HoYoverse’s “Petit Planet”: How the Slow-Life Game Evolved in a Year, Now Livelier with Japanese Voices & AI NPCs [Final Beta]

HoYoverse’s new slow-life game, *Petit Planet*, is currently holding its “Final Beta Test.” This marks the conclusion of a series of three beta tests, and the game is now being refined in preparation for its full release.

I participated in the first beta test, the “Comfort Test,” held on November 7, 2025, and this time, at the request of the Game*Spark editorial team, I’m taking part in the Final Beta Test as well. I’ll be reporting on how the game has evolved over the past year since the first beta test.

Japanese voice acting has been added, making the game more approachable

After spending a few days playing the Final Beta Test, I found that the basic framework of the game remains unchanged. While the “slow life” concept of nurturing a small planet remains intact, I got the impression that subtle refinements have been made.

The most noticeable change while playing is, without a doubt, the addition of Japanese voice acting. While it’s not a full voice-over covering all text, characters now speak in almost every scene of the main story, including tutorials and event sequences.

Even back during the “Comfort Test,” this game gave the impression that it was focused on portraying its characters in a charming way. In particular, the resident character profile pages—where their backstories are written in a novel-like style—show the kind of detailed lore development typical of HoYoverse.

Now that the characters speak in Japanese, these already charming characters have become even more relatable. Many new characters have also been introduced that weren’t present during the “Comfort Test.”

Furthermore, the UI for the residents’ profile pages now features numerous new illustrations for each resident, demonstrating the developers’ commitment to sparing no resources when it comes to individual characters.This is a concept that clearly differs from the *Animal Crossing* series, where the number of residents exceeds 400 and, although the resources allocated to each individual are limited, the experience is designed to foster serendipitous encounters.

That said, it seems voice acting is not included during interactions with residents in everyday life—outside of the tutorial and similar scenes.Since this is a “slow life” game, the proportion of time spent on such everyday interactions increases significantly after the tutorial. While the lack of voice acting in these moments might feel a bit disappointing, I wonder if the final release will include some voice acting for these interactions as well.

Star Market Gets a Major Overhaul

Perhaps the most distinctive feature of this game is the variety of ways to interact with other players. In particular, the feature where other players’ planets occasionally appear in your own sky—and you can visit them—truly embodies the unique “Planet” concept.

The area that has undergone the most significant changes this time is the “Star Market,” which serves as a hub where other players gather. Here, various facilities are scattered throughout, including a roulette where you can win prizes, mini-games like rhythm games you can play with other players, and a café where you can chat with NPCs equipped with AI chatbots.

While the content of these facilities hasn’t changed significantly, compared to the “Comfort Test,” the appearance of the Star Market area itself seems to have been completely redesigned.

Additionally, as I walked around the area, NPCs would suddenly approach me under the guise of an “interview,” and NPCs capable of playing games like “Word Chain” and “Story Soup” had been added to the bonfire area—where players could previously chat with one another—suggesting that AI chatbot NPCs are being utilized more extensively.

I tried playing the game “Story Soup” for fun, and it seems to be similar to the so-called “Sea Turtle Soup” game.You interact with the AI by answering “yes” or “no” to questions—such as “A gluttonous neighbor was staring at a cake, and the cake grew larger. Why is that?”—to gradually uncover the full story.

Star Market already had a feature that allowed players sitting in adjacent chairs to converse with one another, but using these chatbots should make it even easier to find topics of conversation.

In addition, various improvements have been made throughout the game. We confirmed that gameplay has become more user-friendly—for example, you can now jump up and down steps in the field without using a tool, view chat logs, and access a tutorial called the “Life Guide.”

With the addition of a new “Neighborhood Center”—a town hall-like facility—and major changes to the layouts of shops and other buildings, it’s clear that, along with Star Market, the building models have undergone significant revisions.

It has been about a year since the “Comfort Test,” the first open beta test. From the very beginning, the game has frequently gathered user feedback through features like surveys, and it gives the impression that it has been refined through mutual communication.

As the name “Final Beta Test” suggests, this is the last beta test. Anticipation is building for the official release in the winter of 2026.

*Petit Planet* is scheduled for release in winter 2026 on PC (Epic Games Store),iOS, andAndroid.