Editorial Lowdown RPG

Is Honkai Star Rail the first AAA turn-based RPG in over a decade?

By Michael Mirrorcle / April 7, 2023

Honkai Star Rail is on the horizon and it could be the first AAA Turn Based RPG since Final Fantasy 13. For those who don’t know what AAA in terms of video games, it stands for a game with a huge budget and high production values.

Now, I know some of you might be thinking “What about Persona 5 or Dragon Quest 11? Aren’t those AAA games too?” Well, no, they’re not. While those games are great, they don’t meet the criteria for being a AAA game, which typically means a budget of at least $50 million for development and marketing. Those are just A or maybe AA games if you want to get technical. Mihoyo, the developers behind it, spent $100 million on Genshin Impact alone, so we can expect some major resources put into Honkai Star Rail as well.

Speaking of Genshin Impact, that’s what makes me hopeful about Honkai Star Rail. Mihoyo proved they can create a gorgeous and expansive world with Genshin Impact, and now they’re taking on the turn-based JRPG genre. It’s a risky move, but we can trust Mihoyo to deliver (Maybe). Plus, let’s be real, we need more turn-based JRPGs in our lives. SquareEnix has shown they are no longer interested in big budget turn based RPGs. See Final Fantasy XV, 7 Remake and XVI for reference.

The shift from Genshin Impact’s action RPG combat to Honkai Star Rail’s turn-based combat is a major change for Mihoyo, but I’m excited to see what they come up with. Honkai Star Rail has the potential to bring back the classic feel of turn-based combat while also incorporating Mihoyo’s signature stunning visuals and immersive worlds.

While I would love to go on about the game’s potential, I do need to discuss the big pink elephant in the room: It’s a Gacha game. As we’ve seen with Genshin Impact and other mobile games, the Gacha model has been very successful in monetizing games. Players have the chance to obtain rare and powerful characters or items by spending real-world money on randomized draws. This model has proven to be very profitable and has led to many companies adopting it in their games.

Free-to-play (F2P) games have also become increasingly popular in recent years. By allowing players to download and play games for free, developers can attract a much larger audience. However, F2P games often rely on microtransactions to generate revenue, which has been a controversial topic in the gaming community. I myself find that in a quandary about whether to invest time in these kinds of games.

The combination of Gacha and F2P models could be the future of JRPGs. With more players than ever before, developers can potentially earn more revenue from Gacha draws and microtransactions. This would allow them to continue creating high-quality games without the need for a large upfront cost from players.

Of course, this model is not without its flaws. Some players may feel pressured to spend money to get the best characters or items, leading to a pay-to-win scenario. However, with proper balancing and fair gameplay mechanics, Gacha and F2P models could be the future of JRPGs. Only time will tell if this is the direction the industry will take. In the meantime, I’m getting on the Honkai Star Rail hype train.

Honkai Star Rail is set to release on April 26 on iOS and Android with a Playstation 4|5 and EPIC Game Store launch later.

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Michael Mirrorcle

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7 thoughts on “Is Honkai Star Rail the first AAA turn-based RPG in over a decade?”

  1. There’s been a ton of amazing turn-based games persona 5 is amazing you’ll need stupid funding and over-the-top advertisement that doesn’t make a good game

  2. The idea that you can call a mobile game, with the most generic turn based battle system bordering on autobattle a AAA game just because it has high marketing budget, is honestly kind of disgusting. This honestly reads like a puff piece comissioned by the developers

    1. I really wish this was a puff piece. This post in not sponsored. I’m just really excited about this game and what could potentially come from this shift much like Multiversus.

  3. Terrible article. Maybe research what a “AAA” game actually is instead of making up that it’s any game that costs over $100 million to develop. You’d be closer stating it’s a game with a high budget, marketing push, developed by a large team and major developer. By this actual fact, this mobile gacha game would not be the 1st AAA RPG in the past 10 years, especially since Final Fantasy XV came out in 2016. Star Rail is barely a AA game and isnt a AAA game just because of a large budget. Plenty of high budget games have flopped horrendously. Persona 5 would be a AAA game just to the sheer production VALUE, sales, and popularity. This sounds like a shill article that was paid for by MiHoYo.

    2. People complaining about calling out the lack of AAA turn based rpgs are smoking crack. You can play semantics all you want but this guy is right. We just don’t get big budget turn based games anymore and I am glad someone finally had the balls to call it like it is.

      Homie even mentioned P5 and DQ, and then the comments like “No no P5! P5”.

      More companies need to get their head out of their ass and realize that a fuckton of us are starving to death for a high budget turn based game. I am very sad that Mihoyo was the one to grow a backbone but here we are. I am jumping on the hype train too purely to support big budget turn based even though I hate Mihoyo and gatcha.(and yes I love P5 too ffs) Just being real

  4. AAA is western dev marketing bullshit. That’s it. Even Mihoyo probably wouldn’t call themselves AAA. It’s a dumb marketing title for people who base their sense of quality and worth on money alone.

    Anyone with half a brain knows that’s all it is and if you actually research it and it’s use, you’ll see it confirmed.

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