Popularity chart of gacha games at an anime con in China as of May 2026.

[u/520mile]

Red dots=like, black dots=dislike.

Covered up games in images 3 & 7 are Snowbreak Honor of Kings & Reverse 1999, respectively.

EDIT: Image 3 is actually Honor of Kings, not Snowbreak. “SB” over HoK’s square means 傻逼(sha bi)=stupid/idiot/dumbass/asshole. Although HoK isn’t a gacha, it’s up there with a few other mobile games that are popular in China.

Part 2 thread with Arknights, Endfield, Nikki, and other games cut off in these pics here: https://www.reddit.com/r/gachagaming/s/yvlpDV499B

Post credits: http://xhslink.com/o/1SW4p5Tf0vY

[u/Far_Jackfruit4907]

Aw Hi3 still getting love is very cute! I wonder how many people there still play it. It’s been years but I still would have placed red dot there

[u/Alchadylan → u/Far_Jackfruit4907]

Since part 2, I just go back once a year to catch up on the story. Probably next for me when the new Seele comes in like June

[u/Woodpeckershurtmyear → u/Alchadylan]

Pt 2 had a rough start but honestly they've gotten back to the honkai feel that I loved from before. And honestly even though we lost the animated shorts, they have amazing story presentation and bosses when compared other hoyo games imo. I just hope we get more Pt 2 character battle suit releases and that we can hopefully go back to a shorter patch cycle in the future.

[u/DukeOfStupid → u/Woodpeckershurtmyear]

Helia and Coralie's arcs have been a highlight for me.

Rivals the stronger part 1 arcs and really captures what HI3rd does best IMO, strong focused character writing and arcs. Also the battlesuits in Part 2 have pretty consistently been great, really fun to play.

[u/Woodpeckershurtmyear → u/DukeOfStupid]

And the boss fight against Leylah? so peak. I also really enjoy the Astral Ring system.

[u/Seelefan0786 → u/DukeOfStupid]

They should honestly have protagonist with actual personality like HI3 in their newer games instead of self inserts.

[u/ventrilux → u/Woodpeckershurtmyear]

I've only read part 1, didn't feel like starting part 2 with mixed opinions (and the fact that there were only few chapters back then). Is there any particular reason why the stopped doing animated shorts after part 1? It was one of my favourite things in hi3 (and something I was missing for a long time in hsr until they implemented them into a story during amphoreus)

[u/miiko_uch → u/ventrilux]

it's kinda sad to think about but they simply just didn't, and moved on with HSR, they even once posted fanworks from musically of the characters dancing

[u/FlashFire729 → u/ventrilux]

My guess is mix of wanting to just use the engine itself, and just being a smaller game now.

Somewhere between Genshin's release/cultural explosion and Star Rail's own release (EDIT: actually, yeah, Graduation Trip, the last main story animated short for hi3 Part 1, released around a month before Star Rail went live), the company kinda just eased up on/stopped with the main story based animated shorts across their games in general; most animated stuff was moreso about other story things, ie background lore or something, and not like the main climax of an arc like in Part 1 HI3.

Like you said, it took until Amorphous for hoyo to at least start going somewhat back to that style across their games (since then, they've done stuff like the witch animated short for genshin), but even then, most of the animated stuff actually played in game for the story I believe is still moreso in-engine.

Take how the SW999 animated short in the current hsr patch I believe isn't actually taking place as the main story present/arc, and is again moreso backstory/lore.

[u/Sysmek → u/Woodpeckershurtmyear]

It's been pretty great! P2 did have a rocky start but they picked it up pretty quickly, I enjoyed Ch 3 a lot and Ch 4 onwards has been amazing, with Ruimu (P2's second arc) being amongst some of my favorite arc in Hi3 overall

They went back to a character focused narrative and increased the presentation dramatically, the writing of Ruimu reminded me a TON of Arc City (which I also love) just much higher quality, was a very "personal" story in terms of writing (heavy on character monologue/inner thoughts, very dreary and depressing tone/atmosphere, lots of focus on the human psyche, etc)

The current arc (Difeng) is seeming to be the final one in P2 (or well, the storyline that's been ongoing since Ch 0/P2 Prologue) and it's been amazing as well, is giving a ton of answers + worldbuilding, along with the great character focus that Ruimu had

[u/MaoPam → u/Sysmek]

the writing of Ruimu reminded me a TON of Arc City

Ooh I thought I was done with hi3 but that makes me want to check things out again. Arc City is one of my favorites.

[u/Sysmek → u/MaoPam]

I highly recommend! It surprised me a lot because outside of Arc City, there isn't really much Hoyo has written with the same general themes, tone, intrapersonal writing, etc of Arc City

Ruimu is definitely one of my favorite arcs in Hi3, it really gave off the idea of them "returning to form"

[u/d3_crescentia → u/Woodpeckershurtmyear]

the fight against perception was jaw dropping in terms of gameplay/mechanics, it's almost a travesty that it's locked inside a gacha game

[u/miiko_uch → u/Woodpeckershurtmyear]

i think the only thing that is holding them back is the reluctance to go all in on pt 2 chars

[u/Alchadylan → u/Woodpeckershurtmyear]

I enjoy it but I just really stopped caring much about Abyss and MA, so I like just binging story/events.

[u/Hollownerox → u/Alchadylan]

Same here. I still play every now and then, but with them spacing out character releases it isn't as no lifing as I used to be with it lol.

Its honestly weirdly relaxing to play now. Since events and such have longer durations.

[u/Not_Pro → u/Far_Jackfruit4907]

Day 1 HI3 player, you love to see it.

[u/xangbar → u/Far_Jackfruit4907]

Ever since twitter added auto translation I see a lot of Japanese tweets about it which has been nice. I'm glad it has a passionate fan base at least

[u/GDarkX → u/xangbar]

i have not seen this much activity in a while and it was mostly because she is i think the most universally beloved p2 character ever

and JP went crazy over her

[u/-TSF- → u/GDarkX]

It's funny because they told you about this character from day 1 of Part 2 but you didn't see her until way later, and then she's simultaneously exactly what they said she is and nothing like you expected her to be, it's amazing.

[u/InfiniteKG → u/-TSF-]

Hoyo seems to do this a lot lol

[u/xangbar → u/GDarkX]

I really like her character so far too! I just need to lock in and do new patch stuff. I did login and pull her and Bronya's new gear at least.

[u/pokelord13 → u/Far_Jackfruit4907]

Hi3 was my entry into gacha and im glad to see it doing so well after all these years. I stopped after the part 1 story ended but if they ever announce an EOS for it you bet your ass I'm coming back for the memories