Whether you’re a Honkai Star Rail loremaster or a newcomer, the complex world HoYoverse has created is confusing, to say the least, with fresh terminology, mountains of characters, and a universe of bustling locations at your fingertips. Thankfully, the Honkai Star Rail 2.0 update is bringing several quality-of-life improvements to HoYoverse’s interstellar RPG on PS5.
The Honkai Star Rail 2.0 update is on course to be the biggest update to the game yet, with the HSR 1.6 livestream hopefully clueing us in on the first milestone update featuring Penacony, the first new world since launch. However, the mountains of new and improved features, including Orlay Crossroads, are arguably more exciting than the new location and Honkai Star Rail banner schedule coming to one of the best RPG games on PS5.
Revealed in the Developer Radio: Penacony Special Edition, Honkai Star Rail 2.0 introduces the Orlay Crossroads system to help you better understand and keep track of the ever-evolving narrative and lore web. With this system, each Trailblaze Mission, Trailblaze Continuance, Companion Mission, and specific Adventure Missions will be showcased in a “tree diagram”, as the developers state. Here, they will be organized based on their position in the timeline and their location.
Why is this a big deal? Well, this menu will make it more convenient to “directly view, access each mission, and clarify the relationships between different missions”. That’s right! You’ll finally be able to recap the ongoing story, track your progress, and gain a deeper understanding of the often-overlooked HSR story. We can’t wait to see this feature in action when the next stage in our trailblazing mission opens up in HSR Version 2.0 as we venture to Penacony.
However, the brand-new Orlay Crossroads feature isn’t the only important change coming in Honkai Star Rail Version 2.0. As the blog notes, there are also much-needed changes to the Relic system, character upgrades and materials, and free-to-play Light Cones.
First up, HoYoverse also gives us a closer look at the changes to the Relic system that were teased in the previous Developer Radio blog. Version 2.0 debuts the ‘Quick Enhance’ function at long last, allowing you to upgrade a Relic to the next stage with significantly less hassle. For example, you can upgrade directly from level 0 to level 3, or 3 to 6 in a single enhancement. You’ll notice this right away when you get your hands on a new character and it comes time to kit them out with full Relic sets.
HSR 2.0 will also bring overhauls to the Relic salvaging system, just in time for a suite of new Relics. With these changes, you will be able to salvage five-star Relics into Lost Gold Fragments or Relic Remains, giving you more bang for your buck when salvaging unwanted Relics. Likewise, the filter function is also getting a facelift, with the ability to exclude stats that aren’t needed to narrow down your search. When paired with the new Relic set recommendation function, we’re hoping that kitting out new characters will be much easier and faster than ever for veterans and new players alike.
Continuing this theme, HoYoverse has also revealed major changes to upgrade materials. Alongside the changes in Version 1.6, players can expect to earn materials dropped from defeated enemies when completing Golden Calyxes. As an example, the Golden Calyx in Belobog will now drop items like Extinguished Cores and Cores of Ice. Finding these materials right now is a chore, so we can’t wait to have a more direct method of grinding these vital materials. With this change, HoYoverse will also be adding new Golden Calyx stages across the Xianzhou Luofu and Penacony to give players the opportunity to obtain materials dropped in different maps.
Last but by no means least, free-to-play Trailblazers can rejoice as the Forgotten Hall Light Cone Manifest shop will be refreshed in Honkai Star Rail 2.0. After nearly a year without any significant updates, players were beginning to wonder whether the selection of free Lightcones would be left to stagnate, though we’re happy to report that a new batch of Light Cones will be available. So, stock up on Lucent Afterglow as there could be some new meta Light Cone offerings available in the Forgotten Hall’s Light Cone shop, though we’ll have to wait for the full reveal of these items.
With all the new content coming in Honkai Star Rail 2.0, from Orlay Crossroads to the new characters and Relics, we expect the Honkai Star Rail tier list to see new and old faces alike rise to the top as the best Honkai Star Rail team comp shifts. Thankfully, a brand-new location in HSR Version 2.0 also means lots of chests and challenges to complete for sweet, sweet Honkai Star Rail Stellar Jade. So, pack your bags, Trailblazer, it’s almost time to board the Astral Express for Penacony.