Last week, developer Pawprint Studio and publisher Kingsglory ran their first developer direct that detailed their coming second Closed Beta Test run for their up-and-coming free-to-play open-world creature-catching role-playing game title ‘Aniimo’. The coming CBT will go live on 23 January and interested players can still sign up to help with the game’s development by heading over to the official Aniimo website.
This new livestream revealed that players can look forward to dozens of new Aniimo and their evolutions to collect and muck about with. Herein lies vast new regions and ecosystems with expanded housing, social, customization systems, and much more:
- New Aniimo – Brand-new Aniimo have been added, from Fentuft & Nimbi, whose mood impacts their environment, to Eko, an Aniimo that is great for sound-detection, a highly requested feature by the community. Many previously available Aniimo will also feature new evolutions, behaviors, and animations. As always, players have the opportunity to not only collect but “twine” with any Aniimo to experience the world from a new perspective.
- New Boss Aniimo will also appear across regions, including powerful iridescent variants. Players can also encounter the first ever Legendary Aniimo, Irelia, which is a story-driven legendary. Irelia’s full story unlocks for the first time during the Paws Up test.
- Regions, Environments, & Ecology – Multiple new areas and ecosystems can be explored in the new beta, each with their own interconnected Aniimo behaviors. These include Driftwise Meadow with its emotion-based ecology, the fiery Sandcastle Hill and flourishing Rosetower Wood, while existing regions will receive expanded features and new native Aniimo.
- Homeland – In the Homeland system, players can farm and harvest with their Aniimo, decorate their home to their preferences, and treat Aniimo to fun fairground rides whilst simultaneously working together to achieve their goals. Facilities are powered by Aniimo, and can be accessed from the RV Campsite. Homeland is a feature where community feedback is especially welcome!
- Operation: Egg Heist – A major new gameplay mode, this large-scale PvE/PvP mode is set on the Lost Isles, where teams of three explore outer zones and dungeons to find treasure and eggs. Featuring maze-like dungeons and opportunities to use creative mechanics to trick enemies, the mode’s primary objective is to team up to compete with Pathfinders from the whole server for the Aniimo Egg.
- Social & Multiplayer Enhancements – New social tools are available to players, including the Horn to call for help from friends and strangers in the open world, the Flute to invite others to a location or discover players nearby, and the Come to Me ability which instantly calls one’s allies. This beta also adds the Follow & Gift System, which allows players to travel together and gift Aniimo.
- Technical Upgrades – Since earlier tests, Aniimo has also received major visual and customization improvements, with improved environments, NPC models, lighting, and player character customization.
Additionally, the developer recently concluded its first co-dev program, “An Aniimo Is Born,” which received nearly one thousand submissions for community-created creature designs. The first winners’ designs are already in production for inclusion in the game, with the Pawprint Studio team today announcing that a second round of co-creation is coming soon. An upcoming community poll on Discord and aniimo.com, where the Aniimo voted most popular will be turned into a free Pathfinder outfit available for all players.
Aniimo is set to launch on PC via the game’s official client/Steam/Xbox PC, Xbox Series consoles, iOS, and Android devices. Pre-registrations are available now.
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