Look, let's be honest, since Palworld popularised the genre, the open-world monster taming scene has been rather crowded. Yet, here comes a rather formidable challenger: Aniimo, developed by Pauprint Studio and slated for release on September 16. Following a playtest held last July to iron out the final kinks, the studio has been shouting from the rooftops about its defining mechanic—Twine, which lets you literally transform your playable character into a monster for combat and exploration.

First unveiled at the Xbox showcase back in June of last year, Aniimo is an open-world RPG where you explore the fantastical continent of Aidel alongside adorable critters known as Aniimo. The lore sets up a neat little divide: Astra, a futuristic floating city where humans and Aniimo coexist, and the sprawling, living continent of Aidel. You step into the boots of a recruit at the Polaris Academy, the most prestigious research institution in Astra, before heading down to explore Aidel. Naturally, you get to experience the harmony between humans and these creatures along the way.

You can catch all the juicy details in the promotional trailer dropped during Gamescom Opening Night Live on August 26. The footage shows off various biomes—lush forests, sun-drenched coastlines, and treacherous floating regions—populated by all sorts of Aniimo. Honestly, the fluffy, tactile fur rendering deserves a proper nod.

Aniimo aren't just loyal pets; they act as your active playable characters. Each creature boasts unique elemental attributes and skills, and through the Twine system, you morph right into them to handle skirmishes and platforming. You assemble a squad of four collected Aniimo and swap between them on the fly. You can watch the trailer here: it also teases epic showdowns against world-threatening bosses, handy tools to speed up catching critters, and even leisurely farming features to chill out with mates.

Following the Opening Night Live showcase, Pauprint Studio set up a physical booth right at Gamescom to build up hype ahead of launch. It features a clean, white-themed design complete with dedicated demo stations. You can view it below: large screens looping trailers, a giant Aniimo statue, and chunky Xbox controllers adorned with cute paw print graphics. Since the game launches in September, dropping into Gamescom at the tail end of August is quite a cheeky way to drum up recognition among Western gamers.

As mentioned earlier, Aniimo went through a July playtest to gather broad feedback from the community. Steam players who jumped into the test praised the polished graphics—which really sell that fluffy texture—and the vibrant, breathing open-world design. Some folks pointed out that having plenty of dog-type Aniimo was a brilliant touch, while others cheered for the fact that you can collect various creatures purely through gameplay without any nasty, monetized gacha mechanics.

The operational side of things got quite a bit of love, too. Testers gave the developers a solid thumbs up for actively engaging with the community and pushing out rapid-fire Q&A sessions. Better yet, the studio announced that data for Sealed Aniimo acquired during the test will actually carry over to the official launch, which went down a treat. Up to level 60, potential awakening costs are completely waived, letting players experiment with wild builds early on without breaking the bank. Overall, the consensus was that it is a cracking game to sink long hours into with your mates.

Naturally, the test also highlighted a few rough edges that need ironing out. Some critics felt that bagging rare Aniimo was a tad too easy, robbing the chase of its proper sense of achievement. Others grumbled about a shortage of cat-type Aniimo compared to the staggering canine population, while a few noted that the content consumption rate felt a bit brisk. Still, considering it was just a playtest, the overall reception was jolly good.

The whole point of running these tests is to stress-test server stability, polish the overall product, and patch up whatever is lacking. In today's live-service landscape, the winning formula is to lock down a solid foundation before launch and keep pivoting based on player feedback for the long haul. How Pauprint Studio handles this feedback for the launch version—and where they steer the ship long-term—will ultimately make or break the game.

Aniimo is set to drop on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S on September 16, followed by a mobile release on September 23. It supports cross-play and fully localised Korean text. Pre-registrations are currently live on the official Aniimo website, pulling in roughly 28.6 million sign-ups as of 1 PM on August 27. If they smash past the 30 million milestone, everyone gets a limited-edition 'Sunshine Field' character outfit as a cheeky little bonus.