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Since launching in late April, Honkai: Star Rail has already made big waves within the gaming community. The exciting combination of turn-based combat and a gacha system has many players investing time and money to pull for the Honkai: Star Rail strongest characters for their teams. Star Rail's overall story, which is still incomplete, has also intrigued players so far.

As many HoYoverse fans know, Honkai: Star Rail shares a name with action RPG Honkai Impact 3rd. While this is the case, the developer has established that the former isn't a direct sequel, despite featuring similar characters such as Bronya, Seele, and Himeko. Nonetheless, there might still be some people who are wondering whether they should play through Honkai Impact to understand what's going on in Star Rail.

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The Honkai: Star Rail and Honkai Impact 3rd Comparison

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HoYoverse previously confirmed that it's creating a multiverse that includes the worlds within Honkai: Star Rail, Honkai Impact 3rd, and Genshin Impact. They are all connected through the Imaginary Tree, which originated in Honkai Impact, and was described as the origin of life where universes and bubble worlds were born. The Imaginary Tree was also tackled in Star Rail's Data Bank, which referred to it as a theory of the universe widely accepted within the scientific community. This meant that both Honkai games exist in the same universe, which explained why there were alternate versions of certain characters. Jarilo-IV and the Xianzhou Luofu can also be considered bubble worlds born from the Imaginary Tree.

However, newbies aren't necessarily required to get through Honkai Impact 3rd's story first to understand Honkai: Star Rail. The latter's main story so far can stand on its own even without prior knowledge of its predecessor's lore. Players can easily digest the story through character dialogue and documents they can pick up as they explore the open world. They can also access lore pieces via the character voice lines and the short entries written on Light Cones.

There have been much speculation already about what's coming next in the Trailblazers' adventure. It's possible that they'll meet future playable characters along the way, who may or may not be part of recent leaks. Another theory involves the Unknown God, who's appeared in Honkai Impact 3rd and Genshin Impact, showing up in Honkai: Star Rail. Nothing is set in stone yet, but it would be interesting to see how all three games will tie in together. Especially since Star Rail already has Imaginary-element character Welt Yang, who was a former Sovereign of Anti-Entropy and believed to have come from Honkai Impact's universe.

Combat-wise, Honkai: Star Rail is turn-based, which is a completely different mechanic from Honkai Impact 3rd's slasher fighting style. So, players have more freedom to experiment with team compositions as they acquire more characters in Star Rail. If anything, the most notable similarity it shares with Honkai Impact and Genshin Impact are the weapon upgrades.

There might also be gamers who would want to dive deeper into HoYoverse's extensive lore, and it's perfectly understandable if they decide to play both Honkai games simultaneously to get the most out of their stories. This could also be a great chance to spot existing and upcoming Honkai: Star Rail characters who were also in Honkai Impact 3rd. For instance, Silver Wolf's Honkai Impact counterpart was Bronie, aka an alternate version of Bronya Zaychik that's wearing a Haxxor Bunny battlesuit.

Overall, Honkai: Star Rail players won't have to pressure themselves to know everything about Honkai Impact 3rd to get through its story. Whether the two games would intersect in the future or not is still a big question that HoYoverse might not be able to answer for now, but it would be an exciting in-game event if it does happen.

Honkai: Star Rail is now available on Android, iOS, and PC. A PlayStation version is currently in development.

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