Genshin Impact studio reveals new game, with closed beta this week

Honkai: Star Rail
(Image credit: MiHoYo)

If you too are in the grip of a crippling Genshin Impact addiction, we've got bad news. Developer MiHoYo has revealed it's creating a new game in its Honkai series. Honkai: Star Rail will get a closed beta sign-up event on October 8.

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Honkai: Star Rail looks to be another JRPG with gacha mechanics, and as part of the Honkai series will likely feature a team of Valkyries for you to command as they battle a corrupting force known as Honkai, which can create monsters and trigger apocalyptic events. The last game in the series was Honkai Impact 3rd for PC and mobile, and fans of the series are speculating that Star Rail will take place in an alternate universe to its predecessor. For now, there aren't many details beyond the pretty art, the closed beta promise, and a few rips of a teaser trailer floating around YouTube, but MiHoYo has created social media accounts for its new game across Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, and Facebook so you can expect to see more details as the beta kicks off this week. 

While Genshin Impact made Chinese studio MiHoYo famous in the west, Honkai Academy 2 (originally titled Gun Girls Z) was released in 2014, followed by Honkai Impact 3rd in 2017. This game found a global audience, with 35 million downloads worldwide by 2018, according to the studio. 

Genshin Impact recently celebrated its one-year anniversary, but the party vibes soured as fans expressed their dissatisfaction over the in-game anniversary festivities. 

"We’ve been paying close attention to various feedback regarding Genshin Impact's first anniversary," the studio told GamesRadar+.

"We’ve already come up with more celebrations including the coming Genshin Impact online concert and thank-you gifts to express our gratitude for players’ support all the way along."

Still don't get the appeal of Genshin Impact? Find out why one of our team has played Genshin Impact every day for a year and will recommend it to anyone who'll listen.

Rachel Weber
Managing Editor, US

Rachel Weber is the US Managing Editor of GamesRadar+ and lives in Brooklyn, New York. She joined GamesRadar+ in 2017, revitalizing the news coverage and building new processes and strategies for the US team.