HoYoverse is making a monster-collecting game, and it’s got Pokémon written all over it. It’s called Honkai: Nexus Anima, and the debut trailer is rife with all sorts of anime creatures that players will be able to raise and battle. Unlike Pokémon, Nexus Anima seems to feature a much wider range of things you can do with your pet pals as well as locations that vastly outstrip the size and scale of anywhere you’d explore inside a Game Freak title. Friendship ended with Palworld?
There’s a story here, but it kinda seems like anime nonsense. Apparently, the ‘Nexus’ balance is ruptured, which sends powers scattering across the world in the form of Anima, the game’s name for the monsters. The protagonist has some sort of mysterious past you’ll uncover as you forge bonds with Anima, but the important bit here is that you collect creatures. And while HoYoverse did not unveil its own version of Pikachu, the parallels to Game Freak’s mega franchise are hard to ignore.
Both games feature a similar soft anime aesthetic, and several Anima bear comparisons to known Pokémon. For example, there’s a stout orange pancake dog that seems like a cross between Fidough and Yamper. There’s a pink bear-like lil’ dude who harks back to Stufful. There’s a seagull-esque creature that will remind people of Pelipper, except it’s got a colonial-era wig on for some reason. There’s a dark, cat-like Anima that might make people think of Umbreon, except more coquette.
I could go on here, but to Nexus Anima‘s credit, there are only so many real-world animals any game could pull from. The game also seems to feature way more food-inspired designs, like an Anima that appears to be a walking avocado or multiple tykes that look like various types of desserts. Some of the verbs are similar: you’ll be able to ride Anima, play with them (at one point the player rides a seesaw with their friend), congregate (there seems to be a pet park where everyone can bring their own Anima), feed them treats, and so on. You’ll also be able to do things that aren’t in Pokémon, though. The in-game footage shows gameplay where an Anima shoots down some orbs in the sky with a launcher, and another portion where not-Stufful can be seen destroying the inside of a house, rage-room style.
The combat itself also seems a little different. During one segment of the gameplay, we get an overhead shot where many Anima are on the field at once, wailing away at each other in a way that suggests a more action-oriented style of play. Nexus Anima also appears to offer a much more robust set of customization options for players. All of this will presumably be tied around some type of gacha mechanism that will impact what Anima you can collect, at least if Nexus is anything like other games produced by HoYoverse. If that’s the case, though, it’s likely that Nexus Anima will be free-to-play.
HoYoverse is holding a beta test that begins on 8/29 for Nexus Anima on both PC and iOS, but any progress players make here will be data-wiped. You can sign up here, but you’ll need a HoYoverse account.