Honkai Star Rail Amphoreus Chapter Is The Exact Opposite Of Penacony In All The Best Ways

As far as stories go in the HoYoverse, I'm a big fan of how Honkai Star Rail in particular weaves their narrative. Planets exist at different scales, from solitary planets like Jarilo VI to factions that span multiple locations.

Now, I need to start this off by saying I absolutely adored the main story for the last patch cycle: Penacony was a great exploration of just how large the world of Honkai Star Rail is, as multiple factions vie for control of what is basically Space Vegas.

The Honkai Star Rail Amphoreus Chapter Is Its Own Terrarium But With Robot Gods

Yet, having booted up the Honkai Star Rail Amphoreus chapter, the following world couldn't be more different. The game makes a big point to tell you that this world is closed off from, well, everything. It's the kind of zone that's really ideal for an MMO expansion because everything's already happening, the Trailblazer has just happened to jump in in the middle of it.

The unique setup for the start of the chapter serves a really interesting purpose: hey, disregard anything you've been told about the universe at large, it says. Only operate within the rules of Amphoreus.

It's such a cool concept because of how diametrically opposed it is to Penacony. In Penacony, your understanding of the various multiplanetary factions was the best part. If Robin's been killed, why is she also still roaming the streets? What are Emanators and Galaxy Rangers? All these terms and factions painted a beautiful tapestry of how big the world was.

With Amphoreus, the joy comes from just how much you can get from the world in front of you. For all intents and purposes, the Honkai Star Rail Amphoreus chapter is like its own spinoff, casting the gang into a Sword-and-Sorcery setting, one that ditches paths and Aeons in favor of Titans, Coreflames and the Chrysos Heirs who chase them.

At the start of the Honkai Star Rail Amphoreus Chapter you're fending off the mad Titan Nikador from Okhema, the holy city guarded by Kephale. After fending them off you learn that it's not enough to stop these Titans- each Chrysos Heir also needs to kille one and steal their Coreflame.

It's such an inherently cool premise- almost everything in Amphoreus seems to be tied to some Titan or other, like the sky Titan Aquila being the reason no one has ever left the planet or even the trickster Titan Zagreus being associated with moving platforms you need to pilot to clear dungeons.

Heck, Nikador literally has a giant spear pointed at Okhema- like a term you'd use for a sword hanging over your head waiting to drop. Amphoreus' world is absolutely lived in, and that's why it's so much fun.

The best bit about it is that you're not even arriving at the start of the Flame Chase- characters tell you that this grand quest has been ongoing for a long time by now, and it just so happens that you've buddied up with a Chrysos Heir very eager to claim his Coreflame. It really highlights the strength of Honkai Star Rail's planets- this entire dramatic saga gets to happen entirely in a vacuum without asking questions like why the IPC hasn't intervened.

Despite all of this, there's a lot of meta elements that make me suspect bigger forces at play: for one, The Herta is the current featured banner, and there's no way she's not going to be somehow tied to the story if she's on the banner. The Honkai Star Rail Amphoreus story is going to be a long one- just the current half of the patch already feels like a small console game's story so expect to have a lot of fun just going through the main story beats.

Still, HoYoverse has consistently been hitting downright fascinating story beats with Honkai Star Rail. The update's available now, so it's the perfect time to check it out no matter what scale you like your space epic at.

Honkai Star Rail Amphoreus impressions based on an in-development build of the game, some products may differ from the final version