Genshin Impact developer reveals new game, beta sign-ups start this week

Genshin Impact developer MiHoYo has announced that it's working on a new game called Honkai: Star Rail, and sign-ups for its closed beta event start on October 8.

MiHoYo didn't leave any specific directions about where to sign up for the beta, so we recommend keeping an eye on the new social media accounts they've created.

Before MiHoYo introduced us to Teyvat with Genshin Impact, the studio released multiple mobile Honkai Impact games. Honkai Gakuen 2 (aka Gun Girls Z) released in 2014, and Honkai Impact 3rd released in 2017. 

In those games, players led a group of Valkyrie warriors into battle against the Honkai, a mysterious force that corrupts all life around it. Honkai Impact 3rd also featured gacha mechanics, letting players roll for a chance to earn characters and items using crystals, which could be purchased with real-world money. 

Honkai: Star Rail's teaser shows off a fantasy train rocketing away from a planet and into outer space. We'll go ahead and assume it's another RPG with gacha systems, though MiHoYo has hardly confirmed anything about it. We did get an early glimpse of what it's about, though: A sizeable teaser trailer for Honkai: Star Rail leaked on Tuesday, showing off some new characters and providing a longer look at the rocket train.

Honkai Impact 3rd can be considered MiHoYo's first major success, with the studio saying it reached 35 million players by 2018. It's not surprising to see MiHoYo return to Honkai, then, especially after finding worldwide success with Genshin Impact.

At the moment, we don't know for certain whether Honkai: Star Rail will launch on both mobile platforms and PC. Honkai Impact 3rd was originally released on mobile and played on PC via emulator until 2019, when MiHoYo released an official PC version. Genshin Impact did arrive on PC, PS4, iOS, and Android simultaneously back in 2020, though, and MiHoYo may repeat that simultaneous multiplatform launch for Honkai: Star Rail.