Preview: Genshin Impact, Honkai: Star Rail Dev Has Quietly Become a PS5, PS4 Powerhouse | Push Square
28.09.2023 - 00:04
/ pushsquare.com
/ Genshin Impact
/ Honkai
In the opening hall of the Makuhari Messe this Tokyo Game Show was an enormous, monolithic tribute to HoYoverse, a company fast becoming one of PlayStation’s most important developers. While the juggernaut Chinese studio may not get the same recognition as the likes of Naughty Dog or FromSoftware, its games are absolutely colossal in scale – and to underline our point, the company is registering greater profit margins than the entirety of Sony’s gaming division right now.
Its influence could be felt not just at TGS, but around Tokyo in general – especially in the Akihabara area. For example, we spotted one vendor adjacent to an arcade flogging Genshin Impact-themed pastries. Meanwhile, the fantasy open worlder’s characters could be seen decorating many of the streets, while billboards overlooked iconic photo spots. It’s not just in Japan either, by the way – Ximen station in Taipei is also wallpapered with the gacha’s colourful cast.
But while the organisation’s meteoric rise can be attributed predominantly to Genshin Impact, the developer’s catalogue is expanding. Obviously, Honkai: Star Rail will release on PS5 this coming 11th October, and is already a gigantic hit on PC and mobile. And then it’s got the urban flavoured Zenless Zone Zero cooking, which was confirmed for consoles late last week. We went hands on with both games on the show floor.
While there are common themes between Genshin Impact and Honkai: Star Rail, we think HoYoverse has done an incredible job differentiating the two. Achieving that a third time was always going to be difficult, however – and yet Zenless Zone Zero has a totally different vibe to the developer’s current two flagship titles.
This feels like a Dreamcast game in terms of presentation, with its colourful, contemporary, vaguely Japanese urban streets. While our demo time was frustratingly limited, we were able to explore the hub area which will presumably form the foundations of the gameplay. It’s all as slick and beautifully presented as you’d expect from the developer, with a ramen vendor and arcades lining the streets.
The music – a consistent aspect acclaimed in HoYoverse games – is absolutely superb, and this hub area feels like it could comfortably expand over the course of the title’s lifespan. We didn’t get to test out the combat for ourselves due to a lack of time, but watching over the shoulder of other attendees it appears to have a similar flavour to Genshin Impact, with constant character switching.
It’s worth underlining that this is a real-time action game, as opposed to the turn-based more tactical action of Honkai: Star Rail. It looks faster and more frenetic than anything HoYoverse has made before – even including the decidedly flashy mobile title