New Honkai: Star Rail 4.0 Character Is Changing The Game Forever

4 days ago 13

Sparkle smiles with wide eyes in Honkai Star Rail.

Bruno Yonezawa is a Gaming Senior Writer for Screen Rant. He's been practicing professional journalism for over 10 years, and is also a communications specialist. He's played games all his life and turned that passionate hobby into a passionate career, in an industry where he's worked as a writer, editor, analyst, and more.

The release of a new character in Honkai: Star Rail 4.0 is going to change the turn-based RPG forever, setting a new standard for what players will expect moving forward. Version 4.0 is the next big update for the game, though it will arrive a little later than usual because of a delay. Even so, the beta tests have started, revealing leaks about the content, including what may be Honkai: Star Rail’s worst mistake with Version 4.0.

Part of the leaked content includes the new destination, allegedly called Planarcadia, as well as details about the confirmed new characters, Sparxie and Yao Guang. The leaks have even provided confirmation about a highly-anticipated Honkai: Star Rail character who has long been rumored and may finally be introduced – perhaps, initially, as an NPC – during the 4.x story arc.

Sparxie's Animations In Honkai: Star Rail 4.0 Are Surreal

There Was A Big Investment Into The New Elation Character

Sparxie holds her phone in key art for Honkai Star Rail.

In spite of the new destination and campaign arc, the new characters who follow the Path of the Elation are put under the spotlight. New leak footage provided by Dim, which was shared by user aliencreature9 on Reddit, shows Sparxie’s set of animations, both in and outside of battle. The video shows that HoYoverse put a lot of effort into animating her.

One of the highlights in the video is the animation for Sparxie’s Skill in Honkai: Star Rail, which may be one of the longest and most elaborate Skill animations seen so far. Given the complexity of the animation, which has her in a virtual battle against the opponent, it is quite easy to mistake it for an Ultimate ability, but that is not the case.

The rest of Sparxie’s animations are also well-designed, even if they are within the current standards for the turn-based RPG. However, Sparxie’s Skill truly stands out as remarkable. In the comments, users talk about how Sparxie’s animations make the leaked animations for Yao Guang, which were shared by Firestar3689 on Reddit, feel dull in comparison.

Sparxie Will Go Well With Sparkle's Rework

Honkai: Star Rail Is Making Elation A Playable Path

Honkai Star Rail's Sparkle smiles and poses in front of a sparkling effect.

As no surprise, Sparxie is expected to be one of the best teammates for Sparkle, especially after Sparkle’s confirmed rework for Version 4.0. Sparxie is a 5-star Fire character on the Path of the Elation, and while it’s unclear exactly what the main gimmick behind Elation is, Sparxie’s leaked kit on Honey Hunter World shows that she will rely on Skill Points, which can easily be recovered with Sparkle in Honkai: Star Rail.

Despite the potential problems with the new destination for the Trailblazers, this will be a large year in terms of content, driven by new characters and a brand-new playable Path. Sparxie shows that HoYoverse is working on making its characters deeper, both in terms of gameplay and animation in Honkai: Star Rail, but only time will prove if future releases will follow the character or not.