COLOURED STATIC PRESS / FREE-TO-PLAY OPEN WORLD / EARLY-HOURS HANDS-ON
Every great creature-collecting game knows the secret: there is always one more adorable creature around the corner, and there is absolutely no chance of getting to bed on time. Aniimo is an enormous free-to-play open-world adventure, and our first hours barely scratch the surface. This is a provisional 83/100 assessment, not a final review of a game that could take months to explore properly.
This is a provisional score based only on the opening hours. Aniimo is a vast free-to-play open-world game; a comprehensive final assessment may take months of additional play.
Every now and then, a game comes along that completely absorbs you, making you forget about everything else you were supposed to be doing. For me, Aniimo is one of those games. What started as a plan to spend a couple of hours exploring quickly turned into an adventure where I constantly found myself wanting to see just one more thing, investigate another area, or discover another adorable creature. From the moment I started exploring, I was struck by how beautiful the world is. The landscapes are bursting with colour, with rolling fields, mountains stretching into the distance, and some genuinely spectacular scenery. There are enormous, unusual structures scattered throughout the environment, and it all creates a wonderful sense of curiosity. It’s the sort of world that practically invites you to wander off and see what’s waiting around the next corner. Of course, the Aniimo themselves are a huge part of the appeal. These charming little creatures come in all sorts of shapes and sizes, with different abilities that make them useful for more than just fighting. Some can interact with the environment in unique ways, such as breaking through obstacles or tunnelling, adding another interesting element to exploration. I also discovered that their appearances can change depending on the terrain and climate, which makes the variety of creatures even more intriguing.
Twining turns creature collecting into something personal
One of the features I particularly enjoyed was Twining, which allows you to take direct control of an Aniimo rather than simply commanding it to fight. Early in the game, I was given a choice between Helion and Lunara, and I chose Lunara. Being able to control her abilities myself was a really enjoyable change from directing attacks, and I found the controls straightforward and easy to get comfortable with. Admittedly, the combat I experienced was still part of the game’s introduction, with other characters helping me through the encounters. It felt designed to ease players into the mechanics rather than throw them straight into a difficult battle, but it certainly made a positive first impression. I’m interested to see how the combat develops as the adventure progresses. Another thing that impressed me was just how much there is to do. The map is filled with activities, including challenges, puzzles, missions and collectibles. There’s a real sense of discovery, and I frequently found myself distracted from whatever I was originally supposed to be doing. At one point, I checked my exploration progress and realised I’d only uncovered 5% of Breezy Plains, despite feeling as though I’d already seen and done quite a lot! Thankfully, the game also provides tutorials through a dedicated Courses section, covering the basics, elemental interactions and world observation. With so many different mechanics to learn, it’s reassuring to see that the game offers guidance rather than expecting players to work everything out for themselves. I also came across a lovely little social feature while exploring. Other players can leave photographs around the world, and interacting with them lets you see what their characters look like. You can even like their posts or attempt to recreate their photographs. It’s a simple but
charming addition that makes exploring feel a little more connected to other players, and gives you yet another reason to investigate your surroundings. Visually, Aniimo has been an absolute delight. The bright colours, detailed environments and imaginative creature designs give the game a wonderfully inviting personality. Whether I was wandering through fields of flowers, admiring the scenery or discovering another unusual Aniimo, there was always something that caught my attention. As for criticisms, I genuinely haven’t encountered anything that has frustrated or disappointed me during my time with the game so far. That’s not to say there won’t be challenges or areas that could use improvement further into the adventure, but my experience up to this point has been overwhelmingly positive. It’s important to mention that I’ve only explored a small portion of what appears to be a very substantial game. I haven’t experienced enough of the later content to judge how the difficulty, progression or gameplay variety hold up over a much longer period. However, what I’ve played has left me incredibly enthusiastic about returning.
Final thoughts on the opening hours
There are still worlds to discover, creatures to meet and plenty of questions about the later balance. For now, the opening stretch has been joyful enough to make returning feel inevitable. The hardest challenge may be remembering to stop playing.
Aniimo has made a fantastic first impression on me. Its beautiful world, lovable creatures, enjoyable combat mechanics and abundance of things to discover have combined to create an adventure that I genuinely didn’t want to stop playing. What I particularly appreciate is how naturally everything encourages exploration. I never felt as though I was simply ticking activities off a list. I wanted to discover things because I was curious about what I might find next, and that’s something I really value in a game. While there’s still far too much left unexplored for me to confidently award it a perfect score, I can say that my opening hours have been an absolute joy. If the rest of the adventure maintains the same level of charm and enjoyment, Aniimo could easily become one of my favourite games to return to. 83/100 (provisional) – A beautiful, charming and thoroughly entertaining opening stretch that has given us plenty of reasons to keep exploring, with much of the wider free-to-play adventure still unassessed.
Provisional hands-on score: 83/100
From its gorgeous landscapes to the pleasures of Twining and the discovery of new creatures, Aniimo has made a superb early impression. This provisional 83/100 score reflects the opening hours only. Aniimo’s expansive free-to-play world, later progression and long-term systems require substantial further testing before a final score can be awarded. For now, it’s a world we’re very keen to return to.
Where to play: Aniimo on Steam. A free-to-play open-world creature-collecting game developed by Pawprint Studio.
This early hands-on article carries a revised provisional 83/100 assessment, pending much more extensive play. It is not the final score for Aniimo. Images are official publisher/developer media, not user-created screenshots or AI imagery. Review by the Coloured Static Press team.