Aniimo

Made in Hangzhou, with world-building from Lisbon

Chris Petrovic, chief business officer of FunPlus, told GamesBeat that the group greenlit the project around 2022 and called it the biggest bet in its history. The developer, Pawprint Studio, is a team almost entirely based in Hangzhou, China. A world-building team from the FunPlus studio in Lisbon, Portugal, worked on the narrative and the setting in the early stages of development.

Executive producer Jovi Zhang told Game Informer that the team loved both creature collecting and large open worlds, but had never found a game that satisfied it on both counts. A mechanic called Twining lets you temporarily become one of your creatures and use its movement, senses and attacks. Depending on the creature, you can glide, dive or burrow through the world.

The Story

You play a Pathfinder on Idyll, a continent where creatures called Aniimo appear according to the environment, the weather and the time of day. You catch them with devices called Aniipods, sometimes after setting traps, and most of them can evolve. Above the land floats a city in the sky, where players meet, trade and compete.

The game went through three rounds of testing before launch, and Pawprint Studio changed several systems in response. Catching the legendary Irisalis originally meant repeating a challenge and throwing many Aniipods, which testers found repetitive. At launch, it became a single decisive encounter, unlocked with tokens earned through exploration and the story.

The Ideal Audience

This free-to-play game with in-app purchases launched on September 16, 2026 on PC, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S, followed on September 23 by iOS and Android. Multiplayer works across platforms, and each player also gets a camper van and a home area to farm and decorate. Full voice acting exists in English, Simplified Chinese, Japanese and Korean, while French, German and Latin American Spanish are offered in text.