There’s often a rare moment in great films or television shows that really cements them as something to be remembered. A moment that goes above and beyond of what’s expected of them, creating a masterclass in acting, cinematography, and direction, a moment supercharged with heavy emotional and physical stakes that leaves the audience feeling the full force of the complicated emotions for each character caught in the conflict.
And over the weekend, I was lucky enough to be one of the people who got to experience one such masterpiece. No, it wasn’t from the immensely popular and critically acclaimed Arcane, and no, it wasn’t from rewatching Eternals for the third time this month, but instead, from a Chinese mobile game titled Honkai Impact 3rd.
Ok, I know what you’re thinking.
“Really? Another Chinese Gacha game made by the same developers of Genshin Impact? Are you sure you’re not being paid off?”
To that, I would respond: Man, I wish. It would at least help my debt piling up from my bank due to me paying for my UC applications, but alas, the world is cruel and I’m most likely not going to get in any of them.
But I digress.
Gacha games often end up as the butt of every gamer’s joke, and for good reason, too. Oftentimes there is clearly little to no effort put into them, and they’re mostly used as shameless pay-2-win cash grabs. Seriously. Most of these games are just copies of each other, serving no purpose other than to make money. And while they were quite fun for lunch breaks, they were never really made to be taken seriously, a minor game that you would spend a few bucks on every so often.
We often hear about MiHoYo’s other game Genshin Impact as the first major breakthrough to the genre, a game that had genuine effort and passion poured into it while still being gacha, but the game that really put MiHoYo on the map was Honkai Impact 3rd, released on October 4th, 2016. While Honkai had many of Genshin’s combat elements, its level — based story system as well as the futuristic Evangelion inspired setting meant it was much more like a traditional Gacha game. You had to do daily tasks in order to level up and access the story chapters. There’s a PVP arena for players to get higher scores in to get rewards, and another level-based event category on the opening screen. And because of those connections, it wouldn’t be strange to expect the story element to be lacking.
And to be completely honest, I did, too. I went into Honkai Impact fully expecting a bit of the same with Genshin Impact’s story, full of potential but not as good as it could be. I was expecting a stupidly innocent story about high school and fighting the angels from Evangelion.
What I got instead was one of the most heartfelt and sincere pieces of media I experienced since I played Omori. There’s so much depth in the way characters areexplored and stakes are built. The characters are depressingly well written and feel like real people sporting real emotions, and the way those emotions lead to conflicts for the characters you love is heartbreaking. HI3 has literal world ending stakes and consequences and an easily hate-able main antagonist but is so complex in its moral dilemma that by the end of the story you find yourself cheering for all the people caught in the conflict, no matter what side they’re on.
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Remember how I said there’s often that one moment that defines a work of art? For Honkai Impact, that moment comes at the Final Lesson CG at the end of chapter 9. Somehow, even after watching that CG before I reached that part, and knowing Himeko was going to die, I still couldn’t properly prepare for the tears that came crashing down my face. Going through all that, with MiHoYo developing her as a human, as a mentor figure to the children while also being a bit of a comedic relief, the masterful music choice and animation combined to make something that I’m probably going to cry to forever.
And yet, even in its darkest moments of depression and angst, perhaps the greatest thing that Honkai Impact has is its hope. Himeko’s ultimate sacrifice was made so that Kiana could live, could experience the wonders of life that she had too, and the purpose of Kiana’s arc is to learn how to love life, to not throw it all away because she thought she wasn’t good enough.
Because the story of Kiana and her friends is just the story of being so close to reaching the answer but never being able to truly reach it. It’s a story about self-actualization and finding what it means to truly live.
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Honkai Impact fulfilled me in a way that I never really knew I needed. It’s a story that is genuinely sad but maintains that hope, and all in all, I think Honkai Impact shares a genuinely beautiful storyline and is something that more people should have the pure joy of experiencing.
10/10 Masterpiece
