I've always loved playing pet-catching games—collecting pets, raising and evolving them, completing the dex, and catching shiny variants never get old for me.
However, from a gameplay design perspective, these actions offer little fun. Throughout the game's lifecycle, players are engaged in repetitive labor—behind every rare pet lies countless mechanically thrown Poké Balls...
So why are pet-catching games still so captivating?
Because "collecting pets" itself carries a strong driving force—even without additional gameplay designs in the intermediate process, the sense of acquisition and achievement from "catching the pet you want" is enough for players to overcome the tedious process. The better-looking, more visually appealing, and vivid the pets in a pet-catching game are, the easier it is for players to project emotions onto them, stir up the desire to collect, and then spend a lot of time in the game.
Perhaps because of this reason, many pet-catching games tilt大量 resources towards pets but only scratch the surface when shaping the "ecosystem"—for example, most pets distributed in a forest or grassland are Grass-type, mostly walking around the area individually, occasionally stopping to perform a few repetitive idle animations. If players want to know how pets live in the wild, they can only imagine it through the short descriptive text in the dex.
While creating ecology this way may not pull players out of the immersion, it's undeniable that its presentation is still quite far from a "realistic and credible ecosystem."
So, when I saw the newcomer to the pet-catching genre, Imo, create a realistic ecosystem consistent with its worldview based on the habits of the pet "Imo," I was genuinely surprised.
First, thanks to Pawprint Studio for the invitation. We were fortunate to try out some content of this version before Imo's "Paw Test" on July 2nd. Through this trial, I saw Imo's ambition to lead the pet-catching genre in all aspects.
That's right, the ecology mentioned earlier is just a small part of Imo's ambition. Before formally discussing ecology, I think it's necessary to take a step back and talk about the foundation of ecology—creatures.
The modeling detail of the Imos was the part that impressed me right at the start of the trial.
We know that pets are the most important aspect of pet-catching games. At the same time, pets are also the most numerous entities in the game, often starting in the hundreds. The modeling costs and on-screen optimization pressure are not to be underestimated. Due to these considerations, pets usually focus more on character design, while modeling takes shortcuts—but uniform and smooth materials inevitably give pets a cheap "plastic toy molded from a cast" feel.
However, Imo did not compromise in this regard.
For example, the fur material of the "Cloud Sheep" effectively expresses fluffiness, with a faint translucency effect at the body's edges, extremely similar to real clouds and mist, making you want to rub it vigorously.
The "Sea Angel" is semi-transparent throughout, allowing a clear view of the streamlined luminous organs inside, effectively recreating the gelatinous texture of planktonic animals.
Different body parts of Imos are also depicted with finer details based on real-world representations—the gemstone acting as a "perfume bottle" on the front of the "Fragrance Bird" is crystal clear, with distinct layers between the contour feathers and down feathers of the wings, and tiny structures like feather shafts and barbs are also presented.
Seeing such detailed depiction, it's hard not to want to catch an Imo and observe it closely up close.
Building on the foundation of "real creatures," how does Imo construct a "real ecosystem"?
This brings us to an even more impressive part—the environment, weather, and even the Imos themselves influence each other.
On one hand, this realism is reflected in its physical presentation.
On rainy days, you can see the fur on Imos get wet, producing a mirror-like reflection similar to a water film, while rain falling on hydrophobic parts condenses into clusters due to surface tension, forming slightly raised water droplets.
On the other hand, this realism is also reflected in active interactions between the two.
The "Shankayu" living on the beach has evolved a form that camouflages it as coral. Usually, "Shankayu" stays in areas with dense coral distribution to hide its shape, entering a state where it cannot be captured by players.
So how should players capture the camouflaged "Shankayu"?
This brings us to the integration of gameplay design and ecological interaction.
Ecological interaction naturally includes interactions between different types of Imos. Imo's "Link" gameplay system was created for this purpose—after capturing an Imo, players can not only command the Imo to act but also personally transform into the Imo through the "Link" system, actively controlling its actions.
When you transform into an Imo covered in green leaves (sorry, I didn't catch this Imo's name), you can use its unique bubble-spitting ability to trap the "Shankayu" in mid-air with bubbles. Once trapped, the "Shankayu" can be captured.
Imos and the ecological environment are also designed with gameplay interactions, providing assistance to players during map exploration.
For example, Imos surrounded by flames will ignite grass when passing through green areas or using skills. The burning grass produces updrafts, which can lift player-linked flying Imos to higher places.
Another example is the "Huayaxie" (Flower Bud Crab), which has a burrowing skill. In some puzzles, players need to utilize the "Huayaxie's" burrowing skill to obtain hidden rewards on the map.
Additionally, after linking and transforming into an Imo, you can understand the language of that species. Communications and feelings between Imos become hints in puzzles or interesting diversions during gameplay. Some Imos even have exclusive side quests that devote substantial space to shaping the ecological habits and social relationships of their population. As long as you transform into one of them, you can integrate into the group and personally experience their stories, something unimaginable in many pet-catching games.
Thus, gameplay and ecology form a complementarity—ecology provides a natural design platform for gameplay, and in turn, gameplay makes the connection between players and Imos, and between players and the ecology, tighter than ever before.
Besides deepening the ecology and enhancing the experience of traditional pet-catching gameplay, Imo has also made some new explorations in gameplay to bring players more diverse fun.
Take the combat system, for example. Imo does not adopt traditional turn-based command battles but instead designs an ARPG gameplay loop through the "Link Mode" system.
You might worry that ARPGs have a certain operational threshold, and some pet-catching players have no prior ARPG experience. But based on my personal experience, Imo's ARPG gameplay isn't too demanding in terms of action mechanics; it's kept at a just-right level. Core action mechanics like dodging still exist in combat, but there are no mechanisms like "perfect dodge" that require strict timing to trigger. However, this doesn't mean the combat lacks depth—on the contrary, the focus of this combat system is cleverly shifted to strategy, greatly emphasizing the importance of team composition and skill combinations, with a very high skill ceiling.
Simply put, Imo's ARPG gameplay focuses on skill rotations. Damage is primarily dealt through skills, which consume energy when cast. Therefore, when building your Imo team, you need to balance main damage-dealing skills, support skills that boost damage, energy regeneration skills, and healing skills. You also have to consider variables like type advantages, ultimate charge efficiency, buff duration, and energy sustainability. Thus, the greatest joy of combat lies in constructing a reasonable skill set around energy resources and figuring out a smooth skill rotation. With hundreds of Imos possessing different abilities, the possible combinations are endless, making it exciting just to think about.
Of course, if you just want to quietly be a trainer, watching your carefully raised Imos dominate the field, that's fine too. You can choose not to Link, letting your Imos battle automatically while you sit back and watch the show.
This philosophy of "raising the ceiling while ensuring the floor" actually runs through all of Imo's gameplay designs.
For example, "Holographic Training" is a standard tower-climbing roguelike gameplay mode: after clearing a floor, you can choose one of three random Buffs, encountering shops and random events along the way. The Buff construction in "Holographic Training," like Imo team composition, has a high ceiling for exploration, but newcomers might feel lost when first starting, unsure how to choose Buffs to improve team strength. "Holographic Training" comes with a guidance system that makes recommendations based on your current lineup and existing Buffs—just following the recommendations will basically allow you to assemble a powerful Buff combination.
Perhaps you might ask, what if some players aren't interested in combat for now and just want to immerse themselves in the traditional gameplay loop of catching, raising, and socializing?
Regarding this aspect, Imo provides an answer through its social gameplay. Socializing has always been an integral part of pet-catching games—traveling together through this vibrant world and showing off newly caught rare Imos is one of the most primal joys of the genre. The companion feature allows you and your friends to act together and share rewards—meaning, if you don't want to fight, you can simply invite two friends to do the work for you. This action directly creates the most natural opportunities and space for social interaction.
In addition, Imo is also equipped with system platforms directly serving social interaction.
In the "Home RV" system, you can gather with a few friends for parties, decorate your little nest as you wish, and even play bead art. The map "Star City," which functions similarly to a main city, further opens up public space for open social interaction on top of the home system.
In the offline trial version we played, Star City hadn't implemented all features yet, but basic social behaviors like chatting, sending emojis, and interactive emotes could be performed smoothly. According to the development team at Pawprint Studio, Star City will become a physical hub for many functions like shops and gameplay in the future, serving as a gathering center for players. It will also gradually implement multiplayer mini-games to provide richer social gameplay.
But judging from the content played during this event, Imo is already quite promising—it hasn't rested in the comfort zone of the pet-catching genre but has instead invested significant effort in many areas with obvious marginal effects, all to let players truly integrate into this vibrant world composed of Imos. The fusion attempts between gameplay modes have allowed the pet-catching experience to break out of the traditional framework, bringing players many differentiated experiences.
As for whether Imo's attempts can establish a firm foothold in the pet-catching genre and ultimately gain recognition from the broader player base, we'll have to wait until the official start of the Paw Test on July 2nd, where all participating players will provide the answer.
