If you’ve ever sat through a gut-wrenching story beat in Honkai Star Rail only to get interrupted by a text, or wished you could relive that perfect character reveal after pulling their banner a week later, you’ve probably asked can you rewatch cutscenes in Honkai Star Rail. HoYoverse has rolled out a handful of quality of life updates for the game through 2026, so the rules around accessing old cutscenes are a lot more flexible than they were at launch. We’ve spent dozens of hours testing every possible method to replay story content, including workarounds for limited-time event cutscenes that most players don’t know exist.
How to Rewatch Permanent Main Story Cutscenes in Honkai Star Rail (2026 Methods)
The easiest and most reliable way to replay permanent story cutscenes is through the in-game Archives menu, which received a major UI overhaul in the 3.7 patch earlier in 2026. You don’t have to jump through any hoops to access it, and all main story, companion quest, and character story cutscenes you’ve already unlocked are available 100% of the time, no internet connection required if you’ve downloaded the game’s full story asset pack. To get there, tap the three-line menu icon in the top right corner of your screen, select ‘Archives’ from the dropdown, then navigate to the ‘Cutscenes’ tab on the left-hand side.
You can filter cutscenes by planet, quest type, character, or release date to find the exact clip you’re looking for in seconds, which is a huge upgrade from the old Archives system that only listed clips in chronological order with no search function. The only catch here is that cutscenes you haven’t unlocked through natural quest progression won’t show up, so you can’t skip ahead and spoil future story beats even if you want to. You can also switch between 13 different dub languages and toggle subtitles on or off directly from the cutscene playback menu, so you can rewatch your favorite moments with a different voice cast if you’re curious.
Can You Rewatch Cutscenes in Honkai Star Rail Limited-Time Events?
This is the question we get asked more than any other, since HoYoverse used to permanently remove limited-time event cutscenes once the event ended before 2025. Luckily, the devs listened to overwhelming community feedback, and now almost all limited-time event cutscenes from 2023 onwards are added to the Archives within two weeks of the event’s end date. There are a few exceptions, though, so it’s important to know which clips you can and can’t access after an event wraps up.
If an event is marked as ‘Canon’ in the event details page, its cutscenes will be added to the Archives permanently, while non-canon crossover or collab event cutscenes (like the 2026 Genshin Impact x Honkai Star Rail crossover promotional clips) are only available for the duration of the event. If you missed a non-canon event cutscene and want to rewatch it, your only official option is to check HoYoverse’s official YouTube channel, where they upload most collab cutscenes for global viewers. For example, we recently wanted to rewatch the 2026 Penacony New Year event cutscene featuring Sparkle and Acheron, and it was already in the Archives less than 10 days after the event ended, which is a way faster turnaround than the 2-3 month wait players dealt with in 2025.
If you can’t find an event cutscene you know you unlocked, try these workarounds first:
That said, we don’t recommend using third-party fan sites to download cutscenes, as many of them host malware or require you to share personal account information to access files. Sticking to official sources or trusted community spaces is the safest way to access lost cutscene footage without risking your account or device security.
Common Issues When Trying to Rewatch HSR Cutscenes (And How to Fix Them)
Even with the 2026 Archives update, a lot of players run into small bugs that prevent them from accessing cutscenes they know they’ve already unlocked. We’ve run into almost all of these issues ourselves, so we’ve tested every fix to see which ones actually work. The most common issue is cutscenes showing up as locked even after you complete the associated quest. This almost always happens because you haven’t downloaded the latest story asset pack, which HoYoverse splits into optional downloads to save storage space on lower-end devices.
To fix this, go to your settings menu, select ‘Resource Management’, then download the ‘Story Cutscene Pack’ for the planet or quest line you’re trying to access. You don’t have to download all asset packs at once; you can pick and choose only the ones you need to save storage space on your phone or PC. Another common issue is cutscenes playing without audio, which is usually caused by a corrupted download. Uninstalling and re-downloading the specific asset pack for that cutscene will fix the problem 90% of the time, but if it doesn’t, you can submit a support ticket and the team will usually send you a working link to the clip within 24 hours. One thing to note: if you skipped a cutscene during your first playthrough, it will still unlock in your Archives, so you don’t have to replay the entire quest to get access to it. That’s a really nice quality of life feature that HoYoverse added in early 2026, after thousands of players requested it following the release of the huge 3.0 main story update.
Is There a Way to Rewatch Cutscenes Without Unlocking Them First?
We see this question pop up a lot from players who want to catch up on story beats before pulling a new character, or who accidentally spoiled themselves on a plot twist and want to see the leadup without playing 20 hours of old quests. The short answer is no, there’s no official way to access cutscenes you haven’t unlocked through normal gameplay. HoYoverse intentionally locks unplayed story content to prevent spoilers, and there’s no setting or cheat code to bypass this lock. That said, you can find almost all main story cutscenes uploaded to the official Honkai Star Rail YouTube channel, sorted by arc and release date, if you don’t mind watching them outside of the game.
Watching cutscenes on YouTube won’t unlock any in-game rewards or progression, though, so you’ll still have to play through the quest if you want to earn the Stellar Jades or character ascension materials tied to it. A lot of new players assume that they can just watch cutscenes online and skip the quests entirely, but that’s not a good idea if you want to unlock future story content, since most later arcs require you to complete all previous main story quests to access them. We’ve had a lot of friends who tried to skip the Jarilo-VI arc to get to Penacony faster, only to find out they couldn’t access the 2026 new planet content until they finished all the earlier main quests first.
At the end of the day, if you’re asking can you rewatch cutscenes in Honkai Star Rail, the answer is almost always yes, as long as you’re looking for permanent or canon event content that you’ve already unlocked. The 2026 updates to the Archives system have made it easier than ever to relive your favorite story moments, and the devs are continuing to roll out improvements every few months based on community feedback. Whether you’re rewatching Acheron’s epic fight scene on Penacony or the sweet companion quest for your favorite 4-star character, you don’t have to jump through nearly as many hoops as you did even a year ago. Just make sure you download the right asset packs, stick to official sources for limited-time content, and you’ll be able to rewatch any cutscene you want in just a few taps.
