Penacony, oh Penacony. You nearly touched down on the finish line, just to plummet into the depths of hell.

I’ll be upfront: Penacony 2.0’s If One Dreams at Midnight resulted in me taking a five month break from the game.

Five months later, I chewed through the patches 2.1-2.3. While 2.1 was a noticeable improvement, it pales in comparison for me at 2.2. 2.2 was near perfection, and while Robin’s seemingly not much thought into introduction to the character proper (we get told everything about her through her brother, Sunday… what?) The mysteries of Penacony’s Trailblazers, the opening left by Aventurine to expose the rot underneath the idealistic paradise, the return of Firefly, the intrigue of Sunday’s goals, the narrative was ramping up, ready to take the spot as my favorite…

Then the bossfight happens. And it’s a complete wash. While I had my concerns, I pushed them into the back of my head.

A lot was seemingly unexplained as it barreled to the departure of Penacony, and then it’s revealed it was a fakeout ending.

While I was aware of certain elements not being explained, I am utterly embarrassed this got me. I honestly thought the game wasn’t going to explain Aventurine’s return at all and send us on our merry way.

Thus commences a brief rally of the troops, then an unceremonious appearance of the last boss.

Look, this fight was fine, I still think the Supreme Guardian fight is the pinnacle of Honkai: Star Rail with appropriate buildup, the “moment,” and the music.

Yesyes, there is a song by Robin playing, but I couldn't care less for it. At least you got to rail (heh) a train into the boss.

So, with all that said, despite my gripes with the abysmal 2.0, and the slight trip by 2.2 with the actual ending, I was ready for the curtain closing final act.

2.3 was easily the worst dogshit Hoyo has ever fed me and I cannot believe this is how they chose to end Penacony.

Three main plot points are happening: the IPC’s pursuit of Penacony, resulting in a thirty percent cut of shares, but five percent of it going to the Astral Express, Firefly’s conclusion, and Sparkle emerging out of the depths of 2.1 hell to announce that she has placed fumo plush “””bombs””” around the Radiant Feldspar.

The IPC pursuit of Penacony suffers from the worst “it happened offscreen” I think I’ve seen in awhile. Himeko shows up and just as the discussion is about to start, it cuts away. What?

I was genuinely intrigued at how awful Jade is, but the game decides to yank me away.

The last two, the fumo bombs and Firefly go hand and hand, resulting in one of the worst cinematics where Firefly decides on her third death to save the Radiant Feldspar, but then Sparkle goes, “nah, jk, its all fake,” pushes you off for Firefly to catch you, and everyone cheers.

I was baffled, annoyed, and beyond frustrated at how many jokes were cracked during the whole thing, and then the game threw me a moment that it absolutely did not earn and the only way I can describe it was complete and utter cringe.

The actual goodbyes to the old trailblazers were well written and probably the best send off this godforsaken arc is going to get.

My one saving grace about this entire arc is I don’t have to worry about it in two to three months. A new story will begin and I will push this so far out of my mind. I don’t have a year to dwell on it nor three years to rummage through my thoughts on a saga ending expansion. It, quite literally, as I’ve been saying in most of my live-service Backloggd reviews, is part of the journey.

This was overly harsh, but the moments that were outstanding were some of the best the series has gotten (Sunday, Gallagher, and Aventurine steal the spotlight).

If I’ve coped with Destiny’s storytelling reaching the peak of mediocre to solid, I can hope the next adventure aboard the Astral Express is better.