5 Things Honkai Star Rail Did Better Than Genshin Impact

Genshin Impact could learn some useful features from Honkai Star Rail, which is a game made by the same developer, miHoYo, and was released more recently on April 26, 2023. Honkai Star Rail has certain advantages over Genshin Impact due to its newer release, and it would be beneficial for Genshin Impact to adopt some of these new changes to avoid becoming outdated. These features mainly include quality-of-life enhancements and can be easily implemented if the games share similar gameplay elements. However, it would be unreasonable to expect turn-based combat to be added to this list.

1. More in-depth camera (1st person POV, idle animations, etc.)

Both games have a camera feature, but Honkai Star Rail offers more convenience than Genshin Impact in certain areas. For instance, players can choose idle animations at any time rather than waiting for them to happen, apply filters to recently taken photos, switch to a first-person point of view with a simple button, exclude the game's logo, and make their character turn around. Overall, the camera system in Honkai Star Rail is more enjoyable to use compared to Genshin Impact's. Incorporating some of these enhancements would give Travelers more control over their photos than they currently have.

2. Auto battling + speeding up gameplay

Genshin Impact could benefit from implementing two features from Honkai Star Rail that would make the game more convenient for players who want to farm items. These features are an auto-battling option and the ability to speed up gameplay. Honkai Star Rail is more convenient for farming compared to Genshin Impact due to these two features.

The auto-battling feature allows players to leave the game running while they are away and return to find that all their enemies have been defeated. This is especially useful for players who are busy, allowing them to grind in-game without actually wasting time. The farming process in Genshin Impact, such as for artifacts and materials, can be tedious, so any feature that can make it more enjoyable would be a welcome addition.

3. Fighting multiple waves while farming items

Honkai Star Rail offers players the ability to spend their equivalent of Resin in multiple batches, allowing them to fight several waves of enemies in one go. This makes it more convenient for players who want to farm multiple fights in one session. Combined with the auto-battling and sped-up gameplay features, it's clear that miHoYo's latest title is more user-friendly.

In contrast, Genshin Impact players have to manually clear something and then start over the Domain or Leyline, which can spawn in a different location. Additionally, Travelers have less Resin that regenerates at a slower rate compared to Honkai Star Rail players with their equivalent resource.

4. Easier access to in-game Redemption Codes

Both Genshin Impact and Honkai Star Rail have an official website where players can enter Redemption Codes. However, some players may prefer to enter the codes in-game. Honkai Star Rail is more convenient for this as players can simply click on the ellipsis, select Redemption Code, and paste the code. In comparison, Genshin Impact's in-game method requires players to pause the game, click on Settings, select Account, click on Redeem Now, and then paste the code. Although it may not seem like a significant difference, it's worth noting that Genshin Impact's method is less intuitive for new players and has a brief waiting time for different Paimon Menus to load, whereas Honkai Star Rail's method is much simpler.

5. Assignments can be issued anywhere unlike Expeditions

To complete their Expeditions in Genshin Impact, players need to talk to any Katheryne in any major city, which involves going through some minor dialog options. This, combined with the need to teleport to a major city, makes the feature less convenient than it could be. In contrast, Honkai Star Rail allows players to access everything related to Expeditions from the pause menu, making it more convenient for the average player. Both games have a limit of 20 hours for Expeditions.

Genshin Impact would benefit from implementing Honkai Star Rail's quality-of-life features, as even minor changes would be appreciated by players.

Extra: Star Rail's writing is much better than Genshin

I’ve seen some people knocking the story and writing, but I’ve been very impressed at how much better the dialogue, characterization, and story at large is in HSR compared to Genshin.

The characters feel much more defined and idiosyncratic vs. being closer to stock anime tropes. The intricacies of the world designs feel far more immersive and lived-in than any of the regions of Teyvat. The lore of the game feels much more connected to the actual characters and events of the game itself, whereas in Genshin there’s a very noticeable disconnect between the haunting, high fantasy meta narrative of Genshin and the anime, slice-of-life stories that comprise 85% of the story missions. Tonally, the whole “vibe” of the game feels much more witty, sharp, and dynamic than Genshin which feels grand and fantastical, but often pretty stale and repetitive. Obviously, we’re still only on 1.0 and things can obviously change over time, but I’m already hooked on the story of the Express and excited to see where the plot goes.

None of this is to say Genshin is poorly written, but I find HSR to be a step up (so far).

>>> Read more: Must-Avoid Mistakes When Using Baizhu In Genshin Impact