Honkai: Star Rail's Elden Ring Easter Egg Gets Mocked as 'Meme Merchant Behavior' — Community Couldn't Care Less

When a game gets labeled a 'meme merchant' (卖梗电商) by its own community, can its references to other games still be called a 'beautiful tradition'? That's exactly the question this NGA thread raised when a Honkai: Star Rail player posted about discovering an Elden Ring homage in the game's text — and the gossip section absolutely roasted them for it.

The original poster found a text reference to Elden Ring within Star Rail's latest update and excitedly called it 'a 2023 TGA Best Mobile Game paying tribute to the 2022 TGA Game of the Year — truly a beautiful tradition.' They attached a screenshot as evidence.

The gossip section was having none of it. The top-voted comment went straight for the jugular: 'Forgot the beginning, meme merchant, forgot the end' — a devastating one-liner framing Star Rail's 'tribute' as nothing more than marketing. Another reply was equally blunt: 'All they do is stuff memes into the game — are they a meme e-commerce store?' The label 'meme merchant' has been a running joke (and insult) in the Star Rail community for a while, referring to the game's habit of cramming internet memes and pop culture easter eggs into its writing, which critics say lacks originality.

The comments spiraled further. One user questioned the entire premise of posting this: 'Are you planning to drag every single meme from every Star Rail update into the gossip board? With their whole identity being a meme merchant, nothing's gonna happen except more roasting.' Another was even more savage: 'At least change the title to "Star Rail openly calls Elden Ring trash and says Tarnished are garbage cans" — THAT would be worth posting.' The implication was clear: a harmless easter egg doesn't qualify as 'tea.'

One commenter sarcastically suggested: 'I didn't even notice this one — maybe consider making a compilation post? Otherwise it's one meme per thread, might as well rename the board to Meme Education.' Another chimed in: 'This game is ALL memes — are we supposed to post about every single one?' Even the players themselves are meme-fatigued at this point.

The thread also dredged up some old drama. One commenter reminded everyone that a Honkai Impact 3rd promotional video had been accused of plagiarizing content — and miHoYo never officially apologized, not even on a burner account. Another user went harder: 'They haven't apologized for the PV plagiarism, and now every update is stuffed with cringe memes, and the meme stans just say "that's the vibe we want."' It's a sore spot that clearly hasn't healed.

There was also a minor subplot about 'Li Menggan' (李猛干), a writer allegedly transferred to the Star Rail team. Someone questioned the hypocrisy of 'disdaining memes while writing nothing but memes,' but was quickly corrected by another user who pointed out that Li Menggan has been handling the Xianzhou Luofu storyline in Star Rail all along.

All in all, this thread isn't exactly breaking news — but it perfectly captures a long-simmering tension in the Star Rail community: are the constant memes and easter eggs a charming part of the game's identity, or just lazy 'meme merchant' behavior? Judging by the overwhelmingly sarcastic response, the NGA gossip veterans have made their stance clear — memes are fine, but don't treat them like front-page news.