Honkai: Nexus Anima second beta starts July 9

For PC and Mobile only.

Blue-haired girl and her floating Anima from Honkai Nexus Anima — *Image credit: HoYoverse*

Nine months after its first beta concluded, Honkai: Nexus Anima is starting it’s second closed beta on July 9, 2026. This “Evolution Test” is available on PC and Mobile, and you can sign-up for the chance to be picked via the game’s official website. Recruitment for the beta ends on July 3, and 200 people can also win access by taking part in a social media campaign.

Spot the 0.2 seconds of the Astral Express from Honkai: Star Rail!

This second beta introduces new Anima, regions, gameplay systems, and characters (including Nanafey, Bai Mei, and Olympia) while improving on a lot of existing features, and updating the game’s style and graphics.

A new gameplay showcase dropped alongside the beta announcement to show off these improvements, and other features like: photo mode, exploration with Anima, a racing mini-game, and Anima battles. You can check it out in full below.

Here’s everything else we know about Honkai: Nexus Anima, courtesy of the latest press release:

Honkai: Nexus Anima is a creature-collecting adventure strategy game in the Honkai series. In this world, Nexus refers to the unseen bonds woven between paired Aspects, such as Love and Hate, Light and Dark, and Reality and Illusion. After the Sundering, these bonds were shattered, and their remnant powers scattered across the world in the form of Anima.

From this fractured order, players set out to forge bonds with Anima and harness the power of Aspects through them. These powers open up diverse battle tactics while shaping the way players explore, solve challenges, and engage with the expansive overworld. From quiet town benches and tree-lined paths to windows glowing with warm light, every place explored alongside an Anima bears witness to the unseen bonds of the Nexus.

As players venture into uncharted realms, Anima stand with them in thrilling Nexus Battles and forge bonds that take root through each step into the unknown, while the truth buried within the player’s past slowly comes to light.

In the Evolution Test, players step into the role of a plane-hopping traveler who has escaped captivity and set out from Iia, a quiet town in the Reality Plane. As the journey begins, the world of Honkai: Nexus Anima opens wider, revealing new stories, distinctive gameplay, and richer paths of exploration. Across the many Planes, Anima evolution stands among the world’s most wondrous phenomena. Each transformation is more than a change in form — it is a sign of the bond taking shape, as Anima grow stronger to protect the first moment that brought them and the player together.

Beyond encountering Anima and forming lasting connections with them, players can preserve that moment through a unique photo and give each companion a name of its own. On especially fortunate days, they may even cross paths with a rare Chromatic Anima, turning an unexpected encounter into a memory unlike any other.

As the starting point of the journey, Iia will reveal a fuller portrait of itself. From the lively streets of the New Quarter to its distinctive commercial spaces and architectural landmarks, its many corners gradually open up, inviting moments of exploration, quiet pause, and a closer look at the town’s unique atmosphere.

Beyond its streets and landmarks, Iia holds stories waiting to be uncovered. In locations such as Nexus Hall and the True Nexus Building, key figures from different factions will come into view, their ideals and actions revealing the world’s hidden complexity. Each encounter and choice becomes another thread drawing the journey closer to its truths.

Along the way, new characters such as Nanafey, Bai Mei, and Olympia will also cross paths with the traveler. Together, they will venture deeper into the unknown, following the traces of forgotten histories and seeking answers to truths long buried within the world itself.