In my last article, I wrote about gatcha games, citing HoYoverse’s Genshin Impact and Honkai Star Rail as two prominent examples. I’ve been got by these games, sinking in hundreds of hours, and if I’m being totally honest, a good amount of money despite them being free-to-play.

But (I desperately justify) these games make for great user experience studies because they are constantly evolving to mitigate problems experienced by millions of players worldwide. This is especially evident in features that have been added over time to accommodate new and returning players.

With an ever-expanding amount of content, HoYoverse games have had to create affordances for new and returning players in order to prevent overwhelm. By offering rewards for returning players, creating in-game character building tools, and providing built-in recommendations, the designs have anticipated and addressed the problems players might experience when jumping into an increasingly in-depth game like Honkai Star Rail or Genshin Impact.