It’s sort of impossible not to think of other creature-catching games like Pokémon when you see a game like Aniimo. To its credit, developer Pawprint Studio is putting its own spin on the genre, and in doing so, Aniimo feels like a distinct experience from the games that came before it.
Of course, some of the genre staples are still present and accounted for. Your Aniimo, which have a cute, vibrant look to them while also looking fairly high-detail, have their own elemental types, such as Lightning, Grass, Earth, Water, etc. (during my brief hands-on preview, I spotted 11 types, but I imagine more could be added down the line). Similarly, Aniimo are caught in the wild, typically by first weakening them in combat, then throwing an “Antipod” at them.
This might sound a bit familiar, but Aniimo does shake up the formula in its own way. For starters, you actually morph into your Aniimo (as opposed to indirectly controlling them) in a process called Twining, which you can do on the fly. Switching between your roster so easily makes for more engaging combat, since you actually get to control your Aniimo directly and attack without needing to issue commands. Outside of combat, there are puzzles to solve, NPCs who need your help, and an entire farming and home-base minigame that makes for a decidedly low-stakes, cozy experience.
With a handful of additional closed betas on the horizon, we’re waiting to see how Aniimo shakes out, and there’s still the outstanding question of what its free-to-play pricing structure will look like.
“Monetization is not fully nailed down yet,” explained Jonathan Lemberg, who was representing the development team at Summer Game Fest. “It’ll be tested in the upcoming beta for the first time, but the goal is definitely not a gacha game. There will be no Aniimo in the store, and the devs are very aware of not falling into the trap of having pay-to-win or pay-to-progress.”
If Pawprint Studio can flesh out the story and moment-to-moment gameplay (as well as a solid monetization system), they might have a sleeper hit on their hands. Aniimo is set to launch later this year on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, PC, iOS, and Android.
