{"id":72617,"date":"2026-09-16T18:13:23","date_gmt":"2026-09-16T09:13:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/?p=72617"},"modified":"2026-09-16T18:13:25","modified_gmt":"2026-09-16T09:13:25","slug":"new-palworld-and-pokemon-like-free-to-play-creature-collector-aniimo-sees-over-100k-concurrent-steam-players-at-launch-despite-mixed-reviews","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/new-palworld-and-pokemon-like-free-to-play-creature-collector-aniimo-sees-over-100k-concurrent-steam-players-at-launch-despite-mixed-reviews\/","title":{"rendered":"New Palworld and Pok\u00e9mon-like free-to-play creature collector Aniimo sees over 100k concurrent Steam players at launch, despite mixed reviews"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Pawprint Interactive Entertainment released its free-to-play creature collector RPG Aniimo<\/strong><\/a> on September 16 for PC (Steam\/Epic Games\/official launcher), PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, Android and iOS. The mobile version of the game is scheduled to release on September 23.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Aniimo is set in the open world of Idyll, which is inhabited by mysterious creatures \u2013 \u201cAniimo.\u201d Players (nicknamed Pathfinders) are able to explore the vast continent, engage in action-based combat alone or in multiplayer, and befriend Aniimo. Much like in other creature collecting games, Aniimo each have their own \u201celements\u201d attributed to them, as well as a 3-stage \u201cevolution system.\u201d According to the game\u2019s official Wiki<\/a>, some Aniimo also have different forms based on the environment they inhabit. On the other hand, one unique mechanic of the game is an ability called \u201cTwining,\u201d which lets you become any Aniimo from your party. This allows you to use their elemental abilities to solve puzzles or directly partake in combat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The game was first announced in June 2025, with a closed beta test launching the following month. It went on to gather significant attention from online users, reaching over 30 million global pre-registrations over the course of a year. And now that it has finally launched, it has been showing record numbers of concurrent players.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to SteamDB<\/a> data (as of writing this article), Aniimo peaked at over 101,000 concurrent players in the first 3 hours since launch, and is currently ranked among the top 10 most played games on Steam. The actual number of concurrent players might be even larger considering the number of platforms that the game has launched on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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On the other hand, the game\u2019s Steam version currently sits at a \u201cMixed\u201d review score with 50% positive reviews out of a total of over 1,000 at the time of writing. Many of the negative reviews cite overly aggressive monetization, a slow gameplay loop, and improper controller optimization. Other reviews also note that many of the drawbacks of the beta version haven\u2019t been addressed in the full version of the game. While it hasn\u2019t been a day since the game released, it will be interesting to see if and how the developers will address these concerns in future updates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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