On May 3, 2025, during the Star Rail Concert, MiHoYo officially teased a brand-new Honkai game —Honkai: Nexus Anima. Now, keep reading on to learn about what was shown in the trailer and if this is the rumored Honkai: Nexus Anima.
Catalogue
Social media accounts are already landed !
According to media reports, MiHoYo applied for the trademark of Honkai: Nexus Anima on April 25th. In addition, the company has also created multiple social media accounts for this IP on platforms such as Twitter, Bilibili Tiktok, and so on.
It looks like Honkai: Nexus Anima is definitely the next honkai game !
Mechanics of the Brand-New Honkai Game
Honkai: Nexus Anima was first revealed in September 2024 when MiHoYo released a job posting for a new Honkai auto-chess game as part of the Honkai IP pre-research project. The advertisement sought positions such as level planners, 3D animators, game testers, and server development engineers, and also revealed some of the game's content tags, including elements like "modern urban settings" "sense of daily life" "CRPG" "whimsical fantasy" and "Anima cultivation".
Subsequent updates to the job postings further revealed the game's main mechanics: a combination of anima capturing and cultivation with auto-chess gameplay in a CRPG format. The project description also mentioned that players can "fly, glide, and surf with the power of spirits to explore hidden secrets." According to the introduction, players will explore "serene coastal towns and diverse locations" while "collecting Karmic Spirits." These spirits can be cultivated and used to build a personalized team for engaging auto-chess battles. Additionally, the game includes exploration elements, allowing players to uncover hidden mysteries through flying, gliding, and surfing.
Honkai 3 + Star Rail ?
In the brief tease, we saw two iconic characters: Kiana from Honkai Impact 3rd and Blade from Honkai: Star Rail. Perhaps this new game will connect the worldviews of Honkai 3 and Star Rail, featuring a crossover of characters from the Honkai series in a grand battle royale. However, there is a significant disparity in combat power between the two. Therefore, we speculate that in this new game, characters might not be the main focus of combat. Instead, the battles will probably rely primarily on the Anima (kind of like Pokémon?)
Gacha or Capture？
It's worth noting that if the game does indeed downplay character gacha in favor of anima cultivation, as speculated, this shift might be in service of the storyline. In other words, could the acquisition of animas be directly related to the duel rules? Of course, if animas duels are implemented, then the method of obtaining animas will be the most significant concern for players! Although MiHoYo has not yet provided a clear response on this matter, it doesn't stop us from making bold guesses! Currently, there are three main hypotheses: maintaining the gacha system (shifting from character gacha to anima gacha); capturing animas through battles; and a hybrid model of gacha and capture.
- Maintaining Gacha
Keep the gacha system, following the character gacha procedure. Common animas would be available in the permanent banners, while other special-tier animas would be limited to specific banners. There might be a 90-draw minor guarantee and a 180-draw major guarantee, and perhaps even spirit-specific equipment could be introduced. However, given the current player sentiment against gacha systems, it seems unlikely that the new game will continue with a pure gacha model.
- Battle Capture
Start with an initial anima and capture more by following the main storyline and defeating monsters. Would special animas need to be purchased from an anima store? We feel this scenario is also unlikely, as it might reduce the game's revenue stream.
- Hybrid Model (Half Gacha, Half Capture)
We believe the most probable mechanism is a hybrid model that combines gacha and capture. This means common animas could be obtained through capturing, while limited-edition or high-tier animas would only be available through gacha. Alternatively, spirit equipment might need to be acquired from gacha banners.
Conclusion
The above are some speculations about the brand-new Honkai game. Since MiHoYo has not yet revealed more information, the specific gameplay should be based on the official version. The two-year anniversary event of Star Rail is currently in full swing! Don't miss the Honkai : Star Rail Tops-up on LDShop! Here, you can not only enjoy secure transactions but also get great discounts. Get more resources with a smaller budget and easily cultivate your favorite characters! What are you waiting for? Come and give it a try!
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Joséphine Fossey Experienced game editor
I’m a tactical RPG strategist obsessed with perfecting character builds and team synergies. My guides go beyond basic tier lists—I dissect talent priorities, relic/weapon interactions, and rotation timings through frame-perfect testing and stat optimization. Whether you're maximizing a support's buff uptime or crafting a hypercarry's one-shot combo, I turn complex mechanics into battle-proven strategies that dominate the meta.
