Aniimo smooshes cute creature capturing and open world exploration together to serve us a meal with notes of Genshin Impact, Infinity Nikki, and the grandaddy of trapping critters in balls: Pokemon. But although it may look like developer Pawprint Studio has included a side of gacha with that meal, it’s actually a little more complicated than that.
Is Aniimo a gacha game?
(Image credit: Pawprint Studio)
Is Aniimo a gacha?
No, Aniimo is not a gacha game. Despite having all the bells and whistles a gacha usually throws at us—including about a thousand currencies and menus to stress over—Aniimo doesn’t have any banner systems that gacha games like Genshin Impact or Infinity Nikki do.
All Aniimo, their equipment, Aniimo eggs, and anything related to cute critter combat and fashion is not linked to random odds, or reaching an arbitrary “pity” number that eventually guarantees something after enough pulls. You get Aniimo (and most other items) just by playing the game, seriously, and instead most (but not all) cosmetics are linked to coughing up a fixed amount of cash in the store.
I swear I heard Animmo was a gacha though
(Image credit: Pawprint Studio)
That’s because Aniimo did have a gacha system, but only during its final beta. The Rift Exploration event—AKA a banner—was a very sneaky inclusion, because these rifts involved spending a premium currency for the chance to catch a Legendary Aniimo by filling up a bar, not pulling on a banner with a button press.
It didn’t look like your regular banner system, but the capture rate for the Legendary Aniimo was so miniscule that unless you got very lucky, you probably had to rely on reaching “pity” to finally guarantee catching it—just like a banner in any other gacha.
Rift Exploration was very poorly received by beta testers and future players alike. The rifts reportedly got stale and repetitive real quick, plus, lots of people pointed out the developers had promised many times that Aniimo wouldn’t be locked behind gacha. For Aniimo’s full launch, Rift Exploration has been replaced with a token collection system.
Developer Pawprint Studio never mentioned Rift Explorations were changed because of the gacha backlash in the official blog post, but I’m willing to gamble (one last time) that it sure contributed to the change.
Aniimo monetization
Pawprint StudioPawprint Studio
Then how is Aniimo trying to get my money?
As a free-to-play live service game, Aniimo is of course still trying to shake down your wallet, even without a gacha system. Its monetization model of choice is a cosmetics shop where you convert real life money into Lumin Crystals, then exchange that currency for outfits and accessories for your playable character and Aniimo. Some cosmetics are available for free by using one of the other in-game currencies, but the coolest and cutest sets will inevitably be locked behind a paywall.
Another “give us your money” tactic is Aniimo’s shop bundles, which asks for Lumin Crystals (your real money) in exchange for Aniipods, profile backgrounds, Aniimo stat alterations, guaranteed ways to get rare versions of Aniimo, or other types of currency. You can still get some of these items by spending the Glimmer or Credits currency instead, or from rewards by just playing the game, but you bet they’re far harder to get this way.
Then there’s the inevitable battle pass, which Aniimo calls a “Companion Handbook” (for twee capitalism purposes, I guess). A free tier is unlocked automatically, but two premium tracks include extra goodies, including Aniimo, cosmetics, and a fast-track to higher battle pass levels.
Pawprint StudioPawprint Studio
So how do you get Aniimo then?
So many ways. The main method is throwing an Aniipod to capture one minding its own business while you explore, during Alpha and Omega battles, or at an activated Bloom spot.
Another way to get Aniimo is by hatching eggs. These come in different rarities, with lots of variety in which Aniimo can hatch from what egg. You can even choose an Aniipod during the hatching process to turn that Aniimo into a guaranteed shiny, or one with elite stats to terrify the halls of PvP.
Other Aniimo are rewarded by completing events, the battle pass, or just playing the game. This includes Legendary Aniimo, which you get by collecting unique tokens, then playing through the Legendary’s story before chucking your special Aniipod at it and guaranteeing a capture.
