Aniimo review

This Aniimo review is based on official sources and player reviews, not on our own play time. Pawprint Studio's free-to-play creature-catching open-world RPG launched on September 16, 2026, on PC and consoles and on iOS and Android a week later. You catch, raise and Twine with creatures across the continent of Idyll. Money buys Lumin Crystals, a Monthly Pass, paid Companion Handbook tiers that include a Perfect Potential Aniimo, and cosmetic sets.

What is Aniimo?

Aniimo is a free-to-play creature-catching open-world RPG developed by Pawprint Studio, a FunPlus studio. It launched worldwide on September 16, 2026, on PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S and Xbox cloud gaming after three test phases, and the mobile version followed on September 23. It is a full release, not early access.

You play a Pathfinder on the continent of Idyll. Aniimo are caught with Aniipods, and the Steam page says which ones appear depends on the environment, weather and time of day. Twining lets you take an Aniimo's form and use its skills to glide, dive or burrow, solve puzzles and fight.

Other modes include Operation: Egg Heist, a three-player team mode in the Lost Isles; Holo-Battle Interlink, a four-player boss challenge; a personal RV and Homeland for farming and decorating; and PvP in 4v4 Spar duels and a three-team Giga-Egg mode. The October 29 update added the Whisperwake Isles region and 51 new Aniimo.

Is Aniimo free to play? Is it a gacha game?

Yes, it is free. Steam, the App Store and Google Play list Aniimo as free, and the official site offers a free PC launcher. It is online only, with separate Aniimo-Europe, Aniimo-Americas and Aniimo-Apac servers.

Official pages describe Aniimo being caught in the open world, hatched from eggs or earned as rewards. No official page describes a paid character banner of the kind gacha games use. The free Standard Edition of the Companion Handbook, the game's season pass, includes the season's featured Aniimo egg and a Random Perfect Aniimo Egg. At launch, Pawprint listed further free rewards: a choice of one Rare Prismana Aniimo, catching items such as Sparkling Cubes from events, an Aniimo egg for login days and four free outfits.

The store ratings do mention random items, though. Google Play's rating lists In-Game Purchases (Includes Random Items), the US App Store shows a Loot Boxes notice, and no official page lists drop rates.

Is Aniimo pay to win? What money buys

The premium currency is Lumin Crystals. On the US App Store, packs run from 60 crystals for $0.99 to 6,480 for $99.99 as of October 30, 2026, next to a $4.99 Monthly Pass, the $9.99 Advanced Companion Handbook and the $19.99 Collector's Companion Handbook. Official update notes show crystals buying cosmetics in the Shop, such as an appearance set for 980 Lumin Crystals.

The paid Handbook tiers include strength. This season, the Advanced Edition adds a Prismana Hypnyto Egg with Perfect Potential, two Sparkling Cubes and 680 Glimmer. The Collector's Edition adds one more Sparkling Cube, extra Aniimo storage, five Primegy Batteries and 10 instant Handbook levels. Pawprint's launch notes say Aniimo caught with a Sparkling Cube get guaranteed Perfect Potential.

PvP is limited so far. Per the update notes, the 4v4 Spar duels open in a Fair Mode, and the Giga-Egg mode bans loadouts and balances Aniimo stats. Paid Perfect Potential Aniimo therefore matter mainly in PvE content such as Holo-Battle Interlink and Alpha challenges.

Based on what the official stores sell, we rate it as mildly pay to win; we will check this again when we play it ourselves.

Aniimo on PC, consoles and mobile

On Windows, Aniimo is available through the official PC launcher on aniimo.com, on Steam and on the Epic Games Store. Steam lists Windows only, so there is no Mac version. Pawprint also announced NVIDIA GeForce NOW support on September 17, 2026.

On consoles, it is on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S, plus Xbox cloud gaming. On mobile, it is on the App Store, where it needs iOS 15.0 or later, and on Google Play.

Steam lists cross-platform multiplayer. At launch, Pawprint gave Glimmer and other rewards to players who logged in on both PC and mobile. Steam and console accounts are linked to a game account, and the developer's first Dev Dispatch explains how to ask support for a relink when linking fails. Progress from the earlier test phases did not carry over to the launch version.

Aniimo system requirements

Steam lists these PC requirements. Both tiers need a 64-bit processor and operating system, DirectX 11 and a broadband connection.

Minimum: Windows 10, an Intel Core i7-4770 or AMD Ryzen 7 2700, 8 GB of RAM, an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970 or AMD Radeon RX 5600, and 40 GB of available storage.

Recommended: Windows 10 or later, an Intel Core i7-10700 or AMD Ryzen 5 5600 or better, 16 GB of RAM, an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 or AMD Radeon RX 6700 or better, and the same 40 GB of storage.

On mobile, the US App Store requires iOS 15.0 or iPadOS 15.0 or later and lists a size of 4 GB. In its Dev Dispatch of October 1, 2026, Pawprint said a dedicated team is working on lag and overheating on popular mobile devices after player reports.

Games like Aniimo

Our catalog has no other creature-catching game yet, but these free open-world RPGs share parts of Aniimo's design:

Genshin Impact: HoYoverse's open-world action RPG, free since 2020 on Windows, PS5, Xbox, iOS and Android; characters come from a gacha with published rates.

Wuthering Waves: Kuro Games' open-world action RPG with gacha Convenes, on Windows, Mac through the App Store, iOS, Android, PS5 and Xbox.

Once Human: Starry Studio's free survival game, published by NetEase Games, with PvE and PvP scenarios; on PC since 2024, on the App Store since April 2025 and on PS5 and Xbox Series X|S since August 2026.

Neverness To Everness: Hotta Studio's supernatural open-world RPG, published by Perfect World Games, launched on April 29, 2026, on PC, PS5, Mac, iOS and Android.

• Genshin Impact
• Wuthering Waves
• Once Human
• Neverness To Everness