Is Aniimo a Gacha Game?

Pawprint Studio’s new creature-catcher game Aniimo has arrived, and players are asking the same question they asked during the beta: is it a gacha game? The answer is complicated, and it depends on when you played it.

Aniimo blends cute creature capturing with open-world exploration, drawing comparisons to Genshin Impact, Infinity Nikki, and Pokemon. The game features thousands of currencies, menus, and cosmetics, all the trappings of a gacha game. But Pawprint Studio says the core loop is different. The game does not use banner pulls with random odds or pity counters. Instead, you get most items simply by playing.

What Aniimo Says About Its Own Loop

Aniimo’s developers insist the game is not a gacha. They point to the absence of banner systems, where players spend premium currency on a chance to win a rare item. In Aniimo, you do not pull on a banner. You get Aniimo, their equipment, and most other items by playing the game. Cosmetics are mostly sold for a fixed price in the shop, not tied to random odds.

The game’s mechanics support this. You capture creatures by throwing an Aniipod, a device used to catch and summon Aniimo. You can hatch eggs with different rarities, and you can choose an Aniipod during the hatching process to guarantee a shiny or elite stat version. Legendary Aniimo are earned through a token collection system, where you gather unique tokens, play through a story, and then guarantee a capture with a special Aniipod.

The Beta System That Was Nearly Identical

That is the official story. It is not the whole story. During the final beta, Aniimo had a system that looked nothing like a banner but functioned almost exactly like one. The Rift Exploration event was a “very sneaky inclusion,” according to the report. Players spent a premium currency to fill a bar and catch a Legendary Aniimo. The capture rate was so low that players had to reach a “pity” number to guarantee a catch, just like any other gacha.

The rifts were reportedly poorly received by beta testers and future players alike. They got stale and repetitive quickly, and many people pointed out that developers had promised many times that Aniimo would not be locked behind gacha. The rifts were replaced with a token collection system for the full launch.

Why The Change Happened

Pawprint Studio never mentioned the gacha backlash in the official blog post announcing the change. But the report is willing to gamble that the backlash contributed to the decision. The company removed the system that critics called a gacha in disguise, replacing it with a system that requires collecting tokens rather than spending currency on a chance.

The change reflects player feedback. The rifts were a gacha in everything but name, and players noticed. The removal is a direct response to that feedback.

How Aniimo Makes Money Without Banners

Without a gacha system, Aniimo still wants your money. The game is free-to-play, and its monetization model is a cosmetics shop. You convert real-life money into Lumin Crystals, then exchange those crystals for outfits and accessories for your playable character and Aniimo. Some cosmetics are available for free using other in-game currencies, but the coolest and cutest sets are locked behind a paywall.

There are also shop bundles. These ask for Lumin Crystals 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 Glimmer or Credits, or from rewards from playing the game, but they are far harder to get that way.

The game also has a Companion Handbook, which is the battle pass. A free tier unlocks automatically, but two premium tracks include extra goodies, including Aniimo, cosmetics, and a fast-track to higher battle pass levels. The handbook is a battle pass repackaged with a twee name, but the structure is familiar: pay to advance faster.

The Ways To Get Aniimo

There are many ways to get Aniimo in the game. The main method is throwing an Aniipod to capture one minding its own business while exploring, during Alpha and Omega battles, or at an activated Bloom spot. Another way is hatching eggs, which come in different rarities with lots of variety in which Aniimo can hatch from what egg. You can choose an Aniipod during the hatching process to guarantee a shiny or elite stat version.

Some Aniimo are rewarded by completing events, the battle pass, or just playing the game. Legendary Aniimo require collecting unique tokens, playing through their story, and then using a special Aniipod to guarantee a capture. The game offers multiple paths to get the best creatures, but none of them involve a banner pull.

The Monetization Comparison

The table shows the contrast clearly. Aniimo offers guaranteed captures through token collection and careful choice, while gacha games rely on random odds and pity counters. The monetization models overlap elsewhere, with both games selling cosmetics for real money. But the core capture loop is different.

The Skepticism Behind The Question

The question “is Aniimo a gacha game?” carries a specific weight. Players who played the beta know what the game used to be. They saw the rifts, they reached pity numbers, and they complained. The full launch removes that system.

The report addresses the question head-on. It repeats the question and answers it, then admits that the game once had a gacha system. The admission is a small victory for transparency, even if the blog post did not mention the backlash.

The Bottom Line On The Gacha Question

Aniimo is not a gacha game in the current version. The game does not have banner pulls, random odds, or pity counters for capturing Aniimo. You get most items by playing, and the cosmetics shop charges a fixed price. That is the official position, and it is accurate as far as it goes.

But the game’s history matters. The beta had a gacha system in disguise, and the backlash forced a change. The full launch removed the rifts and replaced them with a token collection system. That is a meaningful difference, even if the monetization model remains heavy on microtransactions.

The game is free-to-play, and it earns money through cosmetics, shop bundles, and the Companion Handbook. Those systems are aggressive, but they are not gacha in the traditional sense. The key difference is that you can guarantee a capture in Aniimo, whereas gacha games often force you to reach a pity counter first.

For players who want to avoid gacha mechanics entirely, Aniimo’s current design is a relief. You do not need to grind or spend heavily to get the best creatures. You just need to play and collect tokens. That is a genuine shift from the beta, where the rifts were criticized for breaking the studio’s promises.

The report’s closing line about Jessica’s hours in Genshin Impact adds color but no substance. The story is the story, and the story is that Aniimo changed direction after player pushback.

Aniimo is not a gacha game now. It was one in the beta, and that history shapes how players see it. The full launch proves the change was made, and that system is live today.

Aniimo · gacha · game review · mobile games · Pawprint Studio