You're not just commanding creatures; you're becoming them.
From a small studio called Pawprint comes Aniimo, a monster-catching RPG that asks whether the bond between player and creature can be more than a number on a screen. Unveiled at Summer Game Fest and the Future Games Show, the game arrives as a cross-platform proposition — one account, one world, every device — built around a bonding system that lets players see through the eyes of the beings they collect. It is, at its core, a familiar genre reaching for something less familiar: a living world where creatures belong, rather than merely exist.
- The monster-catching genre has long rested on comfortable mechanics, and Aniimo is openly challenging that comfort with real-time combat, perspective-shifting gameplay, and a bonding system designed to feel like relationship rather than resource.
- Launching simultaneously at two of the industry's most-watched showcase events, Pawprint Studio is betting that visibility and ambition together can carve space in a crowded market.
- The seamless cross-platform architecture — one account flowing across console, PC, and mobile — demands technical infrastructure that most studios quietly avoid, raising the stakes of the beta's findings.
- Global beta recruitment opened June 7th across PC, iOS, Android, and Steam, with a creator program layered on top to seed community momentum before a single platform release is confirmed.
- With distribution planned across PlayStation, Xbox, Steam, Epic, and major mobile storefronts, the studio is not hedging its bets — it is placing all of them at once, and the beta will tell them whether the hand is worth playing.
Pawprint Studio unveiled Aniimo this week at Summer Game Fest and the Future Games Show, presenting a monster-catching RPG that seems intent on expanding what the genre can hold. Set across the Adel Continent, the game follows adventurers who encounter and bond with mysterious beings called Aniimo — a premise that sounds familiar until the details begin to diverge.
The most distinctive element is the Twine system, which treats creature bonds not as background statistics but as the primary lens through which the world is experienced. Players can shift perspective entirely, exploring the continent through the eyes of their creatures and observing their behaviors and ecology firsthand. It is a small conceptual move with larger implications for what the game asks players to notice.
Combat breaks from the genre's turn-based tradition in favor of real-time action, with two fluid modes: commanding a creature from a distance, or transforming into it and fighting directly. The footage also introduced Astra, a neon-lit futuristic city hub that serves as a home base for adventurers — a visual counterpoint to the more naturalistic wilderness of the wider continent.
The game is built as a true cross-platform experience, with a single account and shared progress across consoles, PC, and mobile. Beta recruitment opened June 7th across PC, iOS, Android, and Steam, giving players access to more than 200 individually crafted creature types. A creator program runs alongside it, offering streamers and content producers early access in recognition that community spread will shape the game's reception.
Planned releases span PlayStation, Xbox, Steam, Epic Games, and major mobile storefronts — a distribution strategy that leaves almost no platform unaddressed. The beta will determine whether the studio's ambition finds the audience it is reaching for.
Pawprint Studio pulled back the curtain on Aniimo this week, unveiling a monster-catching RPG that wants to be something larger than the genre typically allows. The game made its debut at Summer Game Fest and the Future Games Show, arriving with fresh footage and an open call for players willing to test it before launch. What the studio is building looks like a deliberate answer to a question the genre has been circling for years: what if catching creatures wasn't just a mechanic, but a lens through which to experience an entire world?
Aniimo takes place across the Adel Continent, a fantasy landscape where players assume the role of adventurers encountering mysterious beings called Aniimo. The premise is familiar enough—explore, catch, bond with creatures—but the execution appears to push in different directions. The game is designed as a cross-platform experience, playable on consoles, PC, and mobile devices simultaneously, with the same account and progress flowing across all of them. That kind of seamless architecture is harder to build than it sounds, and it signals that Pawprint Studio is thinking about how people actually play games now: on multiple devices, at different times, in different contexts.
The centerpiece of Aniimo's design is something called the Twine system. Rather than treating creature bonds as a background stat, Twine makes them the foundation of how you interact with the world. Players forge deep connections with their Aniimo, unlocking special abilities and perspectives that wouldn't otherwise be available. More unusually, the game lets you shift your viewpoint entirely—you can explore the Adel Continent not as the adventurer, but as one of your creatures, experiencing the world through their eyes and understanding their daily behaviors and ecology. It's a small conceptual shift that changes what the game is asking you to pay attention to.
Combat abandons the turn-based tradition that has defined the genre. Instead, Aniimo uses real-time action, with players switching fluidly between two modes: Go Mode, where you command your creature from behind the scenes, and Command Mode, where you transform directly into your Aniimo and fight alongside it. The footage revealed at the shows also introduced Astra, a futuristic city hub designed as a living space where adventurers can settle, learn, and build community. Astra is rendered in neon and high-tech architecture, a deliberate visual contrast to what appears to be more naturalistic environments elsewhere in the world.
The beta test opened for recruitment on June 7th, with testing planned across PC, iOS, Android, and Steam. Players who join will have access to over 200 distinct Aniimo types, each with behaviors and movements tailored to their specific ecology. The studio has also launched a creator program, offering beta access and exclusive rewards to video creators, streamers, and social media producers—a recognition that the game's success will depend partly on how it spreads through communities of players who make content.
Pawprint Studio's development team emphasized that every creature in the game was individually crafted by their art department, with attention paid to lifelike movement and environmental interaction. The goal, they said, is to deepen immersion in the Adel Continent by making the creatures feel like they belong there, not just exist as collectibles. The game is slated for release across PlayStation, Xbox, Steam, Epic Games, Windows, Google Play, and the App Store—a distribution strategy that suggests the studio is betting on reaching players wherever they happen to be. The beta will serve as the real test of whether that ambition translates into something players actually want to spend time with.
Citas Notables
Every Aniimo was meticulously crafted by the art team to enhance immersion in the Adel Continent through lifelike movements and interactions with the environment.— Pawprint Studio development team
La Conversación del Hearth Otra perspectiva de la historia
What makes Aniimo different from the dozen other creature-catching games already out there?
The Twine system is the real departure. Most games in this space treat bonding as a progression mechanic—you level it up and get stat boosts. Aniimo makes it the core of how you experience the world. You're not just commanding creatures; you're becoming them, seeing through their eyes.
That sounds ambitious. How does that actually change gameplay?
It shifts what you're paying attention to. Instead of just thinking about which creature is strongest, you're thinking about their behaviors, their ecology, how they move through the world. You're exploring as them, not just with them.
The combat system is real-time instead of turn-based. Isn't that a risk for a genre built on turn-based strategy?
It is, but it's also what makes the Command Mode transformation meaningful. You're not just watching your creature fight—you're in the fight with them. The mode-switching keeps you engaged in a different way.
They're releasing across every platform simultaneously. That's a lot of coordination.
It is. But it also means someone can start on their phone during lunch and pick up on their console at home without losing progress. That's the real appeal—the game follows you, not the other way around.
What's the bet here? Why does Pawprint Studio think this works now?
Monster-catching games have been around for thirty years. The formula works. But players have changed—they want depth, they want to feel connected to the creatures, and they want to play across devices. Aniimo is betting that if you nail all three of those things, you have something people will actually care about.