Honkai: Star Rail 4.5 heads to Astropolis on August 26

August 26, 2026. That is the date HoYoverse gave for Honkai: Star Rail Version 4.5, “To Roll the Stars in Astropolis,” during its August 14 preview stream, and as of August 22, 2026 it stands for PC, PlayStation 5, iOS and Android alike.

A holiday that doubles as damage control

For readers who have not touched the game: Honkai: Star Rail is HoYoverse’s free-to-play, turn-based RPG in which you ride a space train, the Astral Express, from planet to planet. The 4.x versions have been set in a region called Planarcadia, and the previous patch ended with the crew beating a Lord Ravager named Asat Pramad. The celebration is short. A force called the Voracity plunges the region back into crisis, and the Trailblazer heads to Astropolis, a stronghold of the Interastral Peace Corporation (the game’s giant company that behaves like a government), to look for help. The trip is framed as a vacation with political maneuvering underneath, and two familiar faces come along: Robin, the singer, and Aventurine, the gambler.

Summer versions, not reruns

This is where the version gets its cast. Robin • Summeretto, the first-half five-star, is a Wind character on the Path of Remembrance. Her teammates’ actions build “Vibes”; once she uses her Skill and Vibes reach a threshold, the team enters a Fever Pitch in which allies gain buffs every time they attack, growing stronger the more often they act. She also debuts a new single, “Only by Chasing the Wind.” Her Light Cone is “Rise and Sing,” a four-star Light Cone called “A Little Getaway” arrives alongside it, and Hyacine returns on the same phase.

From September 12 the second half brings Aventurine • Waveflair, a Quantum character on the Path of Elation who fights with a beach volleyball and by surfing. He accumulates “Punchline” and “Fervor,” and when Fervor fills he immediately fires an extra Elation Skill that deals several random single-target hits. His Light Cone is “Summer Rides the Surf,” and Ashveil reruns next to him.

Read the names carefully. Both are alternate versions of existing characters, separate from the originals you may already own. Pulling the original Robin last year does not turn her into Summeretto.

The small setting that may matter most

Story dialogue can now be sped up, and it is a toggle you switch on or off. Star Rail’s chapters are long and heavily voiced, and until now the options were to sit through them or skip entirely. For a player who reads faster than the voice track, this is the most practical change in the patch.

Around it: “Overdrive: Whirlwind Grand Prix” is a racing event, “Minuscule Great Adventure” is a stage event built around relaxed challenges, the Divergent Universe roguelike mode gets a gameplay update, and the “Planar Fissure” and “Realm of the Strange” double-drop events return for material farming. A new Trailblaze Fashion headwear piece, “Aw, Look Up Here,” is among the rewards. Further out, HoYoverse says a crossover with Zenless Zone Zero is planned for later in 2026, and a MOONDROP audio collaboration with Sparxie-themed products is on the way.

What to do before the 26th

Nothing in the update costs money to reach; the story, Astropolis and the events are free. Pulling for either summer variant uses Stellar Jade, which you earn by playing or buy, so the usual arithmetic applies: a single five-star plus its Light Cone is a long save for a free player, which makes it worth deciding now whether Robin’s buffs or Aventurine’s damage fits the team you actually have. If your account is new, the route to Planarcadia runs through the earlier worlds first, and the dialogue toggle will make that catch-up faster. Pre-download usually opens shortly before a version launches; the sources we checked did not give an exact time for this one.