{"id":1163576,"date":"2026-02-11T00:37:16","date_gmt":"2026-02-11T00:37:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.polygon.com\/?p=549920"},"modified":"2026-02-11T00:37:16","modified_gmt":"2026-02-11T00:37:16","slug":"why-every-honkai-star-rail-character-is-hot-and-other-revelations-from-its-lead-designer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/why-every-honkai-star-rail-character-is-hot-and-other-revelations-from-its-lead-designer\/","title":{"rendered":"Why every Honkai: Star Rail character is hot, and other revelations from its lead designer"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Chengnan An, the lead game designer on Honkai: Star Rail<\/a><\/em>, has worked at parent studio Mihoyo for a little over nine years, first on Honkai Impact 3rd<\/em>, and then on the current sci-fi RPG. That means An has been present for much of the company\u2019s worldwide meteoric rise; Honkai Impact 3rd<\/em> (2016) was an early hit<\/a> with international audiences that would soon be eclipsed by Genshin Impact<\/em> (2020)<\/a>. And yet Honkai is actually the very first fictional setting for any Mihoyo game, first introduced in FlyMe2theMoon<\/em> in 2011, made back when Mihoyo consisted of only five developers<\/a>. The world of Honkai has expanded significantly since then, and so has Mihoyo, which now boasts over 5,000 employees.<\/p>\n

An is intimately familiar with the Honkai franchise at this point, and in his current role, he contributed to the design of not just Honkai: Star Rail<\/em>\u2019s initial version but also its many ongoing updates, new characters, and battle systems that have been added since the game was first released in 2023.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In a far-reaching interview at the 2025 Game Developers Conference, conducted via interpreter, Chengnan An explained to Polygon that almost every decision is about the characters first and foremost. The game\u2019s ensemble cast may be huge (and growing all the time), but ideally, every single character should strike a chord with someone, somewhere. <\/p>\n

Character design always comes before combat design<\/h2>\n

As the lead combat designer, I assumed An would mostly want to talk to me about that \u2014 but actually, in Honkai: Star Rail<\/em>, character is king. \u201cIf we’re just thinking about the combat system when we’re designing characters, then we ran out of inspo really, really fast,\u201d An explained. \u201cSo we try not to use that approach for a lot of the characters in a game.\u201d Some of the strongest characters have \u201cweapons [that] are actually kind of weird.\u201d As an example, An pointed to Dr. Ratio, who has \u201ca really heavy book that he uses to beat people up, basically,\u201d which tracks, as he\u2019s a self-centered intellectual who\u2019s often condescending toward the uneducated. And then there\u2019s the coffee-obsessed Himeko, whose ultimate attack features her nonchalantly taking a sip from a teacup as an explosion goes off in the background.<\/p>\n

The design team always hopes new characters will be beloved, but on those occasions that a character hasn\u2019t popped off with players, An said, \u201cwe didn’t waste time thinking about it. We would just go into creating the next character.\u201d Other times, it\u2019s obvious to the designers from the get-go that they\u2019ve got a great idea on their hands. \u201cHerta was one of the first characters that we realized had the potential to go completely viral even before we actually released that character,\u201d said An. \u201cSo Herta has this ability to keep spinning and to keep spinning nonstop. So that actually becomes kind of a punchline or this insider joke within the player community. And we even see this fan-made video of Herta titled, \u2018We need to see more of Herta.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Why is every Honkai: Star Rail character always conventionally beautiful?<\/h2>\n
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