Honkai: Nexus Anima evolution test starts July 9 on mobile and PC

HoYoverse opened recruitment for Honkai: Nexus Anima’s Evolution Test on June 22, setting a July 9 closed beta across PC, iOS, and Android for a limited pool of testers. Applicants have to complete a recruitment survey, selection is not guaranteed, and progress will be wiped when the test ends. Pre-registration is already open, so the July test is the first clear access point for anyone trying to get hands-on with the game.

The real draw is whether the game’s bond system feels as sharp in play as it does on paper. HoYoverse describes Honkai: Nexus Anima as a creature-collecting adventure strategy game built around unseen Nexus bonds between paired Aspects such as Love and Hate, Light and Dark, and Reality and Illusion. After the Sundering, those bonds were shattered into Anima, and the loop is built around collecting them, battling with them, and deepening connections that shape exploration. The test also brings evolution, naming, and photo features into the mix, along with rare Chromatic Anima as an extra collection chase. If those systems make exploration and combat feel meaningfully linked, the beta starts to look like more than a concept pass.

The Evolution Test is also expanding the map. Iia is the starting area, along with the New Quarter, Nexus Hall, and the True Nexus Building, plus new characters Nanafey, Bai Mei, and Olympia. HoYoverse’s own lore gives the project more structure than a simple mascot-collector, with Novarchs defined as the owners of the Aspects of the New World who rule one of 81 planes. Bai Mei is listed as the current Novarch of Reality, and Puddlipup already has a full profile as No. 001, with the Aspect of Satiation, the Striker trait, a height of 68 cm, and energy of 33 Joules.

HoYoverse says its parent miHoYo was founded in 2011, is headquartered in Shanghai, and has more than 5,000 employees, while the company’s current project slate also includes Honkai: Nexus Anima and Petit Planet. The July 9 beta now reads as a live test of whether that reach can carry a new creature-collector, or whether the game is still in the early phase of proving its systems.