Animula Nook preview - "It's a not-so-small world, after all"

Cosy life sims are a dime a dozen these days, but how often do they let you craft furniture from bottle caps and literally build buildings from building blocks? Animula Nook's miniaturised world offers giant crops you can grow, larger-than-life keyboard caps you can hop onto, and totally adorable Wupas you can call your own - and during the hour-long hands-on I got to experience at the Tencent office in Shenzhen, the Wupas stole my heart.

It's a great big world out there

Animula Nook doesn't really give you the exact reason why you've shrunk as you immediately do from the get-go, but it doesn't have to. All you need to know is that you've shrunk down, you're still in your room, and everything feels like a dream. The soft edges and pastel colours - not to mention the totally chill soundtrack serenading you in the background - instantly set the tone, and it didn't take long for me to fully settle in. 

While you might think that getting thrust into the big, scary world where you're suddenly the size of an ant would feel intimidating, it's actually anything but. The team has somehow managed to keep things nice and cosy despite the literally massive scale of the world around you. In fact, they've designed such a curious world where every element - from the toppled-over wooden toys to the scattered books on the desk - invites you to come take a closer look, which, in a life sim where the only limit is your imagination, is the true mark of compelling gameplay.

Tiny tasks, sizable satisfaction

And the gameplay really is engaging, because even for someone like me who's not the biggest fan of the genre, Animula Nook managed to get me hooked throughout the entirety of the demo. Granted, I unexpectedly became obsessed with cleaning the dust off the floor. But it's still compelling nonetheless, mainly because I loved the design of the entire space. 

The miniature-themed concept here simply makes it stand out, in my opinion, from the many, many other entries in this genre. Case in point: one of the very first quests you're meant to clear is to unlock your computer, where you're supposed to look for a Post-It note on your desk that's got the password scribbled on it. Then, you can hop onto each key on your keyboard to type in the password and unlock your PC, which is such a lovely little touch and definitely adds to the "mini" vibe of the sim.

Walking in a Wupa wonderland

Still, the true stars of the show, to me, are the Wupas - oh my goodness, the Wupas. These fat-cat-looking things are essentially furry blobs with derpy eyes that accompany you on your journey. They're supposed to symbolise good fortune, but really, just the fact that they're so darn adorable will make you want to keep them with you every step of the way, anyway.

You can pick the design and colour of the Wupa you want right off the bat, and while I wasn't able to play far enough into the game to unlock the customisation feature, it seems you can switch up how each Wupa looks, as their official description says that "they love to dress up."

Wupas also let you glide through the world around you (getting from one end of the desk to the other is a trek now that you've been mini-ed), as you can hang from their tail and glide from platform to platform should you so wish. You'll need to do all these so you can gather resources and build/decorate stuff, of course, but the thing that once again adds an Animula Nook-specific twist to an otherwise tired mechanic is that you'll use a lollipop to smash items to pieces and gather them to add to your inventory.

The tool that I love the most is the shrink ray, though - you can essentially aim it at an item you want to shrink and then grab it once it matches your size. It's such a fun little twist, and I had such a blast aiming the gun willy-nilly (because I'm chaotic like that).

At the end of the day, I feel like Animula Nook has managed to refresh the genre simply by painting everything in a miniaturised light. The concept alone opens up a world of possibilities, I'd say, especially if this ends up being a truly cross-platform experience.

Now, full disclaimer: I did play the demo on PC, so I'm not entirely sure how the mobile controls will go. At the moment, the only thing that I feel like might become an issue is how finicky the touchscreen could be when it comes to the creator mode or editing mode, where you design, rotate, and place your crafted items into the world.

But with everything I've seen so far, I don't doubt the team will be able to manage optimising the controls for mobile too - and I really hope they do, because I've come to realise that I can't bear to stay away from my beloved Wupa for far too long.