The New 3D ARPG Challenging Palworld’s Reign

September 25, 2025

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Palworld has proven to be a pretty great alternative to Pokémon, especially for those who wanted a little more gameplay in their creature collector. From its survival mechanics to its functional open-world, Palworld, across its numerous updates and collaborations, has proven to be immensely successful at both imitating the best parts of Pokémon and introducing its own twist on common tropes of the genre.

However, its reign as the best game like Pokémon is swiftly coming to an end as a brand-new competitor enters the market. Garnering a spotlight at the recent Xbox Tokyo Game Show presentation, and a reveal during the highly coveted Xbox Showcase earlier in the year, this new Pokémon-esque open-world RPG could be the game to beat Palworld. Unfortunately, there’s a pretty big catch.

Aniimo Could Be The Game To Beat Palworld

It Is A Gorgeous 3D Pokémon-Esque ARPG

The player fighting a boss in Aniimo with a hammer.

Aniimo was shown off alongside the likes of the brand-new Forza Horizon game during Xbox’s Tokyo Game Show presentation. It was previously revealed back in June during the Xbox Games Showcase and has slowly been generating buzz ever since. Frankly, it deserves all the attention it is getting at such prestigious events, as it looks set to be the next massive open-world creature collector we’ve all been hoping for.

Simply put, Aniimo is another game attempting to finally dethrone Pokémon. It is doing so with gorgeous colorful visuals, a unique twist on the creature collecting formula – you turn into the creatures rather than summon them – and by throwing in what looks like a rather detailed open-world that would make Scarlet and Violet’s attempt blush.

Aniimo also looks a lot like Palworld, both in its visual design and its real-time action combat, albeit minus the guns. Of course, it isn’t a survival crafting game like Palworld, but it is free-to-play, something that, if handled properly, could prove to be a problem for Palworld. However, Aniimo is facing a gargantuan problem even before it launches, something that Palworld is all too familiar with.

Nintendo May Shut Down Aniimo

It Could Suffer The Same Fate As Palworld

The player exploring an Autumnal forest in Aniimo.

Nintendo’s lawsuit against Palworld’s developer, Pocketpair, was always just going to be the start, especially after its latest controversial patent that will kill any game aping Pokémon’s central mechanic. Aniimo may be able to dodge Nintendo’s lawyers for now, especially considering you don’t summon its central creatures, but inhabit their bodies. However, if it proves to be a successful imitation of Pokémon, it could become the subject of another lengthy Nintendo lawsuit.

That means Aniimo may already be fighting a losing battle, long before it even releases. That’s a shame, as, at least from what we’ve seen thus far, it appears to be an extremely promising adaptation of Pokémon’s central themes, style, and gameplay ideas. That’s not to say Aniimo is copying Pokémon, but rather, like the many indies before it, offering something new in the same vein as it. We need more games like Pokémon, as it is still stuck in the past, so I sincerely hope Aniimo succeeds.