Honkai: Star Rail’s developer is taking on Pokémon with Honkai: Nexus Anima

HoYoverse, the Chinese company best known for producing games like Genshin Impact and Honkai: Star Rail, has fully unveiled its next game. It’s called Honkai: Nexus Anima, and is a creature-collecting open-world game for PC and iOS that’s clearly meant to be the company’s response to games like Pokémon Legends: Z-A and Palworld.

Now that we’ve seen the game in action, HoYoverse is letting people pre-register for the game’s first beta, which is titled the Nexus Bond Test. If the success of HoYoverse’s other games is any indication to go by, Honkai: Neuxs Anima has the potential to be quite popular.

When is the Nexus Bond Test for Honkai: Nexus Anima?

And what you should expect from HoYoverse’s answer to Pokémon

If you want to play Honkai: Nexus Anima, registration for its beta Nexus Bond Test is open between today and 11:59 a.m. ET on September 12. The test is only going to be available on PC and iOS, not Android. Dates for the Nexus Bond Test have not been set yet, but HoYoverse has confirmed that no data from the betawill carry over to the full release.

As for what the game itself is, HoYoverse described Honkai: Nexus Anima as a “creature-collector adventure strategy game.” It’s set in a world where a rupture has caused tears between concepts like love and hate, causing the creation of creatures called Anima.

Players then go on a journey to become an Animaster, collect Anima, and learn more about their own past. So far, five different Animasters and 32 Anima have been revealed.

Each Anima seems to have an “Aspect” and “Trait” that affect their abilities. For example, an Anima called Puddlipup has a Satiation Aspect and Striker Trait. This seems to be Honkai: Nexus Anima’s version of Pokémon types

A five-minute gameplay video for Honkai: Nexus Anima was released alongside today’s announcement. It gives us a look at open-world exploration with the creatures, character customization, some minigames like races and shooting contests, and battles.

Honkai: Nexus Bond’s battles are in real-time like Pokémon Legends: Z-A, but they play from a top-down perspective and, overall, seem to function more like auto-battler games such as Teamfight Tactics. The press release for the game’s announcement teases that players will increase their bond with Anima to unlock new abilities for them, and that those abilities can then be used and combined during battles and to explore its open world.

The Pokémon franchise has seen increased competition in recent years, but if any company truly has the resources and pre-exisiting fan base required to take it on, it’s HoYoverse. As such, this is definitely an important live service game for PC and mobile that we should be keeping an eye on.