Genshin Impact studio's new Pokemon-like, Honkai: Nexus Anima, has some of the best creature designs I've ever seen, but its battle format has me concerned

For almost two decades, I've played more creature-collecting games than I can count. With a love started by Pokemon, I can almost always find something to enjoy in an RPG that lets me loose on a world full of fun monsters to befriend, and I can confidently say that after an hour with Honkai: Nexus Anima, these are some of my favorite creature designs I've ever encountered – I only wish its battle style didn't leave me with so many reservations.

I'll admit that I'm easily charmed when it comes to this genre. I see a cute animal design, I click. Blend those animal designs with food inspirations? Now we're really cooking. During my hands-on session of Honkai: Nexus Anima – the upcoming creature-collecting strategy game from Genshin Impact developer Hoyoverse – I'm constantly delighted by almost every creature I encounter, from the donut merchant rabbit Donubi to the ramen seal Pupanoo and pancake dog Puddlipup. The non-foodie Anima are great too – the very fashionable pig, Hoggit, is another favorite – but I can't deny there's a theme to my preferences here.

Feel the joy

My hands-on is a somewhat unusual one as I'm dropped into a preheated save file (already in the late level 40s, though I'm unsure how much playtime this equates to) with the freedom to explore the world, capture Anima, participate in battles, and progress story quests as I please. I find myself scanning the various tutorial pages looking for guidance on how the battle system works, as there's a lot to take in. I have dedicated Frontline and Backline Anima, each with traits that offer different benefits. Protectors, for example, take enemy aggro and regenerate energy when they're hit, while Masterminds have high damage output, with skill regeneration every second.

Dispositions, meanwhile, give Anima unique additional abilities even among the same species, making each one you capture slightly different. My Marshalbird comes with one that restores 5% health to the rest of my team when it falls in battle, for example. Between all this, as well as factors like your team's composition influencing status effects that are triggered in battle – Joy can trigger the Ecstacy status, for instance, but I couldn't find any explanation of what this actually means – I feel almost overwhelmed by the systems laid out in front of me, but eager to work out how they all click together.

Except, when I actually jump into some battles, it quickly becomes clear that I didn't have to feel overwhelmed at all. Combat works on a real-time autobattling system – your team of Anima is thrown into a top-down battle arena and immediately start charging toward their foes, autonomously using their abilities. While you do have some involvement – you have a number of cards at the bottom of your screen representing different human characters known as Eidos, who have various skills you can deploy when you like (cooldowns pending) – things generally take care of themselves.

Now, I don't know if I've been given a particularly souped-up team for my demo or if this is indicative of the game's difficulty in general, but my squad consistently wipes out every enemy it faces in a matter of seconds. Like, so fast I can't really process what's happening. I certainly never have to apply any thought or strategy, despite the systems clearly being deep enough to allow for such things.

Perhaps this is my own personal preference coming through, but this idle game-esque combat system is sadly where things fall apart for me. Admittedly, I've never been a fan of the format, but here especially, I can't help but feel disappointed that this is the battle style these incredible creature designs are locked to. They're shrunk down on the screen to fit into the surprisingly small arenas, with so much action unfolding that it's hard to pick them out individually most of the time. It almost feels like a waste of such fantastic ideas that I know I'd fall in love with in either a turn-based format or something more akin to Palworld's real-time combat, for example.

Autobattler fans may feel differently here, but I can't deny I'm currently unconvinced that Honkai: Nexus Anima will stick the landing for me at launch. Maybe with more time to learn the battle system from the beginning of the game, things may click into place, but for now, I'm left uncertain that there's enough going on here to keep me hooked, as much as I wanna befriend those cute Anima.

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