No, the Honkai Star Rail home-screen planet isn’t tied to Genshin Impact

As big fans of Hoyoverse’s space-trotting RPG, there are some questions that we yearn to get answers for. For example, when will we get a new four-star in Honkai Star Rail? And is the planet on the loading screen actually somewhere we’ve already been?

Well, we had the chance to ask Hoyoverse about this very topic. At GDC, we spoke to Honkai Star Rail’s Lead Game Designer, Chengnan An, about some burning questions we have related to the space-fantasy gacha game.

So, is the planet in the background of the Honkai Star Rail title screen actually Teyvat, where Genshin Impact takes place? Maybe you’re wondering why we asked this. First, it’s because it’s a fun idea, and there are already a lot of nods to different Hoyoverse games across the four big titles, even excluding the fact that Honkai Impact 3rd and Star Rail share characters. Ever noticed the Genshin wind glider in Herta’s Space Station? How does she have that, I wonder.

But it goes beyond that, so it’s time to prepare for some quick-fire lore and story updates: in the Natlan storyline, Genshin Impact’s Mavuika quite literally blasts open the sky, and in the rip, we see a planet that looks an awful lot like the one on the Star Rail loading screen. That same planet also seems to appear in Honkai Impact 3rd.

So what does it all mean? Why does Teyvat have a fake sky? That’s what we’re waiting to find out, even though it’s likely a barrier put in place to stop the universe from infiltrating Teyvat – you can thank the All-Devouring Narwhal’s archive entry for that snippet.

Well, Chengnan An says the planet that appears in the Honkai Star Rail home-screen isn’t Teyvat, nor is it anything to do with Genshin Impact, instead stating that it’s “exclusive to the Honkai Star Rail universe”. Sure, we’ll roll with that. We get you (wink wink). In all seriousness, it would be mind-blowing if all the worlds were connected and we got a big mash-up event, but I’m also happy with it being separate worlds for separate games for now.

However, even with these assertions from Hoyoverse, there’s still plenty of fuel to keep theorists busy. For example, there’s one theory that both Genshin and Star Rail’s worlds are part of the Imaginary Tree found in Honkai Impact 3rd, where all life began. While entirely unconfirmed, it’s a really interesting prospect, and I highly recommend looking into it if you like Hoyo-based lore. It sure would explain why the games have similar characters – and why each game seems to have a Raiden expy, too.

While we wait for more Honkai Star Rail and Genshin Impact updates with big lore drops, don’t forget to grab the new Honkai Star Rail codes and Genshin Impact codes to save up for key characters like Genshin Impact’s Skirk.