HoYoverse has never been shy to employ a bizarre real-world promotional activity to advertise its games — the floating of a giant inflatable Paimon down the Thames is something no one can forget. By comparison, the Time To Feast! Astral Express Pit Stop event — allowing Honkai: Star Rail fans to enjoy tie-in meals and merch at participating restaurants — feels downright normal. UK residents, Miss Millie’s Awesome Chicken will be hosting the event over a period of three weeks commencing this Saturday (October 14th).
Since Miss Millie’s isn’t exactly a household name in the UK, that is really what makes this situation strange. The fried chicken restaurant has roughly a dozen locations across the country, the majority of which are in Bristol. A few more are located in south coast towns. There are a few London locations as well, but strangely, they aren’t featured on the event website’s list of participating venues. Overall, HoYoverse may not have gotten the exposure they expected from this promotional alliance. In fact, one poster on the HSR subreddit made the joke that they might be better off taking a ferry to France, where pizza giant Domino’s is sponsoring the event, since they’d know more about their destination.
For the majority of us Star Rail enthusiasts in the UK, attending in person may not be a viable choice. The official event image, however, allows us to at least enjoy the primary companion figures March 7th and Dan Heng hanging out in a fast food restaurant in really adorable casual attire. If that’s all I personally get out of this promotion, then I’m already satisfied. Dan Heng as always looks like he’s been dragged along somewhere to keep March happy, and it’s a treat to see their odd-couple dynamic acknowledged in some funny official artwork.
However, if over the coming weeks you do in fact find yourself near a Miss Millie’s, you can order the ‘Astral Express Megabite’ set meal (consisting of a burger, fries, drink, and dessert), which, depending on the quantity you order, includes physical and digital ‘Gourmet Sailing Series’ merchandise.
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A holographic ticket with a code that can be redeemed in-game for an exclusive avatar, phone background, and a recipe for fried chicken health items is given to customers who buy one meal. You can get an acrylic standee with the event art I was drooling over by purchasing two meals and showcasing your account interface on your phone to prove you’re a real HSR player. In the meanwhile, if you post pictures you took in-store on social media, you’ll get a badge with Pom-Pom’s face on it as a reward. Last but not least, Star Rail cosplayers can receive 10% off the price of their lunch at the event, at least in the UK version.
It’s time to eat! Nearly a dozen nations in Asia, the UK, France, Germany, and — at some as-yet-unspecified moment — the USA are all hosting Astral Express Pit Stop events. To give our American cousins a real flavor of this perplexing experience, I’m crossing my fingers for a one-table clam shack in Rhode Island as the partner restaurant and dates for the US edition of the event have not yet been revealed.