Animanova
ENLAD
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The field guide

Know your microcosmos.

Meet the organisms, learn the trade-offs, and explore what grows beyond your first run.

One run

Fragile. Feeding. Tested. Unrecognisable.

From a fragile beginning to a body full of borrowed biology. Follow the rhythm of a Symbiosis run through actual gameplay.

A proto cell surrounded by hostile organisms at the start of a Symbiosis run
01 · FORM 1 · PROTO CELLYou start undifferentiated, and everything out there is bigger.
A Symbiosis organism about to integrate a weakened cell
02 · TOUCH TO INTEGRATEWeaken an organism, then decide: take its biology, or digest it.
The Cleanse the Host objective announcing itself mid-run
03 · CLEANSE THE HOSTDestroy the parasites. Spare the host. Not every level is a kill count.
An evolved Metabolic Mosaic organism late in a Symbiosis run
04 · FORM 5 · METABOLIC MOSAICA body that could not have existed when the run began.

The evolution

Eight forms. Each one earns the next.

Biomass, matured chambers and boss organelles gate every stage, so a form is something you reached, never something you bought.

  1. 01PROTO CELLUndifferentiated
  2. 02PHAGOCYTIC MEMBRANEFaster engulfment
  3. 03VACUOLATE CELLDeeper digestion
  4. 04PERSISTENT HOSTFourth chamber
  5. 05METABOLIC MOSAICCaustic membrane
  6. 06REINFORCED CORTEXHardened host
  7. 07ORGANELLE NETWORKFifth chamber
  8. 08SYMBIOTIC APEXApex predation

The decision

Sometimes the level asks you not to kill.

Ten objective families run across twelve chapters, and several of them cannot be solved by shooting harder.

  • CLEANSE THE HOSTDestroy the parasites · Spare the host
  • RATION NUTRIENTSOnly one can be fed · Choose
  • ESCAPE PREDATORYou cannot beat it · Survive its pursuit
  • MUTUAL DEPENDENCYKeep both partners alive
  • SHELTER THE JUVENILEIntercept what hunts it
  • DEFEND THE COLONYMost of the colony must survive

Four more wait in the chapters: Protect Division, Carry Nutrient, Hold Current, and Cross Membrane.

Before the first cell

Pick a lineage. Live with what it costs you.

Choose speed, resilience, hunger or efficiency. Each germline changes how you survive, with its own strengths, costs and innate ability. Host your first symbiont to awaken it, then cultivate your lineage between runs.

MOTILE

Fast · Fragile

Crosses the arena and reaches weakened prey first. Staying unharmed builds extra flow speed, but its membrane breaks easily.

InnateBINARY FISSIONHemmed in, it divides — two bodies firing at once.

BASTION

Slow · Armoured

Survives the mistake Motile does not. Its membrane braces against one hit every seven seconds, but it moves and feeds slowly.

InnateSYNCYTIUMA held chain fuses the colony into one volley of lances.

PREDATOR

Ravenous · Unstable

Paired proto-fangs and rapid engulfing finish prey. Chained captures restore extra metabolism, but a dry spell burns this line out fast.

InnatePSEUDOPOD SEIZUREHauls weakened prey in, then burns while feeding.

NEURAL

Efficient · Patient

A seeking proto-impulse fires faster while metabolism is high. Markedly cheaper to sustain, but slower and more exposed.

InnatePLASMID THEFTCopies a healthy cell's biology and fires it alongside your own.
The Bastion germline preparation screen showing its Syncytium innate and stat trade-offs
Every trade-off is on the screen before you begin.

Between runs

The microcosmos does not wait for you.

A run ends, but its history carries on. Recover Anima left by earlier life, cultivate your germline, and return to a Biosphere shaped by the way you play.

The Biosphere screen showing population, lineages, dominant species and ecosystem pressures
BiospherePopulations, lineages and dominant species drift on their own, pushed by nutrients, stress, predation, mutation — and by how you have been playing.
The While You Were Away summary reporting population growth and a new lineage
While you were awayReturn to discover what changed while you were away: population shifts, ecosystem events and the emergence of new lineages.
The Bioarchive with observed species revealed and unobserved ones still hidden
BioarchiveFifty-seven lifeforms, each dark until you meet it. Thirty-two species, thirteen aberrations, twelve apex organisms.
  • MONERA, a species organism from Animanova
  • GREGARINA, a species organism from Animanova
  • CUSTODIA, a aberration organism from Animanova
  • PRISMATICA, a aberration organism from Animanova
  • VOLVOX PRIME, a apex organism from Animanova
  • VORTICELLA ABYSSI, a apex organism from Animanova

Meet the inhabitants: common species, dangerous aberrations and the apex organisms waiting at the end of each chapter.

Six ways to play

One living world. Six ways to enter it.

The Animanova mode selection screen with Symbiosis first
01 · Flagship

Symbiosis

Twelve chapters, sixty levels, eight forms, four germlines and ten objective families. The mode everything else orbits.

02

Campaign

Classic arcade flight. Sixty levels across twelve chapters, thirteen playable vessels, and a multi-phase apex organism at the end of every chapter.

03

Boss Rush

Back-to-back rematches with the twelve apex organisms. The quiet parts removed.

04

Expedition

Run-long adaptations and permadeath. Every decision is the last time you get to make it.

05

Gauntlet

Escalating pressure with nowhere to hide. A test of consistency and nerve.

06

Zen

A calmer mode for movement, rhythm and attention. Take a breath inside the microcosmos.