Aniimo goes live today, September 16, 2026, on Steam, the Epic Games Store, Microsoft Store, PS5, and Xbox Series X|S, at 10:00 UTC+8. It's the launch title for Kingsglory, a brand-new cross-platform publishing label from FunPlus, developed by Pawprint Studio. Mobile players will have to wait one more week: the iOS and Android versions arrive September 23.
The pitch sounds familiar on the surface: an open world, hundreds of collectible creatures, a young explorer setting off across an untamed continent. Pawprint Studio's marketing leans on one specific omission from that formula to stand out.
Catching creatures without a single banner
Aniimo takes place on the continent of Idyll, where players become "Pathfinders" tasked with capturing creatures called Aniimo using tools called Aniipods, essentially traps that require setting up and timing correctly during an encounter. Over 200 different Aniimo populate the world, each with multiple evolutions and forms to discover.
The game's signature mechanic is "Twining": players fuse directly with a captured Aniimo, changing how they move, explore, and fight. The same creature works as a combat partner one moment and, briefly, an extension of the player's own body the next. A floating metropolis above Idyll serves as the game's social hub, where Pathfinders cross paths, trade, and compete.
The monetization model is the real headline. Aniimo's executive producer has stated plainly that the game skips gacha entirely: no creature sits behind a randomized pull system, and no rate-up banners exist to chase. Every Aniimo can be captured directly in the open world, for free, with real money going toward a battle pass, a monthly subscription, and cosmetics.
That's a deliberate contrast with the gacha RPGs that dominate the mobile charts Vostrike covers daily, from Genshin Impact to Wuthering Waves, Honkai: Star Rail, Zenless Zone Zero, and the newly launched Arknights Endfield. Those games gate their strongest units behind randomized banners with rate-up periods and pity systems. Aniimo's team is positioning itself closer to Warframe: free access to core content, with monetization built around cosmetics and account convenience.
What's confirmed for day one
- Platforms: PC (Steam, Epic Games Store, Microsoft Store), PS5, and Xbox Series X|S today; iOS and Android follow on September 23
- Cross-play and cross-progression supported from launch, letting players carry progress between platforms
- Solo and multiplayer modes, both flexible rather than forced
- Pre-order editions on PlayStation, including a Collector's Edition and an Advanced Edition, each bundling exclusive cosmetic items
- No gacha system: all Aniimo are catchable in the open world; monetization runs through battle pass, subscription, and cosmetic purchases
Aniimo was first revealed at the Xbox Games Showcase, and its release marks the first real test for Kingsglory as a publishing brand. FunPlus built its reputation on mobile strategy and gacha-adjacent titles. A live-service RPG that rejects gacha mechanics outright is a notable departure, and it lands weeks after Lumi Master made a similar bet by skipping the same vocabulary.
The mobile launch on September 23 is the next checkpoint. That's when Aniimo picks up the audience most likely to compare its battle pass and subscription model against the gacha games already on their phones, and where the no-pulls promise gets tested at real scale.
