My creature catching days have been, for the most part, stagnant since the early days of Pokemon Go. I was all-in on Pokemon Red when I picked it and my GameBoy Pocket up in 1998, then again once Pokemon Snap came out for Nintendo 64. Ah, to be young again and printing out low-rez pictures of my “captures” from the GameStop in-store kiosk.
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I always keep one toe in the water, though, primarily through my card chasing hobby and the Pokemon TCG, which (lucky for me) shows no signs of slowing down. It also just so happens that my 7-year-old has taken to Pokemon EXTREMELY well, thanks to Let’s Go, Pikachu! It‘s all he talks about these days—how this Pokemon evolves into that, how he finally evolved a Beedrill, and so on.
So, naturally, when I was offered a chance to play Aniimo at PAX East 2026, I jumped at the opportunity. Cute critters, an open world reminiscent of Breath of the Wild, and a design that spoke to my anime-loving heart, I came into the gameplay session with high hopes. And while there was a LOT to take in during my 30-minute appointment, I walked away feeling confident that both my son and I will be knee-deep in Aniimo when it releases later this year.
A World That Demands to Be Explored
The first thing that hits you when you drop into Aniimo’s world is the sheer scale of it. The continent of Idyll is vast, lush, and richly detailed in a way that immediately conjures comparisons to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Immortals Fenyx Rising. Rolling hills carpeted in wildflowers, shimmering coastlines, and dramatic skies form a backdrop that makes you want to ditch whatever quest you’re on and just kind of… wander.
Pawprint Studio has crafted an open world that doesn’t feel like a checklist of environmental traits. There’s a very alive feeling. During my session, I found myself stumbling into a coastal area teeming with a completely different roster of Aniimo than the grassy fields I’d just come from. Grace, the Aniimo rep on hand, confirmed that different biomes, weather patterns, times of day, and environmental phenomena all influence which Aniimo appear. That kind of system gives the world a sense of authenticity that will reward players who take the time to explore and really live in the world.
Movement, too, felt appropriately expansive. From gliding, diving, or burrowing (each ability borrowed from whichever Aniimo you’ve “Twined” with) travel is expressive and fun to experiment with. I accidentally triggered a glide mechanic mid-session and squealed a little, which (if you read my Halloween preview) is something that I apparently do now as a 40-year-old adult.
The Twining Mechanic Is the Star of the Show
If catching Aniimo is the hook, Twining is the line that reels you in. Once you’ve caught a creature using Aniipods (timed throws that require a surprising amount of precision) you can merge with it, taking on its form, abilities, and perspective. It’s a mechanic the game’s description sells as “seeing the world like they do,” and in reality, it’s as fun as it sounds.
After my hands-on, Grace pointed out something I had missed entirely. After catching the crab creature I’d been chasing, I was supposed to Twine with it to solve an environmental puzzle and unlock a treasure chest. I skipped right past it. But that moment actually shows the depth here. Aniimo isn’t just about collecting for collection’s sake. Each creature you catch is a resource that unlocks new parts of the world, new puzzles, and new combat strategies.
The creature design itself is a big highlight as well. It kind of has to be for this type of game, right? My session introduced me to everything from cloud-like fluffy sheep critters wandering open fields to a feisty bird (known as Chirpi) that, frankly, had it coming. A particular fan-favorite among the team is something called Emberpup, and after watching it in action, a fiery little bruiser with serious attitude, I completely understand the enthusiasm. (I may have called it a “badass” on the show floor. Grace did not disagree.)
Deep RPG Bones Beneath the Cute Exterior
Don’t let the adorable aesthetic fool you, though. Aniimo has serious RPG infrastructure underneath. My 30 minutes were spent bouncing between catching mechanics, a branching upgrade system, evolution trees, ability unlocks, and what appeared to be a fairly elaborate skill aptitude menu. It was, admittedly, a lot to absorb on a show floor with a controller in hand for the first time.
Upgrading Aniimo requires materials, which is another layer of resource management that hints at a more involved progression loop. Even in my limited playtime, I was able to evolve Emberpup, and it felt exciting, with visual transformations that were dramatic enough to elicit a, “Whoa,” from me mid-session.
There’s also a personal hub system, which is basically a player housing feature where you can farm, decorate, and arrange your space with your collected Aniimo. Cozy side content makes a lot of sense for this game, and will undoubtedly absorb hours of playtime for the right type of life sim/home management player.
More Than a Catch-‘Em-All
One thing that stood out from both my play session and the conversation afterward was that Aniimo appears to be building toward something more narratively ambitious than a simple creature-collection game. The story-based moments of the demo had a lot of talk about “solving ancient mysteries,” and with a sky-floating metropolis full of other Pathfinders to interact with, the game seems to have a rather deep story.
Grace was understandably tight-lipped on story specifics, but the world-building baked into even the demo build was pretty clear. The continent of Idyll feels like a place with history, and not just a playground assembled for the sake of having somewhere to run around.
Coming into PAX East as a creature-catching fan who’s been largely dormant since the initial Pokemon Go era, I left the Aniimo booth feeling reinvigorated. The game will be free-to-play, which lowers the barrier to entry considerably, and it’s launching across virtually every platform (PS5, Xbox Series X|S, PC via Steam and the Epic Games Store, and mobile), so there’s no hardware excuse not to give it a shot when it launches later this year.
30 minutes is barely enough time to scratch the surface, and a few more hours would have made the learning curve considerably gentler. But that’s the point. This is a game that rewards investment, and the more I learned during my session, the more I wanted to keep learning.
Aniimo is set to launch sometime in 2026. In the meantime, it’s available to Wishlist now on Steam. You can also pre-register now from the Aniimo website for an exclusive reward.
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Image courtesy of Netflix
