Honkai Nexus Anima preview - "Pokémon but better"

Honkai: Nexus Anima is shaping up to be one of those cosy, easy-to-sink-into adventures that has that mix of strategy, exploration, collecting, and, of course, the well-known HoYo polish that makes it feel instantly familiar but still somewhat fresh.

Personally, it feels like a fusion of two of my favourite games: Teamfight Tactics (TFT) and Pokémon, so I'm really enjoying it so far.

I don’t know if it’ll reach Genshin’s level of popularity, but it definitely has a lot of potential. It’s just a very approachable RPG, especially if you're looking for something new with that "oh this has never been done before" vibe.

I just have to say: I like how chill it all feels. Overall, I’d put it around an 8.5/10 so far.

Exploration is honestly the best part

The world of Nexus Anima looks great, feels alive, and has tons of secrets tucked away, as you would expect from a HoYoverse adventure.

If you like wandering around and poking at things, you won't have time to get bored. The map is big and colourful, and it’s easy to get pulled into exploring "just one more area".

The only off thing is the classic JRPG issue: some side quests are tedious. For example, low Intelligence prevents you from reading certain signs, posters, or cryptic scripts scattered across the environment. But overall, I'd say that the exploration itself is strong.

Monsters called Wild Anima roam the environment in real-time. Walking up to an enemy and initiating an interaction transitions into the auto-chess combat field, but I'll talk more about the battle system below.

Monster collecting feels way better than I expected

This part feels a lot like Pokémon. To capture a monster, you need to weaken it first by initiating an auto-chess type of battle. After that, you can use items to "bond" with the creature. Each creature falls into a distinct combat role, just like you're used to if you played TFT before. There are Mages, Protectors, and Attackers.

Beyond wild encounters, higher-rarity Anima and playable Eidos companions can be summoned through the Nexus Trace gacha banner.

That said, you can catch and fully dupe 3-star and 4-star monsters for free, and even some 5-star monsters can be caught once or obtained through events. Lower-rarity monsters aren’t amazing in combat, but the system itself is smoother and less grindy than Pokémon’s.

Player progression relies heavily on levelling Anima through combat and customising their stat trees.

About the combat

Battles take place on a hex-grid like a typical auto-battle. Unlike, let's say, TFT, here you have unlimited prep time, which makes things a lot less stressful.

Now, if you've ever played an auto-battler before, the gameplay will feel familiar. During combat, you deploy a mix of Anima creatures whose shared Aspects (like Reality, Beauty, or Strength) trigger powerful trait synergies on the board, while active playable characters (Eidos) stand on the sidelines to cast real-time tactical skills like stuns, AoE shields, or defence debuffs directly onto the battlefield.

The gacha system is the part that worries me

You pull for monsters and their trainers. Trainers don’t fight directly, but their actives, passives, and stat boosts matter a lot - sometimes more than the monsters themselves.

You can’t skip them the way you can skip weapons in other HoYo games. This is where the power creep could hit hard. If anything becomes a long-term problem, it’ll be this, in my opinion.

Final thoughts

At its core, Nexus Anima is basically Pokémon but better, or different. It’s cosy, exploration-focused, and something even non-gamers could enjoy. The world is fun to roam around in, collecting feels great, and HoYo’s presentation is top-tier. Combat is so-so at the moment, but everything else elevates the experience!