Honkai: Star Rail's "For The Sun Is Set To Die" Update Really Reinforces That HoYo Is Building A Multigame Universe

Last Week, HoYoverse dropped the latest chapter of the Amphoreus storyline in the turn-based action RPG Honkai: Star Rail. Titled “For the Sun is Set to Die”, the update picked up where we left off with the last of the Chrysos Heirs, Phainon, resolved to meet his fate while also holding out hope that the Trailblazer might have something up their sleeve.

Of course, the Nameless are not ones to walk away when a world needs help. That’s not to say they have a plan. But winging it is their specialty. And that’s where we come in at the beginning of the latest update.

We were given a chance to spend some time with this new content before it officially dropped on July 2. Of course, being me, I chose to spend that time with the game’s story. I was given access to a full roster of max-level characters to play with, and put together a team of characters that appealed to me. When it comes to setting up my roster, I’m not the min-maxing type. I choose my team based on which characters I like spending time with. That said, in this case, I simply tested some of the characters out to see what their abilities looked like.

The thing is, as I commented on in an earlier post, the Amphoreus storyline seems to have less combat than any of the game’s previous zones. So, unless I wanted to veer away from the main questline to fight some things, there wasn’t a lot of need to use my new team. In addition, portions of the story only allowed you to use Phainon in combat.

I will admit that he has some cool traits. Our “last man standing” has some very powerful and destructive abilities, which is appropriate as he does follow the path of Destruction. And the trial he goes through in this new update fleshes him out in a way that he wasn’t before. Yes, he’s still the guy who has taken it upon himself to carry the world. But now we know why and what damage that decision has caused.

I’m not going to go into great detail on the story itself, as the update has only been out for a week, and I understand not everyone can get to it that quickly. I’m definitely not here to spoil it for you.

That said, if you haven’t been playing Honkai: Star Rail, one of the things you need to know about it is that HoYoverse really enjoys having a lot of different story threads to pull at, and they will take their time with it. Often, there will be B and C (and maybe even D) plots happening, and we’ll spend a bit of time with the characters involved before coming back to the main storyline. But when that happens, we can easily walk away with more questions than answers.

I mean, we spent a long time wondering what was going on with March 7 as she slumbered in ice. We saw a bit of what was happening with Welt, Sunday, and The Herta as they tried to discover the source of this problem. But it wasn’t until now that we really got some answers to those things, when everything is finally coming together. And yet, we're still left with questions.

In the meantime, we’re moving between the various stories of the Chrysos Heirs, learning about their histories and their fates, as well as the predetermined fate of their world. And being Trailblazers, we can’t help but try to put fate in its place. There’s a lot happening, and it’s attracted the attention of more than one Aeon.

The narrative does an excellent job of letting us know things are happening without letting us know exactly what’s happening until the precise moment we’re supposed to know. It can be a little frustrating, but in the “I want to know!” way rather than feeling baited by the writers.

Moreover, everything that we’ve been seeing in Honkai: Star Rail’s Amphoreus storyline proves that HoYo was serious about creating an entire HoYoverse with (most) of its game worlds tied together in some way. (Zenless Zone Zero doesn’t seem to be part of that plan.)

While set up as a Greek-esque tragedy (And make no mistake, it is a tragedy of epic proportions), Amphoreus’ story parallels what’s been happening in Teyvat in Genshin Impact. Both worlds exist beneath a fake sky. Both have higher beings exercising authority over the mortals that live on those worlds, even preventing them from attempting to leave. Both have secrets that even god-like beings with “authority” over the mortals seem not to have grasped. For both, the world seems to be a data construct.

Of course, there are the tie-ins to Honkai Impact 3rd that have been there since the beginning as well. Welt Yang is the most direct, having come from that universe. But as we work our way through Amphoreus, another big association crops up, with even more parallels.

I’d been curious about Welt’s history for a while now, not having played the first game. So I’d decided to download it and play for Welt’s story. But Amphoreus and the journey of the Chrysos Heirs have made me even more curious about the rest of the game’s story and its characters. For me, that’s a true sign of a thought-out universe, and one I’m happy to spend time in. It’s probably why I’ve spent the last several updates – this one included – up to the wee hours of the morning, only to get to the “to be continued” screen and stumble off to bed slightly frustrated by not having learned more.

The only thing that I can say that comes anywhere close to being a complaint is just that, for me personally, I’d like to see a bit more combat. I don’t mind a visual novel style. And I’m honestly grateful that HoYo decided to allow us to AFK grind some of the materials we need for leveling. But my team would still be happy to see a bit more in-story action. Then again, perhaps it makes sense as the Trailblazer and Dan Heng have been the only Nameless on Amphoreus this entire time.

Of course, the version update didn't just come with new main story content. All HoYo updates come packed with side content, new playable characters, and the like. This update is also the lead-in to the Fate/stay night crossover, which will introduce two new playable characters from that universe and give us a reason to spend more time in Penacony. Some new versions of fun mini-game events are also back.

As it can be a bit difficult to keep track of all side events in games, I typically stick to the ones that have story content. But I know some people are really here for the challenge, and will enjoy completing these as well.

Oh. And on an additional note, it's so good to have Nicholas Leung back to voice Dan Heng. We really missed you.