Petit Planet is not the first to mimic Animal Crossing to some eyebrow-raising degrees, nor will it be the last. Developer HoYoverse doesn't shy away from acknowledging the similarities – a character even balks at the idea of its new planet-owning lead falling into debt for merely having a home – though they don't deny that upgrades will come at a price. In my short time of about five hours with a preview of the closed beta, Petit Planet offered a charming, "The Little Prince"-themed take on Animal Crossing: New Horizons with an emphasis on clear progression and multiplayer. While these are two things some seemed to crave and were left empty in ACNH, the Genshin Impact and Honkai: Star Rail studio may offer an answer – with potential caveats.
For all I enjoyed about Petit Planet, I started disappointed with its opening on a lackluster character creator. The skin tone range is limited and the hairstyle options are a bummer, though more hair and eye styles and colors for each are available for in-game currency later on. I acknowledge this isn't the final version of Petit Planet, so I'm hoping that'll be the case for a game touting customization that limits its global players to four skintones, with only one looking darker than a light brush with the sun.
The overall setup of Petit Planet is that you're joining three anthropomorphic animal members of a company called Loomi Co in developing a fledgling planet and exploring the surrounding galaxy. You get to choose between two with different environments and different starting planets to begin with. I chose the one described as "hot and dry" with golden prairies. As you complete tasks assigned by Mobai, the fill-in for Isabelle and Tom Nook, you're given special water for an equally special tree that serves as the heart and, in a way, control center of your planet. With new levels and upgrades, the playable area takes shape with a multi-level field, larger river, and a beach and ocean. I liked that, after a point, I could take a look at the sorts of upgrades ahead, like a mountain area and new kinds of trees.
The first hour held a death grip on my playtime with confined tutorials and limited space for any sort of exploration or creativity, but it loosened up considerably after that, while still introducing new mechanics. The next three or four hours is where upgrades start getting locked behind daily progression. Not the mobile-game clock countdown kind, but real days similar to ACNH. Since Petit Planet access is tied to logging into a HoYoverse server, you can't force your way forward by changing your device’s clock. That being said, I didn't run out of interesting things to do while needing to wait.
I spent my time with familiar activities; smacking trees for fruit, catching bugs, picking flowers, smashing rocks for ore, fishing, and, a nice and quite different touch – using shellfish tongs to collect tidepool creatures. Then of course there's crafting and cooking, all the things you'd expect, but with a dash of charm in the starry, round designs and constant, clear direction. Activities that involve tools require strength, or basically energy replenished by consuming fruit or food. Fruit and sources to make food were ample in my playtime, so this wasn't much of a hassle.
I also enjoyed meeting the three Neighbors I encountered, or Petit Planet's NPC residents who you invite to live on your planet and build relationships with. I especially love that, familiar to HoYoverse's other games, each character has a distinct identity that goes deeper than their aesthetics and catchphrase. Each has background stories, and more information about them and their individual tastes that can be discovered over time. The first two are used as introductions to core mechanics, but I'm excited to see who else I'll run into in space travels.
During my playtime, I unlocked access to a car of my own that let me explore the stars – with limitations. The car runs on earnable and purchasable (with in-game currency) batteries. One lasted me about two or three trips to random Planettes, or tiny planets in a sea of stars that have limited and sometimes unique resources or potential new Neighbors. I found one on these Planettes, and convinced her to move to my larger Planet.
The other place I was able to travel to was called the Galactic Bazaar, or an online multiplayer hub with two simple mini-games and plenty of spots to sit and chat with other players. More than any other game HoYoverse has made, Petit Planet looks intended to grab the attention of young audiences. The player characters even look like children. Yet when you get to the Galactic Bazaar, you're immediately encouraged to sit and talk with strangers. The in-game text chat didn't seem to have limits on mild expletives I tested. You do have to sit in certain spots in the Galactic Bazaar to chat with others, but as it is, I didn't see any other ways to limit other player interactions in this space I had to visit as part of the main quests.
Safe online spaces for children are another conversation entirely, but I do hope HoYoverse has plans to make sure I'm not invading spaces of younger folks when I just want to play a game like Animal Crossing with my friends. That all being said, the official closed beta test FAQ calmed my worries a tad seeing that this beta test is limited to "users aged 18 and above," so I'd like to imagine that more serious safety features beyond blocking others are on the way.
The other thing I'm worried about is pricing: what's going to be the cost to play this free-to-play game? As with any of HoYoverse's games, it seemed there were ample ways to earn the few currencies I saw in-game, but it's hard to see exactly how that'll work in the future. I doubt we'll see HoYoverse relinquish its gacha method of random rewards mixed with a slight chance to get what you want, but it's hard to say if characters, cosmetics, or both will be what they target for this. It's also worth noting I found two different AI chatbots in Petit Planet. One as an on-demand source of in-game help, and another was a barista you can chat with in the Galactic Bazaar. These are easy to dodge if you don't care to use them.
All that being said, Petit Planet being an online HoYoverse game is a potential massive strength. Progression has been clear and fun so far, and knowing how HoYoverse has supported its other big games, it's highly probable that we'll see this get plenty of updates, events, and regular quality-of-life support. Mobai mentioned that we don't have a "restaurant yet," and I'm already eyeing cute cosmetics I want to save for and whole furniture sets I want to craft. The data from my playtime will all be wiped, but I still couldn't help but be excited about what the upgrades I've earned will bring to my planet tomorrow.
