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How Aniimo creatures work
Aniimo are the creatures you collect, and you get every one of them by going out and catching it. Here is how finding, evolving and using them fits together.
The short version
- The collectible creatures are called Aniimo, and you catch them in the wild with items called Aniipods.
- There are no gacha banners or pack pulls. Every creature is discovered and caught in the world.
- Creatures have multiple forms, can evolve, and have rare variants.
- Each Aniimo grants a unique out-of-combat ability that changes how you interact with the world.
- Aniimo are involved in movement, combat, exploration and the Homeland system.
- The Pathfinder fights directly alongside their Aniimo rather than only issuing orders.
- Every Aniimo has a letter-combination personality type based on MBTI profiles.
- You can pick up and carry your Aniimo.
- The world has multiple biomes, distinct habitats, underground caves and surfable water.
- The full launch roster has not been confirmed.
The collectible creatures in this game are called Aniimo, and the single most important thing to understand about them is how you get them. You catch them. There is no banner, no pack, no pull. You find a creature in the world and you use an item called an Aniipod.
That one design choice shapes everything else. Your collection becomes a record of where you have been rather than what you have spent. The world is built to be searched, and the creatures you pull out of it change how you search the rest of it.
Everything here comes from pre-launch beta footage, so treat it as the shape of the system rather than a final spec. The full roster of creatures available at launch has not yet been confirmed.
Catching, not pulling
Aniimo are captured in the wild using Aniipods. That is the acquisition system in full. The game does not feature traditional gacha banner or pack pulls to obtain creatures, which are instead discovered and caught out in the world.
The practical consequence for a new player is simple. Time spent exploring is time spent building your roster. If you want a creature, you go and find it. Since the launch roster has not been confirmed, nobody can hand you a checklist yet, which makes the early habit of poking into every corner more valuable rather than less.
Where the creatures live
The world features multiple biomes, and Aniimo have distinct habitats within them. Knowing which creature belongs to which habitat is the closest thing to a catching strategy, because a habitat tells you where to look.
The map is not just a surface, either. There are underground caves and surfable water. Both are places creatures can be, and both are reached by moving through the world rather than opening a menu.
What an Aniimo does when you are not fighting
Each Aniimo grants unique out-of-combat abilities that alter how you interact with the world. This is the part that separates them from a team of stat blocks. The creature you have with you changes what you can do with the terrain in front of you.
Aniimo participate in movement, combat, exploration and the Homeland system, so a single catch can pay off in four different places. You can also pick up and carry your Aniimo, which keeps them present rather than parked in a menu between fights.
Fighting as a pair
The Pathfinder, your player character, participates in combat directly alongside their Aniimo. You are not standing at the edge of the arena issuing instructions while a creature does the work.
That matters when you choose who to bring. Combat is one of the four systems Aniimo feed into, and it is a system you are inside of too. A team is a partnership, not a loadout.
Forms, variants and personality
Creatures feature multiple forms and can evolve, and there are rare variants. A caught Aniimo is a starting point rather than a finished thing, and the same species will not always look or work the same way in two different collections.
On top of that, each Aniimo has a letter-combination personality type based on MBTI profiles. It gives every creature a small identity beyond its species, and it is worth checking as you catch.
Where to start
Play it as an exploration game and the collecting follows. Learn the biomes and habitats, keep Aniipods on you, and pick companions for the out-of-combat ability you need next, not just for the fight in front of you.
Questions this answers
Each of these is answered on its own page, with the sources behind it.
Built from 10 facts gathered before launch, each checked against the sources it came from. How we know this, and who we learned it from.