chaos does not lock its rewards on full clear

Both games have endgame content to test your builds (Image via HoYoverse)

Both games have endgame content that players can challenge and clear to obtain some premium currencies and other rewards. In Honkai Star Rail, it's the Memory of Chaos, and in Honkai Impact 3rd, it is Q-Manifold/Q-Singularis.

In Honkai Impact 3rd's Q-Manifold, your score is compared to those of other players to determine how many rewards you can get. Those who have spent money on gearing up their character will have higher scores, preventing others who haven't done the same from getting all the rewards, including the premium currency of Xtals.

Meanwhile, after you clear through all the stages in Honkai Star Rail's Memory of Chaos, you get all the rewards, including Stellar Jades, relic upgrade material, and in-game currency. The catch is you need to complete all the missions.

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The second half of Honkai Star Rail's patch 1.4 will be out soon. It will introduce new characters, with 5-Star Topaz, 4-Star Guinaifen, and the game's first-ever rerun banner with Seele.