Starward is a third-party game launcher for miHoYo's PC games that aims to replace the official HoYoPlay launcher.
The tool addresses limitations in the official launcher by providing a unified interface for all HoYoverse PC titles. Beyond basic launching functionality, it includes game time tracking, account switching, screenshot viewing, and gacha record saving. The launcher is built with WinUI and targets Windows 10 and above, requiring WebView2 Runtime and WebP Image Extension to function.
Starward suits players who want a more feature-rich alternative to the official launcher and prefer open-source software they can inspect and modify. The project explicitly positions itself as a replacement for HoYoPlay rather than a complementary tool. Installation is straightforward: download the appropriate architecture build from releases, extract it, and run the executable. The tool requires Windows 10 version 1809 or later and benefits from system transparency and animation effects being enabled.
Development activity shows active community engagement through localization efforts coordinated via Crowdin, with translation and proofreading contributions welcomed in multiple languages. The project maintains clear development documentation specifying Visual Studio 2022 requirements and necessary workloads for local compilation. The codebase draws acknowledged inspiration from similar projects in the space, with the maintainer crediting design patterns and architectural approaches learned from related launchers.
