Honkai: Star Rail has only been out for over two months, but many players are already invested in the characters and their stories. While the main story is still incomplete, the newest HoYoverse title has a rich lore that can be explored through various in-game sources. The more players knew about Honkai: Star Rail's universe, the more they seemed to have connected with the characters, including the leaked and unreleased characters.
Even more interesting is how Honkai: Star Rail is canonically connected to Genshin Impact through the HoYoverse multiverse. Although both games have similar characters and designs, Honkai: Star Rail is missing one important feature that can be found in Genshin Impact: character birthdays.
Honkai: Star Rail is Missing Birthdays
A majority of the characters in Honkai: Star Rail don't have their birthdays and zodiac signs indicated in the game yet. The only ones with known birthdays are the Trailblazer, which players will set at the start of Honkai: Star Rail, and March 7th. The latter's exact birthday is technically unknown because she was saved by the Astral Express Crew from Six-Phased Ice that was floating in space. Since she didn't know anything about herself or where she had come from, she chose to adopt March 7th, the day she was rescued, as her name and birthday.
It's quite strange for Honkai: Star Rail to omit birthdays, especially considering that HoYoverse has assigned them to Genshin Impact and even Honkai Impact 3rd characters in the past. Particularly, Genshin Impact really celebrates its characters' birthdays. When players log in on a specific character's birthdate, they will receive a special message, the character's specialty dish, and other gifts. It's worth noting that the game currently has almost 70 playable characters now, so that's a lot of monthly perks. Likewise, Genshin fans would also show their love during their favorite characters' birthdays by posting screenshots, fan art, and more on social media.
Honkai: Star Rail is still a relatively new game, so it's possible that HoYoverse might have not gotten around to finalizing the characters' birthdays yet. A number of the characters who have alternate versions in other HoYoverse titles already have set birthdays, like Sushang (April 3) and Bronya (August 18) in Honkai Impact 3rd, but these could change in Honkai: Star Rail. One fun theory could be that time in Honkai: Star Rail worked different, so the characters' birthdays and zodiac signs could be different from other games. This would make sense considering that characters in the HoYoverse multiverse weren't always the same exact people.
On the bright side, Honkai: Star Rail didn't skip out on all birthday celebrations. Like Genshin Impact, the game gives players 100 Stellar Jades and a special Birthday Cake courtesy of Pom-Pom when they log in during the Trailblazer's birthday. The cake isn't a consumable item, but it's a great souvenir to keep in their inventories to commemorate their first birthday in Honkai: Star Rail.
It would be interesting to see how Honkai: Star Rail would celebrate its characters' birthdays once they've been set. It could follow Genshin Impact's lead and give players special messages and gifts when they log in on a specific date, while the characters could also have a specialty dish that players can consume to buff up their stats. Plus, this would be a great way to add visibility to Honkai: Star Rail characters who haven't appeared in the main story or side quests in a while. It's a helpful tactic for a game that's expected to introduce several new units in the following months. Lastly, the canon birthdays could allow players to connect more with their favorite characters, and even upcoming ones.
Honkai: Star Rail is now available on Android, iOS, and PC. A PlayStation version is in development.