Honkai: Star Rail’s best Easter egg is this sassy trash can
As the saying goes, “One man’s trash is another man’s treasure.” It’s a saying that Hoyoverse’s developers seem to have taken to heart when creating Honkai: Starrail. If you want to do something fun, I highly recommend rummaging through Belobog’s various trash cans. It won’t get you any fancy items, but you’ll be rewarded with some of the funniest lyrics in the game.
Honkai: Starrail is a space-fantasy RPG from the creators of Genshin effect. While the game ranges from Genshin by introducing turn-based combat and more linear exploration, the writers have maintained a sense of whimsy with the game’s dialogue. This shows up in a variety of ways throughout the game, from the crazy group texts to hidden Rick Rolls in the lore. My favorite example of how much freedom the writers take in the storytelling, though, is how players dig through the trash.
In the Russian-inspired city of Belobog, the Trailblazer can interact with one of the many garbage cans in the area. The garbage glistens, suggesting that we can interact with it or that there is an item hidden within. However, when you interact with it, the game doesn’t (immediately) reward you with an item and instead responds with a strange narration sequence.
I click once: “A trash can, not remarkable in any way.”
The sparkle doesn’t go away though so I click again.
“You’ve been staring at it for a while, but it’s just a regular trash can.”
March 7 responds this time: “Ugh… What do you want to do?”
I keep clicking over and over and finally the following story unfolds:
“You try to suppress the urge to open it up. As you keep staring at the garbage cans, they seem to spin before your eyes. The edges are no longer rusty and the dents are smoothed out. From beneath the lid comes a faint golden glow, sweet and seductive. For a moment, the garbage cans turn into treasure chests. … And it happens again. You take a deep breath and open the lid: it’s empty… Wait! You reach deeper into the trash. On the bottom is a piece of iron scrap. Your hard work has paid off! You finally found the treasure! You look back at your companions and see their intricate expressions.
In those moments, I’m just transfixed by the trash can and its untold secrets. However, my moment of pride is interrupted by the reactions of my peers in the game. March 7 says: “…You don’t have to explain. I understand. That urge is too great to resist.” Dan Heng says, “There’s no going back once you’ve walked this path.” And with that, the sequence is complete and the player is rewarded with a profile icon that is simply a trash can.
This is my favorite interaction with a garbage can, but there are several. So much so, in fact, that you can dig through can to can and collect notes from a person who calls himself Garbage King, and correlate their activities all over the city.
The garbage cans are my personal favorite example, but the Trailblazer is kind of ridiculous, so you can do all sorts of weird things around town. For example, when you go to your hotel room for the night, you can spend 10 minutes and leave a scathing review of this quaint family hotel you’re staying at, or you can climb in the closet and play a scenario where the hotel’s housekeepers get the hell out of it you hunt. The Hoyoverse writers really don’t take themselves at seriously – and we all enjoy it.