The Astral Express is your base of operations for all things trailblazing in Honkai Star Rail. It’s where you’ll return to after a long, hard day of interfering with the politics of planets – and saving the day in search of Stellarons. However, it’s also supposed to be your home, full of friendly faces. Yet it never quite feels cozy enough, and that’s why we desperately need HoYoverse to add Astral Express customization into Honkai Star Rail.
I know I am not the only one who thought that, after we get sent to visit Dan Heng and March 7th’s rooms onboard the Astral Express, we’d be sent to our own personalized room that we can call home. In fact, it’s been a complaint floating around in the community following the launch of the game. As much as I love Dan Heng and March in this buddy adventure through the stars, as the Trailblazer, we deserve our own room to kick back in after a long day.
To add insult to injury, Dan Heng and March 7th’s dorms are packed full of personality. Little trinkets adorn the walls and furniture fills the room with a sense of sincerity and expression reflective of the possibilities that come with player customisation.
Genshin Impact, in comparison, has a player home customisation system with the Serenita Teapot. You can acquire furnishing blueprints and other decorations to customize a whole manor and realm within a teapot. While it certainly has its limitations, mainly a heavy restriction on how many items you can place, it gives players an engaging side activity away from questing, combat, and grinding for the best Honkai Star Rail builds and team comps.
Astral Express customisation in Honkai Star Rail could offer a similar reprieve from the tactical turn-based action. This feature could enable you to change the carpets and accent colors of the main carriage, and decorate rather empty walls with decorations and ornaments. While the structure of the carriage, with its iconic large, plush seats around the table, would likely remain intact, even limited control of the stylings would be a welcome addition.
As for our own private cabin, full furniture decoration to really personalize the area for our Trailblazer would bring the personal nature of the narrative to the rather lifeless and static interior of the Astral Express. In many ways, it would be a means of reflecting the twisting journey the Honkai Star Rail characters go on as the only consistent location between planet hopping.
Furthermore, acquiring furniture and decorations could be a strong incentive to complete challenges and activities, with each planet offering different styles reflective of their culture and architecture. We actually get a glimpse of something like this with the customisable music that plays onboard the Express. Different tracks are unlocked as you progress through the narrative and the planets, with each new addition marking a step in the journey.
This is when I came to the realization that I want full control over the Astral Express; it’s teaming with potential. Adding furniture and other customisation options to the Astral Express would present HoYoverse with an easy opportunity to pull players back to previously-explored locations, while also broadening the rewards in-game challenges and activities offer.
All in all, I am confident that Astral Express customisation would be a popular addition to Honkai Star Rail, with players having a personal space they can truly call home as they trailblaze through the galaxy. With the Trailblazer and crew hopping between planets to stop various disasters, the journey is just as much about the friends we make along the way as it is saving the universe.
While we wait to see if HoYoverse delivers on what the fans want, keep an eye out for the latest news on the Honkai Star Rail banner schedule to see which characters you can add to your collection next, particularly those that rank highly on our Honkai Star Rail tier list of best characters.