Aniimo Closed Beta Recap

Aniimo ran three widely discussed closed tests before the September 2026 launch: Paws On in July 2025, Paws Up from 23 January 2026, and Global Closed Beta from 9–25 July 2026. Each was a limited, data-wipe build. Nothing you caught, evolved, or parked in Homeland is waiting on a launch server. If a guide talks as if the July client is still playable, it is stale.

This page is a recap for people who skipped the tests or who need to unlearn carryover hope. For the live calendar see the updates hub. For the first live hour see Getting Started.

The three tests at a glance

Test	When	Platforms testers actually used	What it was for
Paws On	4–10 July 2025 (about 10:00 UTC-4 start; 23:59 UTC-4 end)	PC (launcher invite); Xbox-leaning messaging around Showcase	First public look at Twine, catching, Idyll
Paws Up	from 23 January 2026, 10:00 UTC+8 (slightly delayed for a story-blocking bug)	PC and iOS TestFlight per invite	Bigger roster, Homeland, social, Egg Heist preview
Global CBT	9–25 July 2026	Steam playtest + iOS/Android (plus a standalone launcher in press)	Island of Peace, trading, Diamond Egg Heist, latest build

Paws On also had a 1 July 2025 pre-download for selected inboxes. Global CBT sign-ups opened 6 June 2026 on Steam news. Access was invite-only and tied to the email on the questionnaire — sharing a code with a friend was not the model.

Aniimo Global Closed Beta trailer

Paws On (July 2025): the first Idyll

Paws On was the “summer camp” test after the Xbox Games Showcase reveal. Official notes called it limited-scale, unpaid, and a wipe. Testers met the pitch in a smaller slice: open-world traversal, Aniipods, and Twine as the identity mechanic (you inhabit the creature; you do not only send it out). Survival-handbook copy from the period already named Twine puzzles, dual-mode combat, and photography-style research.

What testers learned, even in that narrow window: Idyll looks friendly until an Alpha does not, and a party of four Fire DPS is a meadow team, not a cave team. Those lessons still feed the tier list and the live Getting Started order.

Paws Up (January 2026): the systems test

Paws Up was sold as the second closed beta and the largest to that point. Recruitment closed 20 January 2026 at 23:59 UTC+8. The start slipped a few hours on 23 January to patch a main-quest blocker — a useful reminder that “10:00 UTC+8” on a Pawprint clock is a target, not physics.

Content that defined this test:

• New regions and ecosystems (Driftwise Meadow, Sandcastle Hill, and Rosetower Wood showed up in previews).
• New Aniimo such as Fentuft, Nimbi, and Eko (sound detection, added after community requests).
• The first widely shown Legendary story beat around Irelia.
• Expanded Homeland decoration, RV camping, and social toys.
• An Egg Heist mode preview that Global CBT later named more clearly.

Paws Up is why this wiki talks about Homeland as part of the loop, not post-game housing. Facilities generate the boring materials evolutions eat. If you skipped the RV in videos, read Homeland before you treat storage as a dump.

Global CBT (9–25 July 2026): the wipe that matters

Steam called it a limited, data-wipe Steam Playtest. Mobile (iOS and Android) ran alongside. Press and official trailers highlighted:

• A water-themed region, the Island of Peace, on the map for the first time.
• Trading / Aniimo exchanges between Pathfinders.
• Diamond Egg Heist — PvEvP with three-player teams racing to Twine a diamond egg (Steam copy: Lost Isles; earlier Q3 notes described up to six teams of three).
• New names (Bubbeep, Popapus, Mophling/Saucite in various spellings) and new forms (Budsquire, Thornblade, Prismana sheens).
• Astra shopping, more Homeland buildings, and the “latest in-game build.”

Official index dumps from this test sit around 94 named Aniimo. Launch marketing now says more than 200 including weather and biome forms. That gap is why tier lists are labelled closed-beta snapshots.

When the test ended, the client went away. There is no public build to log into in August or early September. Launch on 16 September is a fresh start.

What testers actually kept (habits, not items)

Progress did not carry. Habits should:

1. Finish New Player Courses. They pay you to learn catch stance, elemental counters, Snap, and the tumbler. Skipping them to “get to the open world” was the most expensive CBT mistake.
2. Build Break + DPS + Heal + flex, not four damage portraits. Roles are DPS, Break, Heal, Support, Regen. You only field four.
3. Use Homeland as production, not a screenshot backdrop.
4. Photograph and trade instead of evolving every duplicate. Global CBT added exchanges; launch will still punish people who burn the only Pebbling before they know it branches.
5. Treat mail as the gift box. Testers did not type LAUNCH2026. They opened mail. That is why the codes hub is empty on purpose.

Combat feel, Twine traversal, and the nine-element chart all come from these builds. Numbers will move. The spine will not: you still need a Heal before you pick a named Alpha.

What did not survive (and should not be rumoured back)

• Characters, Glimmer, pods, furniture, ranks. Wiped.
• Beta-only HUD. The July chrome is reference, not a promise. Watch the August launch trailer for current wording.
• Cross-play as a fully proven matrix. Tests mixed subsets of PC and mobile. Consoles join on 16 September.
• A redeem-code culture. Still absent. If someone is selling “CBT carryover codes,” they are selling air.

Pawprint will almost certainly run live events that look like beta events (Island of Peace, Heist, trading). Looking like a test does not restore test saves.

Use this recap to stop refreshing an old launcher. Use Getting Started to plan the first live evening, Homeland so extras have a job, and the tier list only after you remember ranks are July opinions. The useful souvenir from three wipes is not a shiny. It is knowing the mailbox, the Courses, and the fact that 16 September does not owe you July.