Honkai: Nexus Anima preview — HoYoverse's weirdest game yet deserves a PS5 port

HoYoverse's auto-battler Honkai: Nexus Anima got a hands-on showing at Gamescom, and the latest build is shaping up to be one of the stranger — and more interesting — things the Genshin Impact studio has made. No PS5 version is announced, but the previewer is actively lobbying the team for a console port.

The game blends Teamfight Tactics-style auto-battler mechanics with Pokémon-flavored creature collecting. You build teams of Anima — small monsters with synergies that interact in layered ways — while Eidoses, the trainer equivalents, charge up super moves you can drag onto the screen in real time. The convention demo handed out a pre-built strong roster, so the combat itself wasn't a challenge, but experimenting with different Anima and Eidosu combinations showed real depth: specific status effects only trigger under precise conditions, so team composition genuinely matters. One standout detail is the writing — the localisation is described as irreverent and genuinely funny, with a strangely British sense of humour that's unusual for a HoYoverse title. The tone is compared to the English localisation of Yakuza. One NPC could only say "no", which the game used to generate absurd, self-deprecating dialogue. Underlying stats like INT and STR also feed into the dialogue system and alter conversation outcomes.

HoYoverse built its reputation on Genshin Impact and Honkai: Star Rail — both games that leaned into anime-style action RPG and turn-based RPG formulas respectively. Nexus Anima is a clear swing at a different audience: the auto-battler and creature-collector crowd that Riot's Teamfight Tactics and the Pokémon franchise have cultivated. It's an unusual direction for the studio, and the lighter, comedic tone marks a genuine departure from HoYoverse's typically earnest narrative style.

There's no release date or platform announcement beyond the current build being shown at Gamescom. PS5 owners will have to wait and see whether the lobbying effort pays off.