Petit Planet: Everything We Know So Far

Petit Planet is HoYoverse’s upcoming “cosmic life sim” that mixes Animal Crossing–style village life with galaxy‑hopping exploration and co‑op social features, currently in closed beta for PC and iOS with a wider 2026 release expected.

Release, Platforms, and Betas

Petit Planet is announced for PC and mobile first, with “additional platforms currently in development.” The first large “Coziness Test” closed beta started on November 7, 2025 for PC and iOS, with sign‑ups via the official site at planet.hoyoverse.com. Beta registration uses a questionnaire and selects a limited number of testers, similar to other HoYoverse titles. Community and creator speculation, based on the scope of the beta and version number (around 0.8), suggests full release could land sometime in early‑to‑mid 2026, but no official launch date or year has been confirmed yet.​

Core Gameplay and Systems

Petit Planet is a life-simulation game where you nurture your own tiny world, grow its ecosystems, and build relationships with fuzzy NPCs called Neighbors. You farm, fish, mine, craft, decorate, and terraform your planet, with a vitality resource called Luca that transforms the landscape and unlocks new biomes as your world thrives. A central “special tree” on your planet levels up as you complete story tasks, expanding the playable area with features like multi‑level terrain, rivers, beaches, and future mountain zones. There’s also an Omni‑Gallery/museum‑style feature for displaying collected fish, insects, and other research items, heavily echoing cozy sim staples.

Social Features, Starsea Voyages, and Galactic Bazaar

Beyond your home planet, Petit Planet adds interplanetary travel via Starsea Voyages, letting you visit other islets, discover rare creatures and recipes, and explore other players’ worlds. A shared social hub called the Galactic Bazaar functions as a multiplayer plaza with minigames, events, and trading; some activities reward exclusive cosmetics, emotes, and visual customization options. Passive multiplayer elements—like seeing other players’ planets hanging in the sky—aim to keep the game cozy and low‑pressure rather than competitive.​

Monetization and “Is It a Gacha Game?”

Right now, the closed beta does not include a visible gacha system, and testers describe it as a cozy life sim “with progression systems you’d expect in a gacha,” but no actual banners yet. Beta players earn currencies from daily tasks and achievements to purchase clothing, hairstyles, cosmetics, and “higher‑tier” décor items from shops like Lumi Mart, which refreshes daily. Content creators who played 8+ hours of the beta point to systems like neighbor progression, housing customization, and Galactic Bazaar rewards as obvious potential hooks for future paid or pseudo‑gacha mechanics, but confirm that no gacha pulls are live in the current build.​

Early Impressions and What Sets It Apart

Hands‑on previews describe Petit Planet as “Animal Crossing meets The Little Prince,” with a strong focus on storybook visuals, gentle pacing, and emotional bonds with Neighbors. Critics highlight charming museum areas, adorable creature designs, and the satisfaction of watching your planet physically reshape as Luca grows and the central tree levels up. At the same time, some early impressions note that its heavy borrowing from cozy staples means its long‑term appeal will likely depend on how deep its progression, events, and (eventual) monetization systems become as it moves beyond the current “coziness test” closed beta phase.