Honkai: Star Rail Version 3.0 Impressions – The Curse of Amphoreus

Honkai Star Rail Version 3.0 Impressions - The Curse of Amphoreus

One of HoYoverse’s gachas, Honkai: Star Rail, recently received its long-awaited major Version 3.0. This time the development team offers us to join the Astral Express crew in their journey to the world that even Akivili, the Aeon of Trailblaze, has never reached before: Amphoreus.

The Eternal Land, as it is also called, hides many secrets, and few are even aware about its existence. Neither members of the Astral Express team, nor the illustrious Herta know much about this new destination, but the enigmatic Memokeeper Black Swan convinces the Nameless to set the course to this unknown place nevertheless.

To be absolutely honest, after the banana nightmare from Penacony’s Version 2.6, where some good narrative parts were completely buried in the waves of absurdity and memes, I had some hope for Amphoreus to bring the story back on the star rails. The presentation of this world in teasers and short videos looked pretty promising. A classic setting with a basic set-up called for a good story, interesting characters and amusing mechanics. It was destined to be an epic story of gods and heroes, filled with Greek and Roman aesthetics.

From the very first dialogue lines of the main Trailblaze quest, it’s easy to understand that it won’t be a cozy vacation trip, but we are here for challenges and emotions, right? The prologue of the story, if the part on the Express can be called that, is pretty intriguing and creates a slight amount of tension. There are bits of foreshadowing and untold details that leave you questioning the events and motives of both Black Swan and the Garden of Recollection. Something bigger is hidden behind the offer to discover this world, and we have to find out what.

The main part of the quest starts pretty slow and tame, especially when you look at it in contrast to the dramatic opening cutscene. Our ship – or, rather, a flying train car – is crashed by unknown but obviously hostile locals, yet the crash site is empty, and so is every location we discover further. The new features with time swaps are introduced right away through a strange pink creature, which basically shows us that Amphoreus exists in multiple dimensions or times. There is a huge premise that the world itself already died, yet exists at the same time in some strange loop of reality and memories.

The authors managed to create a nice hook for attention at the start, hinting at the strange existence of this Eternal Land, but, sadly, they didn’t manage to hold the whole story line on the same level. Once again we get the same old typical Honkai story about the dying world and heroes that gather cores of something or another for humanity survival. We were too late for Izumo, and so instead we got this similar pattern on Amphoreus.

Since the moment the new characters were shown in the trailer, every person familiar with the Honkai Impact 3rd recognized most of them as expies of the Flame-Chasers. Yes, even developers themselves didn’t hide it, telling in the interviews that they like to develop different sides of old characters, thus in Amphoreus we will receive the Alternative Universe story for the good old team, though with a certain amount of changes. It’s hard to say so far that they would repeat the fate of their ‘predecessors’ but for now there are no prerequisites for this.

The first characters we meet give us a brief explanation of the situation on the planet and guide us to The Eternal Holy City Okhema, which is currently under siege. Sadly, this part was a top of the action in the narrative that Amphoreus could offer. Since the moment we kick the big bad boss out of the city, the narrative becomes as slow and viscous as a morass. The most interesting and intriguing parts get lost in the numerous lines of boring explanations that repeat each other over and over again.

The story and lore of Amphoreus are interesting and give room for theories and hypotheses, but the game struggles to give it in right proportions. In some long emotionless dialogues, some characters can give a half of Amphoreus history, with up to three additional explanation labels per line. In a way it’s somewhat realistic, since for local characters it’s a common knowledge, but it’s easy to drown players in this purple prose and lose their interest. Exciting moments and even more foreshadowing still exist in the plot, but these moments are like a drop of wine in a water barrel.

Are the writers aware of the problem?

Another Amphoreus problem is the lack of characters’ emotions during dialogues. They simply stand and talk, with a bare minimum of additional animations. However, that somehow matches their personalities, which are mostly just as plain as their facial expressions and gestures. All these long dialogues become unbearable when the character stares at you, blinking only on a rare occasion. Though maybe it’s an intentional decision that works for future narrative, and we’ll be shocked to find the truth behind it.

Aside from the narrative, which is actually a very important part of the HoYo games, Amphoreus brings us new views and places to explore. The Eternal Holy City Okhema is a beautiful Ancient Greece-styled place. The views around are stunning, and the central thermae location gives it a unique style. Everything in Amphoreus breathes life and even has its own sound. Opening chests, using teleports or gaining control over specific objects causes strange sounds and whispers, implying that the space is its own living being.

Somehow, this world doesn’t give off the vibe of a Star Rail setting. It would look perfectly fine in Genshin, especially since it’s basically the same as ancient Remuria from that game. The pieces of sci-fi here look a bit forced, especially the part where Amphoreus citizens have phones that work well with outlanders’ devices despite the planet’s isolation for centuries (if not thousands of years). Of course, The Herta is a good example of magic and science being two sides of one count, but then it would mean that her researches and approaches are not so unique. How scandalous.

Also, HoYo’s love for cute creatures reaches its peak here with many cat-like creatures and dinosaurs, which actually look a bit out of place. The new memetic companion of the main character in the path of Remembrance follows this line too, becoming some kind of furry Paimon for the Trailblazer. Apparently there will be even more creatures to follow which might turn Amphoreus into a local Natlan, full of Pokémon-like creature variations. In the cartoony world of Penacony anything could fit in just fine, but here it creates an aesthetics of a strange Disney universe.

The daily exploration activities mostly stayed the same – collect everything that you can find and get your hands on. The main changes happened in the puzzles and the way we can interact with the environment. Amphoreus has two main states, switched by special items. To pass through some locations we have to change the reality, control the titan hand and revert time, clearing the path from random obstacles to be able to pass to the next part of the location. Sadly, this kind of level design creates a stronger feeling of a corridor space. We have to follow the plan designers laid off for us instead of running around in any direction we want. HSR was never an open world game, yet before there was some more freedom.

For me personally, The Amphoreus update feels like a mixed bag. On one hand, it introduces a unique world with an intriguing new story, but on the other, it comes across as somewhat frustrating, with noticeable gaps in certain areas. Compared to the first act of Penacony, this version feels underwhelming and rather disappointing so far. However, it might just be a slow start that sets the stage for a stronger midpoint and an epic climax. I always love it when my worst assumptions turn out to be wrong, so let’s hope that Amphoreus can rise to its full potential in future updates.

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