Honkai: Star Rail got its Version 3.0 update a couple of days ago, and it’s jam-packed with new content. Not only do we have access to a brand new region (Amphoreus) and characters, there are also several quality of life improvements, such as increased Trailblaze Power cap and new items to optimise Relics.

Ahead of Star Rail 3.0’s release, I had the opportunity to play through an early version of the game. With that in mind, there may be some content differences to the official release of the patch. But it should be mostly the same, especially in terms of the overall storyline of Amphoreus. Without further ado, here is my (spoiler-free) impression of Star Rail’s Version 3.0 update!

Without getting into spoiler territory, one of my favourite aspects of Star Rail 3.0 – and other Hoyoverse games, to be honest – is the new Trailblaze Mission in Amphoreus. I love the fact that it somewhat draws from Greek mythology, and the characters that have appeared in the storyline so far – including The Herta and Aglaea, which are featured in Version 3.0’s banners – are very interesting.

Speaking of Amphoreus’ storyline, Hoyoverse mentioned that the main plot in the new world will be released in two parts across eight version updates. That means we’ll be getting new Amphoreus stories from Version 3.0 to Version 3.7, “making it the largest story arc in Honkai: Star Rail to date,” as the studio puts it.

Suffice to say I’m quite excited to see how Hoyoverse will further develop the story of Amphoreus.

Now, while I enjoy the Trailblaze Mission of Amphoreus, there are one too many “lore dumps” in the story thus far. Personally, I find Penacony’s storyline to be a tad too confusing already with its walls of texts, and I’m seeing some glimpses of that with Amphoreus. Hopefully, the pacing (and brevity) of the story will get better in the following updates.

Aside from the storyline of Star Rail 3.0, I thoroughly enjoy using The Herta in the media access server. Unfortunately, Aglaea was not available for testing too, given that she will only be offered in the second half of the patch. Nonetheless, The Herta does feel like a powerful character, and her significance in the overall narrative of Honkai: Star Rail is showcased very well, in my opinion.

What about the quality of life changes to Star Rail? Well, they’re great! Increasing the Trailblaze Power cap to 300 from 240 makes it that much easier to farm up for level-up materials and Relics, and we all know how tedious the latter can be. This is especially so when new Relic sets are introduced, such as the Hero of Triumphant Song and Poet of Mourning Collapse Cavern Relics released in this update.

So thankfully, there are also new items in Star Rail 3.0 that allow players to optimise existing Relics easily. The Wishful Resin, for one, makes it possible to adjust the main stat and two subsidiary stats of a Relic. There’s also the new Variable Die item, which is my personal favourite: I can finally reroll 5-star Relics that are already at Level 15 with the item!

Overall, I thoroughly enjoy Honkai: Star Rail 3.0. Though I’m not a fan of the overexplained story – there are way too many expositions, Hoyoverse – I’m still excited for what’s to come in the new updates. I already have my eyes on several new characters that have appeared so far, and I cannot wait for them to be playable.