Honkai: Nexus Anima is HoYoverse’s next major game following the success of Genshin Impact and Honkai: Star Rail, and from a gameplay perspective, it must be the most interesting game from the developers yet. Many have tried their hand at creating a creature-catching RPG like Pokémon, but many have also failed to bring an intriguing hook to make it stand out. Honkai: Nexus Anima manages to stand out while leveraging what HoYoverse is best known for—engaging storytelling, robust world-building, and memorable characters. Thanks to HoYoverse, I was able to experience the Honkai: Nexus Anima Evolution Test and see a considerable slice of what this exciting new RPG offers.
Like the HoYoverse games before it, Honkai: Nexus Anima puts you into the role of the game’s customizable hero—this time, the Planestrider. The Planestrider is just an ordinary person living their life in the big city with their friend Darsea, but this life isn’t actually real, as you quickly come to find out that it’s all a dream. The Planestrider has actually been kept inside a dreamscape in the Lotus Realm of Illusion, hidden from enemies that have been on the hunt for them for centuries. After the Novarch of Hate, Parayaya, finds the Planestrider in the dreamscape, a mysterious ally known as “Breadhead” appears to escort them out to safety with the memories of Darsea aiding you along the way.
The memories and connections you make are known as being part of the Nexus, and the severing or disruption of those bonds create the Anima, which are the cute monsters you see all around the universe of Honkai: Nexus Anima. While escaping the dreamscape and experiencing some heated and cinematic encounters with Parayaya, Blade, and another mysterious antagonist, you learn that an event called the Sundering shattered the universe into many aspects and concepts. Similarly to Honkai: Star Rail, you’ll experience how different and bizarre this universe can be when even emotions and ideologies are segmented and reflected into actual worlds. For the sake of this Evolution Test, you’re in the Plane of Reality, a familiar but distinct city from the one you start in.
Honkai: Nexus Anima is an Adventure Strategy RPG with Many Elements Thrown in
For a creature-catching RPG, there’s a lot of elements that make Honkai: Nexus Anima a cohesive and vibrant game from what I’ve played thus far. Nexus Battles will see you use the Anima you’ve caught thrown into a square arena to battle your opponents Anima in real-time strategy combat. Similarly to idle RPGs on mobile, all you really have to do is set your units in your party and release them without needing to give direct commands. In the process, you’ll be able to catch wild Anima you encounter by battling them and giving them items they like, plain and simple. That being said, Honkai: Nexus Anima puts that cinematic Honkai spin to it that you come to expect.
Similar to Paths and elemental types, each Anima has an Aspect and set of abilities that reflect the concepts each embodies. Stacking Animas of the same type in your party grants special effects, including damage and stat bonuses. As you summon duplicates and get more materials from normal progression and gameplay, you’ll be able to level up each Anima and unlock their traits, just like you would with characters in Honkai: Star Rail.
You can also summon Eidoses, which are the characters that the protagonist forms a Nexus with, for better or worse. You can call upon the powers of Blade, Breadhead, and many other characters you come across once you unlock or summon them. Their moves are really stylish with cut-in transitions reminiscent of Ultimate abilities from Star Rail.
The introductory sections of Honkai: Nexus Anima get you well-acquainted with the combat system and premise of the game, but it all really opens up and becomes captivating once you reach the sprawling modern town of Iia in the Plane of Reality. You’re essentially through into the town, but an Anima catches you and escorts you to safety where two strangers come to greet you—Otto and Nanafey. It happens that you arrived just in time for a parade to commemorate the start of the Qualifiers, a competition that brings Anima battlers together. Although you’re late to the event, there’s a chance you can make it in as a “wildcard” competitor by earning the favor of the True Nexus Syndicate and Novarch of Reality.
In Iia, Honkai: Nexus Anima introduces its most profound mechanics, some of which I wasn’t expecting at all for an RPG like this. When you begin your journey as a Planestrider, you can put attribute points toward Strength, Intelligence, and Charisma. Similarly to the Persona series and Bethesda-developed RPGs, you have access to special dialogue options and benefits if you have enough points toward those attributes. You’ll also notice that characters will behavior differently according to the dialogue options you select, so your Planestrider will be remembered by characters and various factions according to your actions. This is a feature I really wanted to see in a HoYoverse game for years now, and so far, it makes Honkai: Nexus Anima feel so lifelike and dynamic with its characters.
Rewriting Your Story and Destiny
Sticking with the game’s core themes of memories and bonds, you will be able to make some important decisions in Honkai: Nexus Anima that can actually affect progression. One of those first choices involves whether you will live at Nanafey or Otto’s place. This definitely took me by surprise since it determines where your home will be located at in Iia, but this was just the start. Once you start to get a general sense of how you could gain entry into the Qualifiers, you’ll go to school with Nanafey where another curveball is thrown at you.
Worry not, the school setting isn’t what you’d expect here. After entering the school with Nanafey, you’ll notice that something is just off after literally getting a jump scare of sorts and a strange broadcast on the intercom. After talking with Otto and reuniting with Nanafey, you’ll realize you’re stuck inside the building. The ominous voice on the intercom alluded to the courtyard, so naturally, the trio heads there. However, they are essentially all killed after heading to the courtyard after some really strange Anima get released. Once again, your decisions will impact how the story goes or even ends in this case.
Each decision can result in different outcomes and branching paths, but Honkai: Nexus Anima lets you rewind back to a prior point, thanks to a mysterious Eidos that calls to you. Welcome to “A Game of Aspects,” a story chapter with investigation elements, mini-games, and multiple endings. For this chapter, you could talk to the other students that are trapped and help them out by following clues and raising your “grade” to a certain number to unlock doors to get closer to the truth of this strange incident. Even after reaching the end of A Game of Aspects, you can go back to see other possibilities and content you may have missed out on. A flowchart lets you track the rewind points you’ve unlocked in order to progress how you see fit, and you’ll be rewarded for doing so.
Honkai: Nexus Anima is Another Promising RPG from HoYoverse
While I can’t comment on the gacha systems due to everything being free and in abundance in the Evolution Test, I will say that Honkai: Nexus Anima is shaping up to be a truly intriguing game in terms of lore and gameplay. The decision-making and investigative elements were surprises I wasn’t expecting, and the real-time idle strategy gameplay is actually really fun and easygoing while retaining some of the Honkai flashiness that you come to expect. The creature-collecting elements are straightforward and easy, the creature designs look uniquely HoYoverse-coded, and the characters are memorable and backed by a really great Japanese and English dubbing.
I’m really impressed by what Honkai: Nexus Anima offers in the Evolution Test, but it’s still clear that there’s plenty of progress to make in development. Since there was placeholder content further into the Evolution Test, I didn’t get the full grasp of the story of A Game of Aspects, but one thing is for certain: the gameplay loop and content are shaping up to be stellar. I’m really looking forward to what Honkai: Nexus Anima brings to the Honkai universe at large, especially with all the teases that the exciting early game content brought.
Honkai: Nexus Anima is coming soon to PC, iOS, and Android.
Disclaimer: HoYoverse provided access to the Honkai: Nexus Anima Evolution Test for coverage purposes.
