Feed weird creatures to other creatures to make more powerful creatures in this new open-world survival game

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Chimeraland is a new open-world survival game from Chinese developer Pixel Soft and Tencent's publishing brand Level Infinite that sets players off in a sprawling, prehistoric world based on Eastern mythology filled with magical, impossible beasts that roam the land, air, and sea.

The world of Chimeraland features four distinct continents spread across more than 4,000 square kilometers, all of it accessible seamlessly on a spherical map design that eliminates borders and loading screens. Like most survival games, players will gather resources and build outposts and settlements, but it's the wildlife that promises to make it interesting: Like a latter-day Pokemon game, all of Chimeraland's many creatures can be captured and tamed as pets.

Unlike Pokemon, however (as far as I know, anyway), these creatures can also be fed to one another. And why would you do such a thing? Because there's a chance you'll end up with one of the devoured creature's body parts, which you can then put on your pets to grant them different abilities—in other words, to turn them into a Chimera: A turtle with wings, a horse with a stinger tail, or something even more (or less) pretty and/or practical.

Players can dive into deep customization for their own avatars as well. Characters can be chosen from one of 16 distinct races—human, feline, mer, bear, the list goes on—and then further customized with different genders and other distinctive characteristics. Player housing is also available, and can be built anywhere, including on the surface of Chimeraland's moon, although I suspect getting there might take some work.

Beyond the whole "Monster Construction Kit" business, Chimeraland actually promises to keep things light for casual players with activities including fishing, panning for gold, paragliding, skateboarding, and "slingshots," although it's not clear whether you're being fired from a slingshot or using slingshots to clobber other players. Either way, it sounds like a good time.

Have a look at some screens:

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Chimeraland screen — (Image credit: Pixel Soft)

Chimeraland is free to play on Steam, and is also available on iOS and Android devices, with cross-saving supported across all devices. For a closer look at what it's all about, and some of the creatures you can create—like a Nian, a Drune, a Sparrodact, or a Ninetail Fox—hit up chimeraland.com.

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.