Revision 1

Open-world structure

Honkai: Nexus Anima has an open world that players can freely roam. The starting area is the seaside town of Iia, with additional Planes becoming accessible as the player progresses through regional championships. Each Plane has its own visual style and environmental design — the world isn't one continuous landmass but a collection of distinct dimensional areas.

Movement options

Players have several ways to get around:

• On foot: Standard walking and running through environments

• Aerial glides: Riding Anima like Frigull (a seagull) for gliding through the air

• Mounted travel: Some Anima can be ridden — galloping, flying, or swimming depending on the creature

The world includes a day-night cycle with real-time lighting changes, physics-based environmental interactions, and hidden areas that reward players who poke around corners and ledges.

Anima exploration skills

Each Anima has a unique exploration skill that interacts with the environment in a specific way:

• Puddlipup: Bounces to reach elevated platforms and high ledges

• Frigull: Carries the player for aerial glides across gaps and down from heights

• Nomnom: Destroys environmental obstacles blocking paths

• Vulberry: Interacts with NPCs — its cake-smearing ability increases favorability ratings

This system gives players a reason to bring specific Anima into the field based on the terrain they're exploring. A mountainous area might call for Puddlipup's bounce ability, while an area full of destructible barriers needs Nomnom.

Wild Anima encounters

Wild Anima appear throughout the open world. Players can approach them for "Bond Encounters" — essentially befriending and capturing them. Blue and purple-tier (3-star and below) Anima can be captured directly. Higher-rarity Anima aren't available through wild encounters and must be obtained through the gacha system or event rewards.

Easter eggs and secrets

The developers have scattered hidden easter eggs throughout the map. These include tucked-away NPCs, environmental puzzles, and surprise interactions. HoYoverse has a track record of hiding things in their open worlds (Genshin Impact is full of them), and Nexus Anima follows the same design philosophy of rewarding exploration with small discoveries.