On August 29th, HoYoverse released the first official gameplay trailer and recruitment PV for Honkai: Nexus Anima, simultaneously opening sign-ups for the “Bond Test”. This highly anticipated new title, first announced back in May, has finally given players a real look at its unique gameplay and world.

While other major developers often combine creature collection with open worlds and simulation management, HoYoverse has surprisingly chosen a path focused on "lightweight, fun, and emotional" experiences. The game blends creature collection, auto-chess strategy, open-world exploration, and varied casual gameplay, attempting to provide players with a relaxed and enjoyable virtual living space.

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Table Content

  • Anima: Companions Beyond Combat
  • A Living World: Explore & Interact
  • Auto-Chess: Strategic Showdowns
  • Gacha System: Deep Dive
  • Diverse Casual Gameplay
  • Characters & Customization: A New Direction
  • Conclusion

Anima: Companions Beyond Combat

Unlike traditional creature-collection games, the Anima in Honkai: Nexus Anima do have combat roles, but they are also the player's emotional companions and life assistants.

The gameplay demo showed how Anima integrate into all aspects of city life: some peek out of trash cans, some work as shop attendants, and others simply play on the streets. The design elements of these Anima are mostly linked to food, like milk cartons, bubble tea, and pudding, making them appear approachable and cute.

The official website currently displays full information for 32 Nexus Anima, with a total of 66 Anima confirmed (the other 34 are greyed-out silhouettes). Each Anima has its own unique "Aspect" and "Trait" attributes.

There are as many as 16 "Aspects", including Satiation, Hate, Light, Memory, Dark, Love, War, Change, Beauty, Peace, Right, Insatiability etc. And 9 "Traits", including Blaster, Mastermind, Hothead, Striker, Gladiator, Cherubim, Explorer, Protector, and Mascot.

Interactions between Anima are also interesting. For example, Felinoxie can't help but let her guard down and compare beauty with Vulberry. This design not only adds fun to the game but also makes the world of Anima feel more real and vivid.

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A Living World: Explore & Interact

The game's setting is a modern urban-style seaside town. Judging from the demo, the exploration freedom seems quite high. Characters can not only jump but also ride Anima for sprinting and flying effects.

The interaction between Anima and the world is designed very interesting: some Anima throw cakes at NPCs' faces, exploded fire hydrants spray Anima into the sky, and Anima with sharp objects on their heads get stuck on wooden posts. These details make the game world feel more alive.

The day-night cycle aren't simple screen fades but happen in real-time, suggesting the game might use a large CMS or open-world design.

Anima play a crucial role in exploration: for example, "Puddlipup” is a soft and adorable pudding puppy, often squashed by life's burdens, but cunning humans can use it as a "jump pad" to launch high into the air; "Frigull” is a seagull that "heads to the pier for some fries", capable of carrying people for aerial glides, with honey mustard sauce stained on its body.

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Auto-Chess: Strategic Showdowns

Based on the gameplay demo, auto-chess is the core gameplay of Nexus Anima, adopting a PVE-focused auto-chess mode where Anima battle on the front lines, and characters (Animasters) provide off-field support. Unlike traditional competitive auto-chess, Nexus Anima appears to be a primarily stage-clearing PVE game without competitive PVP, which signifies a significant difference in its underlying monetization model.

Large Synergies

In the official demo, up to 9 Nexus Anima can be deployed, what players often call "9 population".

Reaching this number allows combining powerful synergy effects from 9 Competition (Aspect), 4 Protector (Trait), and 2 Explorer (Trait). Here, "Competition" belongs to the Anima's Aspect attribute, while "Protector" and "Explorer" belong to the Trait attributes.

Judging from the synergy setup, Aspect attributes are the core source of combat buffs. In practice, players need to transition through the early game, gradually forming powerful synergies to gain significant combat advantages. Trait attributes mainly determine the Anima's combat role, such as front-line tank, melee damage dealer, ranged shooter, mage, support, or healer.

Hextech‌

The term "Hextech" originates from Teamfight Tactics (LOL), referring to randomly offered enhancements in specific rounds that can strengthen immediate combat power or resource acquisition, creating advantages or turning the tide of battle.

From the gameplay footage, the Nexus Hextech in this game are divided into types like Synergy, Upgrade, Combat Power, and Economy, providing various effects based on the battle situation. Generally, Synergy effects often have the highest potential, Upgrade and Economy types lean towards management utility, while Combat Power types are more suitable for early-mid game transitions, helping maintain win streaks or stabilize health points.

Gear

Gear is an indispensable part of auto-chess, greatly enhancing a single Anima's combat ability, such as increasing front-line tankiness, boosting back-line damage output, granting key mechanics or stats, and even special Gear that can increase synergy counts.

Currently, each Anima seems to have three Gear slots, aligning with common auto-chess settings. Below the health bar, there are also various accessory slots. Besides the health bar, there is a blue energy bar, suggesting it fills up to allow casting special skills.

Pre-built Decks

From the gameplay footage, unlike traditional auto-chess where players need to roll for units in-round, this game uses a deck-building mode similar to HearthStone: Heroes of Warcraft. Players can pre-assemble their entire Anima deck before battle, and then flexibly adjust it based on the "Hextech" effects obtained after entering the match. Removing the unit-rolling phase simplifies team composition, placing more emphasis on the player's strategic ability to adjust in real-time according to the battle situation.

Besides positioning strategy on the board, PVE progression also focuses on pre-battle Gear setup and Buff selection, further enriching the strategic dimension.

Anima Leveling

In the game, Anima are not distinguished by stars but by a level system. At the start, all Anima are level 10 and gain experience through battles to level up.

Currently, levels seem to have no upper limit; in the gameplay footage, the Old Lamp Uncle (the official name is awaiting official announcement) had already reached level 128, while others were mostly around level 80. Each Anima has its own independent experience bar, making resource allocation and growth planning key to management.

Animasters

Different from the "Little Legends" in traditional auto-chess, this game allows bringing three Animasters per match, deployed in the lower left corner of the interface, but only one can be active at a time.

Animasters appear in cute form and provide buffs to specific Anima when battles start, making pairing and timing for switching very important, requiring dynamic adjustment based on the battle situation.

Animasters have star ratings; for example, Nanafey and Kiana are 4-star (purple), while others also include 5-star characters (gold border). Notably, the pink-haired Animaster in slot 1 and the heart-fringe Animaster in slot 3 have not been revealed on the official website yet, suggesting they are hidden official characters.

Nexus Threads

Besides Hextech, players can also select pure combat-power Buffs during a match through "Nexus Threads" to strengthen specific Anima.

Off-field Assistance

There are six assistance slots on the left and right sides of the battlefield, with three usable by each side (player and enemy). After the battle starts, assistance units will provide various support effects like damage output or healing.

Heat Coins

Although the game doesn't use a traditional unit-rolling mechanism, it does have "Heat Coins" as an in-round currency. Their specific use hasn't been revealed, possibly used for reinforcing Anima or buying Gear and other resources.

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Gacha System: Deep Dive

Nexus Anima will most likely use a gacha mechanism where "Animasters + Anima" are bound together, meaning the same banner pool contains both characters and their matching Anima, catering to the wishing preferences of different players. From the gameplay demo, Animasters have clear star ratings—for example, Kiana is 4-star, and the demo also showed several 5-star Animasters, including characters not yet officially revealed, further verifying that gacha will be an important business model for the game.

Since the game is primarily PVE-oriented, paying players can quickly build high-strength teams through gacha, for example, obtaining high-cost Anima from the start. While this mechanism doesn't directly interfere with other players, it may drive up overall difficulty, creating a form of implicit competition—when most players enhance their strength through payment, stage design will also be adjusted accordingly, potentially putting more pressure on non-paying players or those lacking strategy.

This design avoids the competitive pressure of traditional PVP auto-chess while maintaining long-term playability through a deep progression system. HoYoverse has extensive experience in PVE genres, able to ensure revenue while providing players with a content-rich, manageable pressure gaming environment. As long as operations are stable, the game can continue to foster a low-pressure, experience-focused ecosystem.

Diverse Casual Gameplay

Besides the core auto-chess combat, Honkai: Nexus Anima has plenty of casual gameplay. The demo video showed various relaxed and fun activities like running races, water gun fights, and box smashing.

Players can directly control Anima to participate in item-based races or control Anima to shoot water balloons on the beach. In community life, Anima can play on seesaws with you, or you can interact with them on the street like petting a cat.

There's also a very interesting "demolition" gameplay; object destruction effects are quite realistic, with Anima causing havoc inside buildings marked for demolition. These lighthearted elements not only provide entertainment but also hint at the game's potential future development towards party games, potentially attracting more non-hardcore players.

So many party minigames might also include optional online features, allowing friends to play together in rooms, similar to party games.

Characters & Customization: A New Direction

Unlike previous HoYoverse games, Honkai: Nexus Anima does not have a fixed main character (player avatar). Instead, it offers a character creator and outfit system, allowing players to customize their own appearance.

In the gameplay demo, independent customization categories like suits, tops, bottoms, shoes, and accessories were clearly visible, with various styles available for adjustment. Even the nose bridge can be adjusted—this depth of customization is rare in previous HoYoverse games.

Although the game carries the Honkai IP, original characters make up a large proportion. Among the 14 characters shown on the official website, only a few are familiar classics (like Kiana and Blade), the rest are original characters.

These characters are divided into three main factions: "Sovereigns", "Novarchs", and "Others". "Sovereigns" are the owners of the Aspects of the Old World, rulers of the mortal world wielding power and authority. "Novarchs" are the owners of the Aspects of the New World,each ruling one of the 81 Planes. "Others" are those you will encounter during your journey.

Victus

(Sovereigns)

Blade

(Novarchs)

Kiana

(Others)

Judging from the order of submenus on the official website and the density of information displayed, Anima hold a higher status in this title than Animasters (characters). Characters might primarily provide emotional interaction and narrative content, not participating in core gameplay themselves.

Conclusion

Overall, the auto-chess gameplay of Honkai: Nexus Anima introduces bold innovations on the traditional foundation. Through designs like pre-built decks, Animaster assistance, and no level cap, it offers players a new experience combining strategic depth and collection fun. This PVE-oriented design avoids the competitive pressure of traditional PVP auto-chess while ensuring long-term playability through a rich progression system.

Honkai: Nexus Anima is planned to launch globally in 2026, meaning there will likely be several more test phases. Whether this game can replicate the previous success of the "Honkai" IP in a new field and become a new growth point for HoYoverse's diversification strategy, time will tell.

So the question is: Is such a relaxed and enjoyable creature-collection game the type you would like?

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Pyro Chronicler Experienced game editor

A seasoned content strategist and game analyst at LDShop.gg, specializing in anime-style RPGs and gacha games. Known for breaking down complex mechanics into smart, resource-efficient strategies, she helps players tackle high-difficulty content without overspending. By combining in-depth system analysis with practical, step-by-step tips, Pyro makes even the most daunting challenges feel approachable. With a sharp focus on games like Wuthering Waves, Zenless Zone Zero, and Honkai: Star Rail, Pyro helps players push past plateaus and master the grind—one frame-perfect dodge at a time.