Following a bombshell announcement last July, the worlds of Honkai: Star Rail and Fate/stay night: Unlimited Blade Works are now confirmed to collide on 11 July. The news was announced during the global simultaneous livestream for the Honkai: Star Rail Concert in 2025, held physically in Shanghai, China, treating fans to event specifics and details about characters involved in the collaboration.
Titled “Sweet Dreams and the Holy Grail”, the crossover features Archer and Saber as 5-star playable units. The former, tied to the The Hunt Path and Quantum element, can be obtained for free till the end of the game’s Version 3.6 update, while Saber will be available as a Destruction: Wind character.
The full description for each is as follows:
- Archer:
- “Despair plays in cycles from past and future. Countless grand ideals were incinerated before that red and sacred cloth. Yet, do not let this smear of ashes fool you…Should someone create a phantasmal sweet dream under the guise of false ideals, then he will burn again, facing down the hypocrites of the world till the very end. No matter where he is, he always remains justice’s steadfast companion.”
- “Despair plays in cycles from past and future. Countless grand ideals were incinerated before that red and sacred cloth. Yet, do not let this smear of ashes fool you…Should someone create a phantasmal sweet dream under the guise of false ideals, then he will burn again, facing down the hypocrites of the world till the very end. No matter where he is, he always remains justice’s steadfast companion.”
- Saber:
- The solitary Heroic Spirit traverses the long night of fate. The banner of the round table remains unfurled in a dream. Alas, the knight-king of Camelot has yet to reach that ever distant utopia. Though still a young maiden, she has heeded the call for this most unique iteration of the Holy Grail War. With the Sword in the Stone offering its choice once more, how shall she shatter the illusions of the past? “The wishes I did not fulfil will end here.”
Further details about the event will be revealed later, but staple Fate/stay night elements like Heroic Spirits, Command Seals, Noble Phantasms, and classes – used to “win strategic battles” – can be expected. Developer HoYoverse also highlighted that “the cumulative warp count for this collaboration warp is calculated independently of other warp types”, which means banner pity will be separate from all other character banners.
The story was supervised by Fate/stay night scenario writer Kinoko Nasu, with series character designer Takashi Takeuchi bringing the Servants’ original concept designs to the free-to-play role-playing game (RPG). A blurb for the tie-up reads, “In the planet of dreams, compete to gain the Holy Grail, which can realise all dreams, and summon historical celebrities as Servants — the first Penaconian Holy Grail War is about to begin! And the Trailblazer will be… Player?”.
Based on the visual novel game Fate/stay night produced by Type-Moon, the Fate/stay night: Unlimited Blade Works anime series follows high school student and amateur magus Shirou Emiya and his “Servant”, a reincarnated personification of a legendary historical hero, who are forced to team up with Rin Tosaka and his mysterious Servant Archer, in a secret magical tournament called the Fifth Holy Grail War.
The Honkai: Star Rail and Fate/stay night: Unlimited Blade Works collaboration goes live on 11 July alongside Version 3.6.
Si Jia is a casual geek at heart – or as casual as someone with Sephiroth’s theme on her Spotify playlist can get. A fan of movies, games, and Japanese culture, Si Jia’s greatest weakness is the Steam Summer Sale. Or any Steam sale, really.
Kevin Low
