Once you say the phrases “creature collector,” you have already got my consideration. I’ve been each curious and cautious in equal measures since Aniimo was first introduced. I’m removed from the solely individual hungering for a worthy competitor in the creature-collection, monster-taming area, and I’ve dabbled in fairly just a few. Aniimo seems notably vibrant, huge, and cutesy besides. It’s the addition of gacha parts that has had me slightly on the fence. In the event you’ve ever sunk hours right into a gacha, you perceive the trepidation. Will this be the type of gacha expertise that has me gleefully forking over my bank card information, or resenting each microtransaction?
After about 4 hours with Aniimo, I’d say I’m nonetheless cautiously optimistic. It has all the components of my favourite video games: open-world exploration set in a fantastical alien world, tons of critters to gather, challenges to finish, and… farming? Okay, there is likely to be just a few too many components added to this pot, however I’m prepared to let Aniimo cook dinner.
Huge Butts, Tiny Waist
We leap straight into creating our Aniimo character. I can simply sink hours into a superb character creator, so I used to be pumped to provide Aniimo’s a strive. From the get-go, the character creator feels tremendous in-depth. I used to be given six default presets for each a “male” and “feminine” avatar (not nice for all my non-binary friends). You possibly can mix as much as three completely different face presets to get one thing slightly completely different, or you can simply dive head first into the face customization choices.
Aniimo’s character creation means that you can alter the place, prominence, and dimension of just about each facial characteristic, out of your nasal wings to your eyelids. Nevertheless, it didn’t take me lengthy earlier than I observed one evident oversight: pores and skin tone. After looking for a bit, I lastly discovered the choices for pores and skin tone buried below all the different menus for “make-up”. Don’t let the three default choices take you aback – prefer it did me – Aniimo received a bunch of factors in my e-book by together with a shade wheel for limitless pores and skin tone choices.
Nevertheless, the character customization misplaced me once more in two areas: one, hair choices are extraordinarily restricted. I can solely assume – based mostly on the “vogue” vouchers I noticed redeemable afterward in my playthrough – that you simply unlock extra hairstyles via in-game foreign money or development. Having look and cosmetics locked behind gacha mechanics is likely to be anticipated. The truth that there is just one pure curly hair possibility – for those who may even name it that – accessible from the begin, nevertheless, is frankly disheartening.
And second, I used to be equally disenchanted in the physique customization. Whereas I had a lot management over fine-tuning the form of my face, the sliders for physique proportions have been missing to say the least. I by no means anticipate a lot in phrases of physique range in terms of this style of recreation, however having to decide on between being eerily skinny or skinny with a pleasant butt and boobs was disconcerting.
Which Aniimo Are You?
With character customization out of the method, I bought my first take a look at my in-game self – and the cute Aniimo! – in a cutscene reminiscent of a Twitch “IRL” livestream. The livestream overlay, full with “real-time” chat bubbles from fictional viewers, threw me off slightly bit, however fortunately, we didn’t linger in the social media influencer realm for lengthy. I discovered myself in the alien world of “Idyll”, an aptly named “idyllic” planet teeming with lush greenery and charming wildlife with distinctive powers, known as Aniimo.
Our first Aniimo crosses our path – an cute little fire-type Emberpup – easily introducing catch mechanics I’m already loads aware of. With an Emberpup at my facet, my good friend Nico laid down the fundamentals of commanding Aniimo to make use of their skills to take away obstacles or clear up puzzles in the world. After catching just a few extra Aniimo and commanding my new friends to cost into lethal fight, the story started in earnest.
BINI, our little robo companion, is abruptly hijacked by a mysterious glowing D20 die, which pulls me and Nico into some type of pocket dimension. In these unusual ruins, I encountered murals on the wall depicting Aniimo I’ve but to come across. Every mural poses a cryptic query, ala a Buzzfeed persona quiz. The explanation for this soul-searching turned clear as soon as I reached the glowing mural at the finish of the path. The depictions of a yellow lion and blue fox on this mural materialized into two tiny Aniimo who can… speak? I used to be really useful to decide on between Helion or Lunara, based mostly on how I answered the murals’ questions earlier.
I actually favored being supplied a “sorting quiz” to information me in direction of which “starter” Aniimo I ought to select. In any case, the “starter” you select clearly says a lot about you. Solely having two choices to select from was slightly unsatisfying, although it seems to tie into some type of “solar and moon” mythology which could possibly be central to Aniimo’s story. I went for Helion, personally, not solely as a result of he was really useful, however as a result of of his sassy little persona. With Helion by my facet, I used to be thrown into fight with my first huge foe: a large armored dragon Aniimo.
The fight was enjoyable sufficient for my tastes, if slightly button-mashy. I can think about that timing your dodges and managing your cooldowns would possibly take some deeper consideration as you progress. What actually impressed me was the Twining mechanic. Yup, in Aniimo, you truly get to be the creatures. Enjoying as Helion – quite than simply sitting again as a coach – made for some participating, brawly fight.
Getting Schooled
Simply as rapidly as I used to be reworked into Helion and defeated the dragon-type Aniimo, I used to be thrust into an entire new area. I discovered myself transported to the Polaris Institute, a futuristic academy dedicated to finding out Aniimo, situated on my residence planet of Astra. At this stage of the tutorial, issues turned slightly slowed down in dialogue and tutorial demos. To proceed my journey, I wanted to grow to be an official scholar at the Polaris Institute, as an alternative of only a notably precocious livestreamer, or no matter I used to be doing earlier than.
To qualify to be a scholar, I used to be strong-armed right into a fight simulation, which broke down the naked bones of accumulating “EP” and the way to decide on Aniimo which can be elemental counters. Subsequent up, I acquired my first free outfit – a college uniform – and sat via a fast Character menu breakdown. After I was lastly teleported again right down to Idyll with this sizzling anime man and his sizzling wolf Aniimo – don’t decide me, you know that’s precisely what they have been going for right here – I hunkered down for one more spherical of tutorials. After utilizing the Report Terminal and constructing my Aniimo loadout, I lastly had my first style of exploration.
The Creatures
That is the place I might begin to see myself turning into hooked on Aniimo. There’s one thing so intrinsically interesting about working round a stupendous countryside and stopping to have a look at each shiny factor on the floor. There are quick journey spots to find, new areas of the map to unveil, treasure chests to search out, and most significantly, Aniimo to catch!
It rapidly turned clear that catching Aniimo has a much bigger position to play than merely filling out your Aniilog or battling different Aniimo. Relying on their elemental sort or different skills, I relied on my Aniimo to assist me clear up environmental puzzles, like excavating buried treasure chests or floating on geysers of air. Getting to remodel or “twine” with my Aniimo had me squealing with pleasure. Who doesn’t wish to be a tiny little rock crab, strolling via a area of flowers?
I rapidly found how foundational the first Aniimo I caught have been, as I swam throughout streams as Skippy, burned thorny obstacles with Emberpup, or glided round as Celestis. This gave me loads of motivation to continuously be swapping round my “crew” of Aniimo for a cause apart from battle prowess. As I found later, even preserving starter evolutions – or “Lumin” stage – Aniimo is integral to finishing some of the challenges and puzzles scattered round Idyll.
I spent loads of time wandering round the map, catching new Aniimo, and gathering Lumin Amber to improve the Department, a large dandelion which improves the seize likelihood in that area, and finishing miscellaneous milestone duties, known as “Elite Coaching”. These duties felt a bit like chores: open “x” quantity of chests, hatch “y” eggs, and so forth, however finishing them did quick observe my stage rapidly whereas giving me a strong understanding of the core mechanics of Aniimo.
All of the Aniimo I caught whereas exploring have been tremendous cute, if slightly… bland. I really like some whimsy in my creature-collectors, a wholesome combination of cute critters with some cursed-looking monstrosities. What’s neat about Aniimo, nevertheless, is that there appears to be a bunch of variations in every sort. Most Aniimo have branching choices for his or her second or closing “stage” of evolution, and on prime of the uncommon “Prismana” Aniimo which will be caught, I discovered just a few enjoyable “different” variations with completely different appearances based mostly round the area I discovered them in.
#VanLife Influencer Period
Just a few hours into my playtime with Aniimo, I stumbled upon one other of its key options: the RV. After discovering this NPC in the center of a area, I abruptly discovered myself the proud proprietor of my very own interdimensional RV. After a fast customization, I used to be prompted to teleport to the nearest “RV Park”. This vibrant campsite appears to be some type of assembly place the place you may get along with different Aniimo gamers and showcase your personal little outside deck.
As an apart, it wasn’t till I discovered the RV Park that I found that whereas – no, you can not pet your Aniimo (boo) – you can decide up the Aniimo. Huh. That revelation made, I stepped via the interdimensional door in the again of my new RV and entered the “Homeland House.” I assumed that this could be some type of home-building mechanic, maybe permitting me to brighten my very own little area or work together with my Aniimo. As a substitute, I discovered myself on a small patch of barren farmland.
The Homeland tutorial had me clearing up the farm’s litter and sowing my first seeds. As soon as grown, I used to be in a position to harvest my crops to promote. As reward, I acquired “Residence Cash,” a foreign money I can solely assume is exclusive to the Homeland part of Aniimo. With solely this transient expertise to go off of, I’m guessing that the Homeland farming is supposed to be a kind of supplemental gameplay ingredient which can let me idly generate foreign money daily. In trade for my Residence Cash, it seems that I can commerce for different essential in-game gadgets, comparable to Eggs, or buy “RV Welcome Packages”, which I’m hoping provide loads of RV furnishings and customization.
Actually, the RV and Homeland really feel slightly discordant with the relaxation of my Aniimo expertise. I really like a superb farming sim, however I can’t see myself motivated to spend time planting and promoting crops daily if my solely reward is only a gradual grind to buying uncommon supplies. Finishing order requests only for further Residence Cash and coupons for RV furnishings seems like it might rapidly grow to be a slog.
That mentioned, I used to be pleasantly shocked throughout my time enjoying Aniimo. That is precisely the sort of recreation I can see myself sinking hours into exploration and creature-collecting. The Aniimo have been tremendous cute, and attending to play as the creatures you’re gathering is novel sufficient in itself to maintain me . In another areas, together with the principal story, Aniimo does really feel admittedly empty or bland. I don’t think about I’ll be filling out my whole Aniilog or progressing far sufficient to achieve late-game mechanics. I’m nonetheless hyped to obtain Aniimo on my PC – perhaps even on my cellular or Xbox Collection X|S – when it releases, so I can run round as slightly Nimbi as soon as once more.