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The new Honkai Star Rail update is better than you think

As the Express docks are in a brand new area with plenty to do, people to meet, and a rich story to investigate, we’re having a great time.

Honkai Star Rail 3.0 update - Aglaea during a cutscene leaning on her hand

I don’t know about you, but I’m getting stuck into Honkai Star Rail’s 3.0 update, which takes the Astral Express to Amphoreus, a Grecian-inspired world where a new journey awaits Dan Heng, the Trailblazer, and co.

The aesthetics and new characters are really endearing, as is the story, but let’s address the elephant in the room: the voice actor strike. Most older characters don’t have voice lines in 3.0’s first update – but remember, this is not Hoyo’s fault, or even the VA’s themselves. It’s jarring having so much silence, but the strike is to push back against the use of AI, so I support it. Thankfully, there is voice acting for all of Amphoreus’ characters.

As you step onto this new world, you meet Phainon, a Kevin Kaslana expy from Honkai Impact 3, who looks an awful lot like Honkai Star Rail’s Sunday – surely this must come up and can’t be a coincidence? He’s one of Amphoreus’ Chrysos Heirs and is a warrior protecting the people of Okhema.

Trailblazers also meet Mydei. What a character – his voice actor sounds exactly the same as Genshin Impact Capitano’s, and it fits him very well. Similar to Phainon resembling Sunday, Mydei looks strikingly like Fate’s Gilgamesh. This may signal the start of the Honkai Star Rail x Fate crossover or, again, be a wild coincidence. Either way, as someone who wants more male characters in these games, Mydei is right at the top of my pull list. I do wish he wasn’t another five-star imaginary-using man, though.

It does perhaps feel like either of these boys should have been on the first banner instead of The Herta or even Aglaea, but as The Herta is a very anticipated character, and Aglaea’s the first to use the new summon mechanic, I get it. Plus, it means I’ve got more time to save up. Triple reruns on both halves of the banner in 3.0 are absolutely diabolical, though.

Honkai Star Rail 3.0 update - Dr. Ratio outside a shop on Amphoreus

The new mechanics introduced in combat with Amphoreus’ enemies are easy to grasp – we all know that Star Rail has a lot going on, but compared to some of Penacony’s enemies this is a walk in the park.

However, not everyone in the community shares this positivity. There is some kickback relating mostly to the amount of black-screen-with-text breaks in the story instead of still artwork or cutscenes and the lack of movement options for characters while they talk. I do understand this gripe, it’s the same in Genshin – NPCs will cross their arms, hold out a hand, or gesture repeatedly during conversations, and that’s it.

There are also complaints about the length of the story, but it doesn’t feel massively different to me, and I’ve played since the first day of patch 1.0. The story in this game is as long as you make it; there’s rarely a moment when you’re encouraged to do it all in one long sitting, so space it out and take your time exploring.

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I for one am very intrigued to see where the story goes with the mention of flame-chasing, Honkai Impact 3rd expys, and the Fate collab. Plus, I want to know whether Honkai Star Rail’s Dr. Ratio will officially appear instead of being a bug.

I’ll spend my weekend blasting through the story and finding treasure in all the nooks and crannies of Amphoreus. If you plan to do the same, these Honkai Star Rail codes will come in handy so you can pull on the Honkai Star Rail banners.