Honkai: Star Rail’s main protagonist, the Trailblazer, is known for receiving powers from different Aeons. At the start of the game, they’re a Physical-type Destruction character, and they evolve into wielding three more ability types as the story progresses.Honkai: Star Raildoesn’t fail in diversifying Trailblazer’s kit each time, which fits a lot of teams when needed.
One thing thatHonkai: Star Railhasn’t done yet is give the Trailblazer alternate skins that they can sport during their adventures. The character gets small adjustments to their appearance whenever they receive a new kit, like The Watchmaker’s hat for their Harmony form. But a full makeover, similar toZenless Zone Zero’s leaked Proxy skin, hasn’t been done yet, which is a missed opportunity forHonkai: Star Rail.
Should Honkai: Star Rail Follow Zenless Zone Zero’s Skin System?
Honkai: Star Railis no stranger to releasing character skins, with the likes of March 7th and even Pom-Pom, who is an NPC, benefiting from this. As mentioned, Trailblazer has not received any alternate skins despite having the most variants among the roster. A skin system doesn’t seem to be high onHonkai: Star Rail’s priority list, especially since it also releases 5-star versions of certain 4-star characters, giving them all-new designs and ability kits.
It was teased recently thatZenless Zone Zero’s Proxy siblings, Belle and Wise, will get their own skins in an upcoming update. It’s a big deal because, technically, the Proxies aren’t playable characters. UnlikeHonkai: Star Rail’s Trailblazer andGenshin Impact’s Traveler, the Proxies can only be controlled while strolling around New Eridu, but they don’t physically go inside Hollows with other Hunters. Considering thatZenless Zone Zerois also giving skins to other units, it’s likely that the game has enough resources to customize select characters' appearances during big updates.
At the same time, this also shows that HoYoverse could implement a skin system forHonkai: Star Rail’s Trailblazer if it wanted to. There’s also merit to give the Trailblazer their own alternate skin because they’re a key player inHonkai: Star Rail’s story. It would be interesting to give Trailblazer skins that matched the worlds that they visited, similar to howMarch 7th’s The Hunt formis dressed in Xianzhou Luofu garb. For instance, now thatHonkai: Star Railis in its Amphoreus chapter, Trailblazer could get a Greek-inspired outfit to go with their Remembrance variant. This would make sense because Trailblazer obtains Oronyx’s Coreflame of Time in the story, turning them into a demigod with the help of the Chrysos Heirs.
Although Oronyx entrusts the Coreflame of Time to Trailblazer, the protagonist doesn’t appear in the “Time” slot in “As I’ve Written.” It’s possible that another Coreflame holder will be introduced in the future.
On the other hand, it could be good forHonkai: Star Railto not invest in Trailblazer skins–not yet at least. HoYoverse always makes sure that its games are optimized based on the players' preference, and manyHonkai: Star Railfans play the game on mobile because it’s not fullyopen-world likeGenshin Impact. The developer could be focusing its efforts and resources to building future worlds, which are bound to become bigger as the story progresses. Both Penacony and Amphoreus are proof of howHonkai: Star Railinnovates with its maps, so other features like a skin system could be taking a backseat for now.
PerhapsHonkai: Star Railwill give Trailblazer their own skin in a future update. What the game could do is put a changing room of sorts in theirAstral Express room, which will also be a great way to make the room more interactive. Once players can change Trailblazer’s outfit, they can add more personality to the character during their cosmic journey.
