Honkai: Star Rail’s gigantic v2.1 update will arrive on 27th March, and will celebrate the release’s first anniversary with 20 free Star Rail Passes and a further 1,600 in-game currency Stellar Jade – an announcement which is fuelling division between HoYoverse’s fandom. It’ll also continue the plot of Penacony, introduce an all-new VA-11 HALL-A inspired drink mixing minigame, and welcome the unmissable Acheron as a playable character.

Acheron handles differently to other 5-star characters in the game, utilising her Skill and debuffs to accumulate charges of Slashed Dream. Rather than energy, like her allies, Slashed Dream is used to trigger her Ultimate, which unleashes a total of four hits on her enemies, the final of which damaging everyone. Her Technique, meanwhile, can be used to immediately take out foes in the open world, greatly enhancing the flow of exploration.

She’s not the only 5-star arriving in v2.1, as she’ll be followed in Phase 2 by Aventurine, the high risk/high reward gambler from the IPC Strategic Investment Department. “In combat, Aventurine’s unique Skill allows him to grant allies a stackable shield. Allies with this Shield will accumulate Blind Bet charges for Aventurine upon being attacked. When Blind Bet reaches a certain count, Aventurine will unleash a follow-up attack,” the blurb reads.

Honkai: Star Rail's Next Enormous PS5 Update Brings Huge Rewards and the Unmissable Acheron 4

And that’s not all: Gallagher, a 4-star security office from the Bloodhound Family, will also release in the next update. He’s a Harmony-based healer who uses his love of fizzy drinks to debuff enemies, allowing party members to regain HP with each successive attack following his Ultimate. All of these newcomers will be joined by reruns of Luocha and Jingliu, so if you missed them first time, you’re going to need those free pulls, eh?

A lot of the new story content will take place in two new Penacony zones named Clock Studios Theme Park and Dewlight Pavilion, the former of which is inspired by resorts like Disneyland. And of course there’ll be a ton of new events to engage with, including the aforementioned drinks mixing minigame, as well as the board game-inspired Cosmodyssey, which should help to keep you occupied all update long.

[source youtube.com]