Over the last few years, several studios have attempted to capture the creature collecting magic that Pokémon has dominated over the last 30 years.
Cassette Beasts is probably the closest approximation, while Palworld flipped the entire concept on its head, and while both deserve their flowers, neither has quite managed to live up to the undisputed king of the genre.
Enter HoYoverse. In the last decade, the company has gone from a relative unknown in the west to perhaps the biggest mobile game studio in the world.
Genshin Impact, Honkai: Star Rail, Zenless Zone Zero – these are all now household names in gaming.
It’s now their turn to chase the creature collection dragon with Honkai: Nexus Anima, and after trying it out for a few weeks, if anyone can do it, HoYo is as good a bet as anyone.
To put things simply, Nexus Anima’s gameplay combines the creature collection of Pokémon with the mobile-friendly combat of Teamfight Tactics (TFT).
Each Anima – the game’s name for its creatures – has its own abilities. Place them on a board-like field, and they take place in auto-battler combat.
Place tankier Anima up front to soak up damage, while supports hang back and buff or heal the others; it’s a simple concept that lends itself well to the kind of mobile-friendly gameplay HoYo is known for.
One issue I have had in Honkai: Star Rail, is that it can often feel too easy to just set it to auto-battle and never have to think about what you’re doing.
Ironically, while an auto-battler, the fact that Nexus Anima requires you to think about where you place your Anima does circumvent this, which was a nice surprise.
That being said, the strategy required isn’t exactly tremendous, and the game remains quite easy to play. Naturally, as with all previews, you don’t get to see the full extent of the game, and I certainly hope that as you progress, things become more challenging.
On the scale from mobile game to PC/console game that all HoYo games sit, Nexus Anima’s simplicity certainly places it much nearer the mobile side – despite having spent my entire preview on PC, I repeatedly felt as though I’d rather be playing on my phone.
As for the story, it’s also going to be pretty familiar if you’ve ever played a HoYo game before.
Amnesiac protagonist in a multidimensional world under threat from a seemingly unstoppable force; while the specifics might differ, Nexus Anima appears to have been largely painted by the same broad brush as other HoYo games, though that isn’t to say that the story is bad by any means.
Like with the combat, it’s always difficult to truly grasp a game’s story in a preview period, and what I’ve seen thus far is enough to convince me that, at the very least, the story will keep players interested, even if I am still hoping for more.
Perhaps Nexus Anima’s greatest feature, however, is its world.
The majority of early areas are reminiscent of the small, hub-like zones of Honkai: Star Rail, tightly packed with a few NPCs and interactables to keep you busy.
Eventually, however, you gain access to an enormous open map, more reminiscent of Genshin Impact, and this is where Nexus Anima really begins to spread its wings.
It has a blend of cityscapes and countryside, and is the kind of playground that is such a joy to wander through.
Having been disappointed with the Wild Area of Pokémon Sword and Shield, and much of the open world in Scarlet and Violet, I was very pleasantly surprised at what Nexus Anima has built so far, and think that Game Freak could certainly learn a thing or two when it comes to crafting their own open worlds.
Exploration was certainly my favourite aspect of the game, but even a world as fun to explore as this does begin to tire eventually if the gameplay and story can’t keep pace.
Now, from the good to the bad, the weakest potion of Nexus Anima is undoubtedly its gacha system.
I have never been a fan of the gacha system, so this may just be a matter of personal preference, but I feel as though Nexus Anima’s gacha system causes more issues than it does in HoYo’s other titles.
You pull for Anima, as well as Trainers who are used to apply all sorts of passives and stat boosts, and often it’s these Trainers that are the deciding factor in battles.
I previously stated that I wanted the game to become more challenging, but the way progression is currently handled in the game, an increase in difficulty could quickly snowball into a point where the game is a series of brick walls that can only be overcome by either an endless grind or pulling your wallet out.
HoYoverse’s games are notoriously well polished on release, and this is a game without a release date, so I have high hopes that there are plenty of tweaks and improvements still to come.
Because while these criticisms may sound negative on a first read, I want to make clear that these are only negatives for now.
Honkai: Nexus Anima is a game with a tremendous amount of potential, and while I can’t see it ever reaching the same monstrous popularity of Genshin and Honkai: Star Rail, there’s no reason why Nexus Anima can’t have a permanent place on millions of mobiles around the globe when it does launch.
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