CONTINUED……
Aniimo Gameplay: My First Expedition Into Starfall Valley
And yes, the adorable factor is absolutely dangerous.
Exploring Starfall Valley
One of the first creatures I encountered was an Ember Pup. I immediately wanted to pet it, but the game gave me a better option: catch it.
The whole encounter felt surprisingly peaceful. Instead of rushing into a battle, I could stand at a distance, watch the creature, and carefully line up my Anipod. It reminded me of the relaxing feeling of observing animals in a photography game.
I eventually caught the Ember Pup on my first attempt.
That earned me my very own Aniimo, although I immediately wished I had been given a choice about which creature to catch. Naturally, my first thought was basically, “Can I catch them all?”
Animo can interact with the environment
The game quickly showed that these creatures are more than collectibles.
My Ember Pup could use its fire ability to burn through vines blocking the path. The tutorial explained that different Aniimo have unique abilities that can help clear environmental obstacles.
That means creature selection isn’t only about combat. Your Aniimo can also help you explore.
Starfall Valley itself has a mixture of:
- Water pools
- Grasslands
- Giant trees
- Caves
- Hidden paths
- Environmental obstacles
The area is relatively compact, but it feels busy because there are creatures and secrets scattered throughout it.
And, of course, I immediately started looking for anything I could possibly miss.
The Pokémon Snap Feeling
There is something very familiar about the way Aniimo encourages you to observe creatures.
At one point, I found myself thinking about the old Nintendo 64 game where the objective involved photographing Pokémon in their environments. I could not remember the name at first, but the comparison made sense.
There is a similar satisfaction in simply watching creatures behave naturally before deciding what to do with them.
Some Aniimo are shy and will hide when startled. Others move around the environment or interact with their surroundings. That makes exploring feel less like walking through a collection of static game objects and more like entering an actual ecosystem.
The game even gives you reasons to explore different parts of an area rather than simply following the main path.
“Everything’s fun until someone loses a nut.”
That pretty much summarizes my approach to exploring this game.
Catching More Aniimo
Once I understood the basic mechanics, the goal became simple: catch one of each type I could find.
The game encouraged me to gather more data, although I was much more interested in collecting the creatures themselves. If I ran out of Anipods, I could contact Nicole for help, which was convenient because I definitely did not want my creature-catching spree interrupted by running out of supplies.
The Celestuses were one of the creatures that immediately caught my attention.
They are cute, but they also have useful abilities involving climbing and flying. I even noticed one that appeared different from the others, which made me wonder whether the game has rarer creature variations to discover.
That possibility alone made me want to keep exploring.
The little creatures steal the show
The more I played, the less interested I became in simply completing the objective.
I wanted to see what else was hiding around the map.
I wanted my little squirrel-like companion back whenever it disappeared.
I wanted to know whether the creatures I encountered had different variations.
And, most importantly, I wanted more fluffy animals.
The game does a good job of making its creatures memorable, even when the story is throwing a lot of new terminology at you.
The Mystery of the Prismana Flow
Eventually, the game started revealing that this expedition was about much more than collecting Aniimo.
Nicole explained that the research expedition was investigating a phenomenon called the Prismana Flow. According to the game’s story, Aniimo exposed to Prismana can undergo incredible transformations, but nobody fully understands where the phenomenon comes from or why it affects the creatures.
There are even larger questions surrounding the origins of Animo themselves.
The Polaris Institute has apparently spent considerable time researching the world of Idol, including its history, legends, elemental forces, and ancient civilizations.
That changed the tone of the adventure.
What initially looked like a cute creature-catching game started revealing a much bigger mystery.
Getting Pulled Into an Ancient Mystery
Things took a dramatic turn when my terminal companion, Benny, started malfunctioning.
After losing contact with Benny and Nicole, I ended up in a strange location filled with unfamiliar Aniimo and ancient murals.
The creatures depicted in the murals appeared to be important to the history of this world. There were even images of Aniimo eggs, which immediately raised more questions about where these creatures came from.
Then two particularly unusual Aniimo appeared.
They could talk.
And they were ridiculously adorable.
Meeting Helen and Lunara
The two creatures introduced themselves as Helen and Lunara.
Helen described herself as the embodiment of soul, courage, and light. Lunara represented harmony and wisdom.
Naturally, I was supposed to take this revelation seriously.
Instead, I was mostly distracted by how cute they were.
The game gave me a choice between their blessings. Helen’s path focused more on courage and strength, while Lunara’s blessing emphasized intelligence and calmness.
I chose Helen.
It felt like the better fit for my character, especially since I tend to approach games by jumping into things and figuring them out as I go.
Get Harlequn’s stories in your inbox
Join Medium for free to get updates from this writer.
The choice also seemed to establish that these two creatures are connected to something much older and more mysterious than the ordinary Aniimo encountered during the expedition.
The blessing comes with a mystery
The strange part was that Helen and Lunara did not seem to remember everything themselves.
They had apparently been asleep for a long time, and their memories and powers were not what they should have been.
That raised even more questions.
Who are they really?
What happened to them?
Why was my character brought to this location?
And what exactly is the connection between humans, Aniimo, and the ancient civilization of Idol?
At this point, the game had successfully turned my cute creature-collecting adventure into a mystery I actually wanted to follow.
Learning to Twin With an Aniimo
The story soon introduced another major mechanic: twining.
Rather than simply commanding an Aniimo from outside combat, my character could combine with one to fight as a unified team.
The sequence was visually striking. The game described it as entering the “world within” the Aniimo, with both characters effectively sharing a connection.
It also changed the combat system.
Instead of simply telling the creature what to do, I suddenly had to learn the timing of attacks, dodges, and energy releases.
The controls took a little figuring out, but once I understood that holding the attack button allowed me to attack, things started to click.
The combat itself was surprisingly manageable for a first encounter.
And yes, I was still distracted by the fluffy paws.
The First Big Fight
The expedition eventually led to a much more serious confrontation.
Instructor Lita warned that conventional tactics would not be enough and told me to fight together with my Aniimo.
That introduced the real purpose of twining.
The encounter made it clear that Aniimo is not simply a passive creature-collection game. There is a combat system underneath all the exploration and adorable animals.
The creature abilities, enhancement skills, dodging, and twining mechanics appear to work together to create a more active combat experience.
I was still learning the controls, but the game did a decent job of letting me figure things out while the fight was happening.
Then the story moved forward.
Returning to the Polaris Institute
Several days later, the expedition rescue team returned.
The story jumped ahead, and I eventually found myself back in the real world at the Polaris Institute.
The expedition had become a significant event. My discoveries included ancient murals, ancient writing, and an Aniimo capable of human speech.
That was apparently enough to get the attention of the Institute.
Principal Oswin personally explained that the organization was responsible for exploration and research involving Idol. He also revealed that he had explored the continent himself when he was younger.
Then came the big question.
Would I join the Institute?
I was not exactly convinced.
It felt like a pretty sudden career offer considering that I had only just survived an extremely strange expedition.
Still, the Institute wanted me involved because of what I had discovered and my ability to interact with Animo in ways that other researchers apparently could not.
Benny Is Back
One of the best little moments was getting Benny back.
The terminal companion had been lost during the strange incident, but the Institute’s team had recovered and repaired it.
The upgraded Benny now had improved detection abilities, meaning it could alert me whenever something important was nearby.
So my digital companion was back, my data was safe, and I had apparently become something of a celebrity because of the expedition.
Naturally, I was more interested in my fluffy Aniimo.
My First Impressions of Aniimo
After spending this much time with the game, the biggest surprise for me was how much I enjoyed the creatures.
The exploration is relaxing, the environments encourage curiosity, and the creature abilities give you reasons to pay attention to what each Aniimo can do.
The story also became much more interesting once the ancient ruins and the mystery surrounding Helen and Lunara were introduced.
The game seems to be balancing several different ideas:
- Creature collecting through exploration and Anipods.
- Environmental exploration using Aniimo abilities.
- Combat through individual abilities and twining.
- Mystery and world-building surrounding Idol, Prismana, and the origins of Aniimo.
- Research progression through the Polaris Institute.
The result is a game that feels much bigger than I expected when I started.
I went in wanting to catch cute creatures.
I came out wondering what happened to an ancient civilization, where Aniimo came from, what Prismana really is, and whether I can somehow keep every fluffy creature I encounter.
Final Thoughts on My Aniimo Initial Playthrough
My first Aniimo session was definitely an interesting one.
The early Starfall Valley exploration gave me the relaxing creature-catching experience I was hoping for, while the later sections introduced a much deeper story involving ancient ruins, mysterious Aniimo, the Prismana Flow, and the strange connection between Astra and Idol.
The creatures are easily my favorite part so far. They are cute enough to make me stop what I’m doing just to watch them, but they also have practical uses during exploration and combat.
And Helen and Lunara may have completely ruined my ability to take the story seriously because I spent half their introduction thinking about how adorable they were.
There is clearly much more to uncover.
This is only Aniimo Initial Play Part 1, and I am keeping the more emotional material separate for the next part. If you want to experience that portion without spoilers or heavier story moments, you can decide whether to continue when that episode is available.
For now, I’m ready to head back into Idol, find more Aniimo, figure out what happened to the characters I met, and hopefully collect a ridiculous number of adorable creatures along the way.
If you enjoyed this first look at Aniimo, like the video, subscribe, and turn on notifications for the next part. More gaming content, including Blue Archive, is also on the way.
