Honkai Star Rail's combat could have looked a lot more like Clair Obscur's

Honkai Star Rail’s follow-up attack system is one of the most satisfying parts of the turn-based RPG’s combat system, but according to the lead designer, this feature very nearly wasn’t included. Instead, the mobile game’s combat originally looked a lot closer to Clair Obscur: Expedition 33’s parry-centric QTE system. In a recent interview with IGN’s Rebekah Valentine for the game’s second anniversary, Honkai Star Rail’s lead designer, Chengnan An, spoke about the evolution of the gacha game’s combat mechanics. According to An, early builds of the game featured “weakness break QTEs” that would let the player manually choose an action when breaking the enemy’s elemental weakness. However, the team switched out this mechanic for follow-up attacks, like Honkai Star Rail Herta’s iconic ‘Fine, I’ll Do It Myself’ spin attack, because An said, “On paper, [weakness break QTEs] made sense, but in practice, it actually slowed down the flow of combat.” Of course, QTEs in turn-based RPGs aren’t unheard of, and Sandfall Interactive’s Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is currently blowing up the best Steam Deck games chart while implementing a very similar system. Continue reading Honkai Star Rail's combat could have looked a lot more like Clair Obscur's MORE FROM POCKET TACTICS: Honkai Star Rail codes, Honkai Star Rail tier list, Honkai Star Rail banners

May 26, 2025 - 01:30

Honkai Star Rail's combat could have looked a lot more like Clair Obscur's

Honkai Star Rail’s follow-up attack system is one of the most satisfying parts of the turn-based RPG’s combat system, but according to the lead designer, this feature very nearly wasn’t included. Instead, the mobile game’s combat originally looked a lot closer to Clair Obscur: Expedition 33’s parry-centric QTE system.

In a recent interview with IGN’s Rebekah Valentine for the game’s second anniversary, Honkai Star Rail’s lead designer, Chengnan An, spoke about the evolution of the gacha game’s combat mechanics. According to An, early builds of the game featured “weakness break QTEs” that would let the player manually choose an action when breaking the enemy’s elemental weakness.

However, the team switched out this mechanic for follow-up attacks, like Honkai Star Rail Herta’s iconic ‘Fine, I’ll Do It Myself’ spin attack, because An said, “On paper, [weakness break QTEs] made sense, but in practice, it actually slowed down the flow of combat.” Of course, QTEs in turn-based RPGs aren’t unheard of, and Sandfall Interactive’s Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is currently blowing up the best Steam Deck games chart while implementing a very similar system.

Continue reading Honkai Star Rail's combat could have looked a lot more like Clair Obscur's

MORE FROM POCKET TACTICS: Honkai Star Rail codes, Honkai Star Rail tier list, Honkai Star Rail banners