Honkai: Star Rail review

Honkai: Star Rail is the slower, story-led alternative to Genshin Impact from the same developer. You travel aboard the Astral Express to a series of distinct worlds, and combat is turn based, which works well with touch on a larger screen because nothing depends on fast thumb movement. HoYoverse highlights its real-time cinematics and facial expression system, the kind of detail that benefits from an iPad display. The game holds Apple's Editors' Choice badge and 4.4 stars from 53K ratings, and it runs on iPadOS 13.0 or later as well as Apple Vision. The download is 3.9 GB. Like Genshin, it sells optional random virtual items, with Oneiric Shards from $0.99 and an Express Supply Pass at $4.99. We compared documented features and published prices; we did not run long play sessions.

Who it is for

Story-focused players who prefer turn-based combat to action games on a big screen.

Price

Free to play; Oneiric Shards start at $0.99 (US App Store).

Oneiric Shard ×60 $0.99
Quoted from the vendor pricing page on November 11, 2026.

Key features

• Turn-based RPG combat with a party of characters
• Story told with real-time rendered cinematics
• Multiple worlds visited aboard the Astral Express
• Regular updates with new characters, story missions and events
• Runs on Apple Vision with visionOS 1.0 or later

Strengths and weaknesses

• Strength: Apple Editors' Choice
• Strength: Turn-based combat suits touch play on a tablet
• Strength: Also listed for Apple Vision
• Weakness: 3.9 GB download
• Weakness: Optional purchases include random virtual items
• Weakness: Smaller rating base: 4.4 from 53K ratings

Key facts

• App Store rating: 4.4 from 53K ratings
• Age rating: 13+
• Award: Editors' Choice
• Minimum iPadOS: 13.0
• Languages: English and 12 more

Where it ranks

Honkai: Star Rail is No. 8 in our Best Free iPad Games verdict.