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“The wealth of those societies in which the capitalist mode of production prevails, presents itself as ‘an immense accumulation of Pokémon.'” So remarks Marx in volume one of Capital, and he was right. Joining Palworld, Temtem, Cassette Beasts, Coromon and, well, like 400 Pokémon games is Honkai: Nexus Anima, HoYoverse’s just-announced creature-hoarding sim.
I am a 31-year-old man who mostly still plays games from 2005, so forgive me if I sound like a caveman describing an internal combustion engine here; I find much of this overwhelming. It looks like, well, what you’d expect from a Pokémon-like: you run about a bright and colourful world collecting innocent animals to deploy in dog-fights. Everyone is very high-energy and optimistic and at least one guy is rolling around town with the name “Cassio Rollex” like that’s not a cease and desist waiting to happen.
In-game footage from Honkai: Nexus Anima*The game is under development, and subject to change.*This Nexus Bond Test is available in 5 languages: Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, English, Japanese, and Korean. Support for more languages will be added in the future.… pic.twitter.com/gayxpcVOYVAugust 29, 2025
Combat, though, looks like a departure from the Pokémen of yore. In place of the turn-based combat you know and love, the brief glimpse we get in HoYoverse’s clips is far more auto-battler than anything else, as creatures pursue each other across a square arena like a terrible vision of gang warfare.
If you want to get in on the action, you can sign up for an upcoming test on the official Honkai: Nexus Anima site. The recruitment period ends on September 12, so you’ve got a little bit, and it’s worth bearing in mind your account will get wiped once the test is over, so it’s not like you’re getting a leg up. Still, if you want to check out the collection of non-copyright-infringing pocket monsters, here’s your chance.
I am, of course, curious to know just how crammed with monetisation this thing will be, and what form that will take. There’s not much news about that yet, but I’d be shocked if the gacha mechanics of a Genshin Impact didn’t rear their head at some point.
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