The latest build of Honkai: Nexus Anima combines creature teams, auto-battler combat, and dialogue choices that remember what players do. Its populated city, narrated interactions, and layered collection systems give the game more structure than a straightforward creature-battling pitch. No PS5 version has been announced, but the game’s unusual mix makes its absence from consoles especially noticeable.
Following a Gamescom 2026 hands-on session that lasted about an hour, Push Square’s preview highlighted a project that sits somewhere between Teamfight Tactics and Pokémon. Players assemble teams of Anima, small creatures whose abilities can support one another in different ways. Certain status effects only activate under specific conditions, so team composition matters well beyond simply choosing the strongest creatures.
Team building meets real-time intervention
The convention demo opened with a Gym-style challenge against opponents with their own personalities. A powerful prebuilt team made progress straightforward, leaving room to try different Anima and Eidoses. The latter serve as trainer-like figures in this world and add a second layer to each battle.
Each battle can place around eight Anima on the field. Once deployed, the creatures move and attack on their own, creating the auto-battler foundation. Players still have an active role, since special abilities become available as their cooldowns finish.
Three Eidos character cards can be equipped at once. Their abilities can be dragged onto the battlefield when ready, including a large area attack and a powerful strike against one target. Each one has a character-specific animation, giving these interventions a visual identity similar to an Ultimate in Honkai: Star Rail.
Anima also have grades, individual skills, and their own progression systems. Battles provide materials used to level up, upgrade, and evolve them, while a dedicated menu explains the requirements for each evolution, including needed materials and quests.
A narrated city gives creature collecting a wider loop
Honkai: Nexus Anima presents its story almost like a tabletop roleplaying session. A narrator describes movements, emotions, and actions during interactions, giving conversations a theatrical quality instead of relying entirely on character animations. Not every exchange carries the same weight, but the presentation makes even smaller moments feel deliberate.
Players can move through populated streets, interact with the environment, and ride larger Anima as mounts. Most NPCs act as trainers who can be challenged, although some require extra persuasion before they agree to a battle. Wild Anima can also be found in the environment, giving players another reason to explore beyond the main story interactions.
After defeating an Anima, players can use a capture item resembling a Poké Ball. The attempt is limited to three tries, so catching a creature is not guaranteed simply because the battle was won. That restriction gives the collection process a little more tension than a routine post-fight reward.
Dialogue stats give the cast lasting consequences
The English localization takes an irreverent approach, with jokes that give the game a distinctly British flavor. One character is limited to a single response, and the conversations turn that restriction into recurring comedy rather than treating it as a problem.
Dialogue also has mechanical weight. INT and STR can alter conversation outcomes, while NPCs remember some player decisions and allow them to affect later parts of the story. That gives the quieter scenes a purpose beyond filling time between battles.
The creatures themselves follow the same playful design philosophy. Kaffiend, one Anima from the demo, is a koala connected to an espresso drip whose attack launches coffee at enemies. It is an absurd idea, but it fits a game that is happy to put cute designs next to systems that ask players to think carefully.
The auto-battler structure may feel most at home on mobile, yet the combination of conditional team synergies, active Eidos abilities, narrated interactions, and reactive dialogue gives Honkai: Nexus Anima more personality than its simple creature-battling pitch suggests. The game is planned for PC and mobile devices, although the preview did not provide a release date. HoYoverse has not confirmed a PlayStation version, so console players will have to keep waiting for a platform announcement.
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Honkai: Nexus Anima
