Honkai Star Rail briefly appeared during the big Gamescom 2023 Opening Night Live coverage, and tucked away at the end of the JRPG's new trailer is the news that "recruitment" for its PS5 technical test will open tomorrow, August 23.
Apropos of nothing, a slide confirmed that the test's "recruitment" phase starts at 7am PT / 10am ET / 3pm BT on August 23. What does recruitment mean? Good question. The official Honkai Star Rail social media accounts haven't acknowledged this test announcement at the time of writing, so it's genuinely just a few seconds in a random trailer for now.
Hell, the trailer isn't even about the test or the PS5 port. It's about Fu Xuan, the five-star Quantum Preservation character coming in the second half of the next update. Apparently she's turned her divining skills to the PS5 port now.
Does "recruitment" simply mean signing up for the test? I'd assume so, given how Hoyoverse usually runs its betas and the fact that there's nothing new listed on the PlayStation Store for now. Is it an open or closed beta test? When will the test be held? How long will it last? How long is the sign-up period? Where do you sign up to begin with? All good questions! None of them have answers right now, and that's with this mystery recruitment phase being literally one day away. At least the PS5 port of the game is showing signs of life ahead of its previously announced late-2023 release.
Hoyoverse also brought its upcoming urban action RPG Zenless Zone Zero to Gamescom, giving us our first proper update on the game in nearly a year.
