Aniimo launches today for free, and FunPlus's creature RPG bet has a new trick

Pawprint Studio's free-to-play ARPG debuts on PS5, Xbox Series and PC with the 'Twine' mechanic, letting players become the creatures they capture.

While everyone's still catching their breath from the pile of big releases this week, Kingsglory (FunPlus's brand new publishing label) picked today of all days to drop Aniimo on PS5, Xbox Series and PC via Steam, Epic Games Store and Microsoft Store. It's the official debut for Chinese studio Pawprint Studio, which until now had only shown pretty trailers and promises.

Aniimo's big pitch is a mechanic called 'Twine': instead of just sending your creature into battle and watching from the sidelines, like almost every other game in the genre does, you literally merge with the captured creature and fight using its abilities directly. That swaps the usual 'trainer barking orders' setup for something a lot closer to a real action RPG, with the player at the center of the fight.

The world is called Idyll, an open continent that even includes a sky-floating metropolis, and the game also has its own base-building layer (the 'Homeland'), where you can plant crops, set up decorations and arrange your space around an RV that doubles as a mobile home. There's also a three-player co-op mode called 'Egg Heist' that blends PvE and PvP into a raid for rare eggs.

On the money side, it's genuinely free-to-play, no mandatory paid edition. Anyone who wants can grab an Advanced Edition for $9.99 or a Collector's Edition for $19.99, both stacked with cosmetics and battle pass items, nothing that looks like a direct combat advantage based on what's been shown so far.

The timing is honestly the most interesting part of this whole story. Launching a brand-new game with zero built-in fanbase the same week as Marvel's Wolverine, the end of RuneScape: Dragonwilds' early access, and a freshly updated Diablo IV all fighting for attention feels like it's begging to get lost in the shuffle. Aniimo does have a legitimate hook to stand out from the usual creature-collector clones, but it's going to need luck and some solid word of mouth to avoid disappearing into this packed September.

PC and console players can jump in starting today, with cross-play between platforms and promised cross-progression. The mobile version for iOS and Android doesn't land until the 23rd, so anyone hoping to switch screens without losing progress has another week to wait.