Honkai: Star Rail’s Penacony Fully Revealed in 2.0 Special Program

Hoyoverse just wrapped up its Honkai: Star Rail Version 2.0 Special Program where they gave us a full and comprehensive look at Penacony, the new major planet joining the game. In this hour-long livestream, we got to see a deep-dive into everything Penacony, including its story, environments, gameplay quirks and more. We also got to see what new characters are joining the Star Rail roster in 2.0 and what kind of quality-of-life improvements we can expect to see when the new update lands on February 6th. 

Before going any further, here are the redemption codes that Trailblazers can redeem for up to 300 Stellar Jade. These codes will expire soon, on the 27th of January, so be quick when redeeming them to ensure that you get this round of free pulls. 

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• EA8BKR4JL93T
• LTQA2Q5249KF

New Penacony Trailblaze Mission

First things first, most of the Honkai Star Rail 2.0 Special Program focused on the world and gameplay opportunities of Penacony itself. Penacony is the planet of festivities and the home of the Family, a group that follows the Aeon of Harmony, Xipe. Described as the Land of Dreams, Penacony is, in actuality, a massive interstellar hotel called The Reverie where people go to visit a world unlike their own: when guests fall asleep, they enter the real Penacony in the Dreamscape. This place welcomes the ambitious and the hungry, those who wish to chase down their dreams no matter the cost.

The story of Penacony will focus on the Charmony Festival, a special event that the Astral Express, as well as other notable figures from other Paths, have been invited to by the Family. The first new Trailblaze Mission, Long Day’s Journey Into Night, will become available in Version 2.0, with the Penacony story continuing up to 2.2 and an epilogue in 2.3. 

This focus on dreaming and the Dreamscape will be seen in the gameplay portions of Penacony, too, as you explore the many different areas of the Dreamscape for yourself. From animated signboards that chase you down to flog their wares to massive oversized gachapon machines or parts of the map which don’t make sense, Penacony is a land of lucid fascination. As the Trailblazer, you’ll be able to exploit and bend the Dreamscape to your whim using the Dreamwalker ability, allowing you to walk up walls or on ceilings, enter areas otherwise inaccessible to you via special portals or change the landscape of an area using optical illusions. There isn’t much off the table when it comes to Penacony. 

Dreams have an unfortunate tendency to turn into nightmares, however, and several new enemy types have arisen from the Penacony Dreamscape. The Dreamjolt Troupe are a new enemy faction born from people’s negative emotions while dreaming, giving rise to a strange, twisted set of enemies based on the fancies and luxuries of life. There’s also the Memory Zone Memes, an abstract and almost eldritch series of foes who are unlike anything we’ve seen before. Of course, there are also new bosses to encounter, with the Stellaron Hunter Sam and Something Unto Death, the embodiment of death itself, both serving as tricky new obstacles in your path. 

Black Swan the Diviner

Next, let’s take a look at the new characters joining the Star Rail roster in 2.0. The first new character is Black Swan, a 5-star Wind Nihility unit that fans have eagerly anticipated for quite some time. Black Swan is a Memorykeeper from the Garden of Recollection, the faction aligned with the Aeon of Remembrance, Fuli. In combat, Black Swan attacks using her tarot cards, with a chance to inflict the enemy with a special damage-over-time effect called Arcana whenever she lands her Basic ATK or Skill: Arcana can stack a multitude of times, increasing its own damage significantly. 

Other than Black Swan, the other new 5-star coming in Penacony is Sparkle, the first Quantum Harmony character in Honkai: Star Rail. Sparkle is a Masked Fool, one of the devout followers of the Aeon of Elation, and she seeks to follow whatever path she wants in search of indulgence. When it comes to her combat capabilities, Sparkle is a support character specialising in Skill Points, being capable of increasing the maximum amount of Skill Points you can hold and restoring them via her Ultimate. She can also Advance Forward her allies and increase the damage they deal when using up SP. 

Finally, we have Misha, the only new 4-star joining the game in Penacony’s first update. Misha is an Ice Destruction character and the clumsy bellboy of The Reverie, usually engaging in laborious tasks for the Family’s many guests. As a fighter, Misha’s main attacking move is his Ultimate where he flings his luggage trolley (as well as all the suitcases on that trolley) straight at the enemy, dealing more damage depending on how many Skill Points the team has used and making the floor wet so his Skill can then Freeze opponents. 

With so many wonderful new characters joining Honkai: Star Rail in Version 2.0, you must be wondering what the Event Warps for this version look like. During phase 1, Black Swan and her signature Light Cone, Reforged Remembrance, will be on rate-up alongside the Imbibitor Lunae. Misha will also be available on both of these Event Warps as one of the featured 4-stars on rate up. Then, in phase 2, Sparkle will take the stage with her Light Cone, Earthly Escapade, along with Jing Yuan, the general of the Xianzhou Luofu.

Of course, a new version update means a new batch of events to take part in. The first, Hanu’s Prison Break, will have you entering a special Dreamscape where SoulGlad, the main drink and seemingly energy source of Penacony, has been outlawed by an evil warden whom you must undermine in various event activities. As a reward for completing this event, you will get to pick between one free copy of Asta, Sampo, Yukong or Guinafien. Other events include the Dreamchase Bulletin which will help introduce you to the various mechanics and enemies of Penacony, and Dreamjolt TV, a combat event where you must face off against the Dreamjolt Troupe to rescue trapped civilians. 

Just like always, we’re also getting a 7-day Gift of Odyssey log-in campaign where Trailblazers can earn 10 free pulls by simply logging in consecutively after the 2.0 version update goes live. That’s not all for free pulls, though, as there will also be the Gift of Stellarium check-in event which awards an additional 10 Star Rail Special Passes, giving all players a total of 20 free pulls just for logging in. 

Finally, the livestream also detailed several quality-of-life changes set to come to Star Rail in 2.0. Firstly, you can now have up to 3 Support characters set at once, giving your friends and allies more choices when it comes to choosing who will aid them in battle. Additionally, a new cataloguing feature called Fate’s Atlas will be added which goes through the entire Star Rail story, including Companion Missions and important side quests, to help those who want more structure to their game time. Then, finally, there are also several Relic Optimizations, including the ability to auto-equip a recommended Relic set based on what other players commonly use.

Honkai: Star Rail Version 2.0, the new planet Penacony, the new Trailblaze Mission and everything else discussed in this special program will launch on February 6th 2024.

SOURCE: Honkai: Star Rail Version 2.0 Special Program