Tectone claims Honkai falls short of challenging Genshin’s throne—but there’s hope

After pouring a lot of hours into Honkai: Star Rail since its release without spending a dime, Genshin Impact streamer Tectone has decreed that, while it is one of the best gacha games he’s ever played, Honkai doesn’t do enough to dethrone Genshin.

The Twitch star pinned it on four things in a review he uploaded on YouTube on April 26—the “horrible” gacha rates and banners for free-to-play users, the fact the open world is “very limited” compared to Genshin, not being able to skip dialogue, and not being able to jump, which made him feel like he was losing his mind.

He did admit the first issue was something he felt about Genshin too. As for the rest, they’re all issues unique to Honkai: Star Rail that soured his experience, if only a little.

Despite that, he said it still sits in the top three gachas of all time, maybe even top two (behind Genshin in first, of course). “Obviously, Genshin is the best gacha I’ve ever played,” the star streamer added. “Still, this game is really good right now. I would give this game a solid 8.5 out of 10 as far as gachas go.”

In particular, he praised the combat, claiming it feels fantastic and is one of the smoothest turn-based RPG experiences he’s ever had.

He also said he was a huge fan of the knockdown system, the stamina system, the difficulty, the story, the graphics, the sound design, the characters, the world, and more.

Tectone believes Honkai: Star Rail released at the perfect time for Genshin players to step away and have a break from what’s become a rather stale experience as they eagerly await the massive 4.0 update coming sometime after July.

“I think this is exactly the break HoYoverse players are going to need… relax, and enjoy a different game for a little bit and go back when 4.0 comes out,” he said. “I think this is great and this is going to stall me until my return to Genshin [for] 4.0. I’m enjoying every second of it. You should give it a shot.”

Related: Honkai: Star Rail gameplay explained

So, while it falls short of dethroning Genshin, it’s still a viable alternative he believes he and other players can have a blast grinding, and it mostly lives up to the hype.