This interview has been edited for clarity.
Getting players to start a new adventure is one thing, but giving them a reason to stick around long after the first chapter is another challenge altogether, especially if it’s a massive free-to-play live-service title.
For HoYoverse’s Honkai: Star Rail, the studio’s space-fantasy turn-based RPG launched in 2023, the secret sauce lies in gradually expanding its ongoing story with new lore and interesting characters to keep players coming back for more. But over three years on, the question is how the game can still keep that journey fresh, without losing sight of what drew players on board in the first place.
This balancing act extends beyond just the main story,l too, with the studio not just adding new content to engage with and ways to play, but also bringing notable additions to what’s already available, to keep staple systems relevant with every update.
This is no better seen in the title’s forthcoming update, Version 4.7 “Now, Lay Laughter to All Stars”, which adds new content alongside improvements to previous systems, such as the second season of its new permanent mode, Currency Wars, alongside its new Affinitive Eidolon growth feature. These all serve to give select existing characters additional combat abilities to make them more viable for its newer challenges. Rather than leaving familiar faces behind as the roster grows, this update makes room to visit older favourites even as the Planarcadia storyline prepares for its finale.
Taking centre stage, however, is Aha, the game’s first playable Aeon, a cosmic god-like being in the game’s lore that is associated with a “Path”, or a defining idea or philosophy. Aha, who was previously seen in the lore but never playable until now, is the Aeon of the Path of Elation, which can centre on joy, laughter, and amusement, but also derives from finding entertainment in other people’s misfortune through trickery or chaos, making introducing the game’s first playable “god” sound like a rather complicated task.
Ahead of the update’s launch on 11 November, Geek Culture sat down with Honkai: Star Rail lead designer Chengnan An during the HoYoverse Media Tour 2026 in Seoul, South Korea, to find out what went into crafting its first controllable Aeon, as well as what’s next for the ever-expanding live-service title.
Of course, the biggest question on everyone’s minds was why they chose to focus on the Path of Elation and Aha, and what made now the perfect time to introduce its first Aeon hero.
“Aeons are the ultimate power in the world of Honkai: Star Rail, and they are sort of the unbeatable existence in the cosmos,” An explains. “As for the Path of Elation, its the most human-like path, with the Aeon also being closest to a human. The story of the game has always been about human beings, so this makes Aha the most apt introduction to further explore this point.”
An also adds that adding Aha wasn’t a decision that was made hastily, and that ever since the game’s Version 4.0 update in February this year, when the team designed the first character of Elation, they had already decided to let Aha set the stage for other characters in the Path.
Even so, introducing Aha was no easy feat, as the team also had to manage the game’s balance, now that the Aeon of Elation is on the field. With Aha, there now seems to be a push for the Elation meta, meaning that the game may seem favourable for those who choose to build Elation teams, with new powerful mechanics exclusive to the Path like Punchline points and Let There Be Laughter stacks, so some might be concerned about whether players who choose a different team composition outside of the Path of Elation might have a disadvantage against more challenging new encounters.
For An, it’s less about offering players a more overpowered combat style to choose over others, but more about giving new choices for fresh team combinations. “Yes, some new game mechanics might be more effective if you use characters of the same Path, but there are also other mechanics that encourage more options when it comes to team composition, it’s all about providing a richer gameplay experience with new options,” he explains.
“That’s why we are striving to explore new formats to provide players with a better all-rounded experience with Version 4.7, as apart from new content and mechanics, we are also offering ways to buff other characters, such as with Affinitive Eidolon.”
Apart from balance, another important aspect of any character introduction is design. Players had previously got a glimpse of Aha via the character’s Aeon portrait, but this marks the first time we are seeing the god in full. Even so, An reveals that this is just one of Aha’s many manifestations as the trickster god, which also meant another important trait the team needed to consider was the element of humour associated with the Aeon.
“What you see so far is still not all the appearances Aha has, these are just a few manifestations of the Aeon, so this leaves room for a player’s imagination,” he adds. “When we designed Aha, we also had to think about what kind of jokes would be accepted by our players, and eventually we designed the humour based on two points – firstly, that a twist makes a good joke, and secondly, that these surprises must also be closely related to the player character to create personal interactions.”
Looking beyond Aha, the team also spoke on the ever-increasing slate of content for Honkai: Star Rail. Over the years, the game has seen a massive dose of post-launch content, with some notable examples being new worlds like Penacony (Version 2.0), Amphoreus (Version 3.0), and Planarcadia (Version 4.0), replayable game modes like the endgame combat challenge Apocalyptic Shadow, additional Paths like Remembrance and Elation, and of course, new playable characters like Kafka, Firefly, Sunday, and Aglaea.
With so many systems being tweaked, enhanced, and added, it can be quite intimidating for players, especially those who might have taken an extended break from the title and are now just returning to it, or worse yet, complete newcomers three years late to the party. An is well aware of this challenge and admits that the team tries its best to balance new content while not making things too overwhelming in the process.
“As a live-service game, it’s always a challenge for us to provide something fresh for existing players while reducing the pressure for returning players,” he explains. “When we design our content, the goal is to keep cohesion throughout the whole version, keeping to a specific theme. For example, when introducing a new world, we would present it in a unique way via new methods to explore it.”
“As our content grows richer, one point we always think about is how to let returning players keep up with the newest updates instead of catching up from scratch, so we included features like letting players engage in some events without clearing prerequisite story elements, or letting them accelerate dialogues. So this way, they can follow progression in an easier way while still keeping the new content appealing.”
Coming up with new content is one thing, but deciding what to add is a whole different beast entirely. With how massive Honkai: Star Rail is, this also translates into equally huge expectations from fans and their associated feedback, and as the game continues to grow in both size and complexity, An explains that while the team takes feedback very seriously, they also have to manage what they should actively address moving forward.
“For releasing new content, there are two things we take into consideration,” he adds. “First, whether the content will give players that sense of unpredictability and freshness, and secondly, whether it will be accessible to players. This way, these additions aren’t necessarily based on the feedback we receive, but instead on trying to understand the underlying logic or issues behind said feedback.”
To this end, An likens the journey of the game to its main protagonist, the Trailblazer, a hero who travels between worlds to meet new allies and tackle all manner of yet-to-be-discovered threats.
“When it comes to addressing fan feedback, our journey is honestly quite like the challenges faced by our Trailblazer, we all have to trailblaze to try and find a new path to solve our problems. In this sense, it’s also quite a meaningful one, as through all the difficulty, we can also grow together with our players.”
Honkai: Star Rail Version 4.7, “Now, Lay Laughter to All Stars”, will launch on 11 November 2026.
Kevin is a reformed PC Master Race gamer with a penchant for franchise “duds” like Darksiders III and Dead Space 3. He has made it his life-long mission to play every single major game release – lest his wallet dies trying.
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