Every Honkai Series Game

Honkai is a video game franchise developed by miHoYo, published worldwide by Cognosphere, or known as HoYoverse.

Just llike Fate series from Type-Moon, while every game in the Honkai series is considered a “spiritual sequel” of its predecessor, many share themes, elements, and characters within the series.

The series primarily revolves around the theme of “rebellion against the end and saving the world” and features “Honkai” disasters as the core setting.

The Honkai series is set in a multiverse called the “Imaginary Tree” and follows the adventures of characters such as Kiana, Mei, and Bronya.

While the series features recurring characters such as Kiana, each installment has different backgrounds and character settings and can be considered as stories that take place in different universes in the same multiverse without absolute connectivity.

Table of Contents

1. FlyMe2theMoon

FlyMe2theMoon is the first-ever game in the Honkai series, developed and released as an independent game by “miHoYo Studio” before the establishment of miHoYo company.

The game was initially released on the iOS platform on September 28, 2011, as a paid game priced at 18 Chinese yuan.

FlyMe2theMoon is a 2D side-scrolling game with 60 levels across four game modes, including exploration, puzzle solving, racing, and survival. The game’s story follows Kiana Kaslana, a genius witch, as she travels to the Lunar Ruins to uncover the truth about her past after completing the Mage’s brutal trials.

The game’s title and theme are inspired by the anime Neon Genesis Evangelion’s ending song Fly Me to the Moon.

FlyMe2theMoon was developed using the Cocos2d software and the Box2D physics engine. The game’s main theme song, Moon Trip, was composed by Yu Jianliu, with lyrics by Lemonjolly and performed by the VOCALOID software Hatsune Miku.

Although the game’s title does not include the words “Honkai,” both the main character Kiana and the theme of “flying to the moon” are core elements of the Honkai series, making FlyMe2theMoon the starting point of the series.

2. Honkai Gakuen (Zombiegal Kawaii)

Houkai Gakuen, also localized as Zombiegal Kawaii, is the first installment of the Honkai series, and the first ever game title developed by miHoYo as a company.

It was released on the iOS platform in 2012 as a paid single-player game. The game’s design was inspired by the 2D side-scrolling shooter game Zombie Town and the Japanese anime series Highschool of the Dead.

The project began in December 2011 and underwent four to five iterations within three months. The game was developed using the Unity engine and Maya graphic software, and the values were fine-tuned and the systems improved for eight months.
The game was released in version 1.0 in November 2012 and entered public testing in December of that year.

Houkai Gakuen is an action game set in a school campus in the near future. The protagonist, Kiana, fights against zombies using various weapons in the besieged campus. This is the first game with the “Honkai” trademark.

3. Honkai Gakuen 2 (Guns GirlZ)

Starting from Houkai Gakuen 2, David Jiang served as the producer of the Honkai series.

Houkai Gakuen 2, also localized as Guns GirlZ, is the second installment of the Honkai series, inheriting data, code, and art design from Houkai Gakuen.

Comparing with Houkai Gakuen, the biggest change was from a paid game to a free-to-play game with gacha system. It was released in mainland China in 2013. The game’s core gameplay is inspired by Puzzle & Dragons.

Houkai Gakuen 2 adds new characters, weapons, and costumes that were not present in the Houkai Gakuen. The game began testing on January 26, 2014, and was launched on the bilibili platform in March, becoming miHoYo’s first successful commercial game.

4. Honkai Impact 3rd

Honkai Impact 3rd is an action role-playing game developed by miHoYo, based on the manga spin-off Honkai Impact 3rd.

It was first released for iOS in March 2016 and entered open beta in September of the same year. The game was released in October 2016.

Honkai Impact 3rd is an action game set in a post-apocalyptic world, where players can take on the role of various Valkyries and fight against enemies using a variety of weapons and skills.

The game features characters from the previous game, including Kiana Kaslana, Raiden Mei, and Bronya Zaychik.

In addition to the game itself, Honkai Impact 3rd also has an anime series, visual novels, manga, and live-action promotional materials. It has gained a following worldwide since its release.

After being released in mainland China for several months, the game was launched in Japan in February 2017, Taiwan in May 2017, Southeast Asia in November 2017, and North America and Europe in March 2018. A PC version was released on December 26, 2019.