The game is notable for incorporating a variety of genres, from hack and slash and social simulation, to elements of bullet hell, platforming, shoot 'em up and dungeon crawling across multiple single and multiplayer modes.

In-game, the term 'Honkai Impact' (also 'Honkai Eruption' or 'Honkai Outbreak') refers to a large-scale Honkai disaster that coincides with the birth of a Herrscher.

Honkai Impact 3rd has players control a team of up to three characters, known as Valkyries, in real-time combat against various enemies.

Single-player game modes include the Story campaign, consisting of stages punctuated by dialogue in cutscenes and full motion videos (FMVs); Chronicles, a series of brief side stories that explore Valkyries' backstories or other aspects of the world; and Open World, allowing exploration of several large open-ended fields to gather materials and complete various challenge tasks, coupled with their own storylines.

The game features various multiplayer cooperative and competitive modes, such as Memorial Arena, where players compete against a set of bosses for the highest score across the server; Abyss, where players attempt to progress as far as possible through a gauntlet of battles to compete for high scores against others in a small group, etc.

Outside of battles, Honkai Impact 3rd allows players to interact with the Valkyrie and Stigmata characters through the Dorm mode.

Players can craft various pieces of furniture and design the layout of the dorm rooms to increase the "comfort" of the Valkyries and Stigmata therein.

Secondary gameplay mechanics include various minigames incorporating bullet hell, platforming, and shoot 'em up elements that allow players to gather various crafting and experience materials.

The weapon types in the game are dual pistols, blades (katanas), heavy (cannons), greatswords, crosses, fists (gauntlets), scythes, lances, bows, chakrams, javelins, drive cores (yo-yos,) rapid-fire crossbows, rocket hammers, chained blades, and mechanical staffs.

It has the ability to corrupt humans (ranging from mind manipulation and diseases to turning them into undead creatures), create various monsters, and imbue certain individuals with god-like powers, enabling them to trigger apocalyptic events.

In the Current Era, various global factions exist to combat or take advantage of the power of Honkai.

These include Schicksal, a European-based peacekeeping organization that deploys human warriors known as Valkyries to combat the Honkai; Anti-Entropy, formerly the North American branch of Schicksal that objected to the use of human soldiers in favor of mechanized robots; and World Serpent, a shadow organization that has been manipulating world events since the end of the Previous Era.

As a result, Honkai Impact 3rd is under a continuous-update system, patching bug fixes and changing or adding content multiple times per year.

The game has had many significant changes since launch, including rewriting the entire first two chapters of the story in a December 2018 update.

[12] Devil May Cry and Bayonetta significantly affected the game makers' ideas for the fight system of Honkai Impact 3rd.

[citation needed] The manga begins before Chapter 1 of the main game story arc that aims to supplement and flesh out the in-game plot, and often includes character origins.

[18][19] The game first attracted a large fanbase in Asia before spreading globally: first released in China in late 2016,[20] it reached 1 million downloads in Japan 11 days after release, and IGN reported that Honkai Impact 3rd gathered a total of 35 million downloads worldwide as of March 28, 2018.

[11][32] On April 22, 2021, as part of the 3rd anniversary of the game's global server, a music video titled "Brilliant Bright" in collaboration with Myth & Roid, was released on Honkai Impact 3rd's YouTube channel.