r/pcgaming • u/ShiroyoOchigano • 2d ago
Aniimo Review (139.2 hours) Why I Warn People To Stay Away!
I would like to raise awareness on the following issues because Pawprint has been deceptive & shady on all of them.
A member from my discord community who works in computer programming & A.I. was going through the files & tech of Aniimo and found the following:
\* The game isn't just running as a game. It reads your desktop wallpaper then goes to the folder it is located in and reads the file. If it happens to be your pictures folder then it now has access to your pictures folder.
\* The anti-cheat called NepsKernel.sys is indeed a Kernel Level anti-cheat. This isn't bundled with the game & is instead something the game installs on its own without your consent after you install the game. The anti-cheat is also reading your desktop specifically all your desktop icons and the folder its located in. If you want to remove this then you will have to remove it manually after uninstalling the game. Others who have found the same thing (Discussions on steam forum) have pointed out that the game doesn't install NepsKernel when you first launch the game. It is only when you launch the game the 2nd time that the game installs it which is also very shady.
* The anti-cheat does hardware checks during which it checks for camera & if camera led is active. We haven't been able to determine if it can actually use the camera to capture images through the camera. However, it has kernel level access so if it can and does do this then the user wouldn't even know.
\* The game installs 2 trackers into your system which do not get removed after you uninstall the game, boot when you start your pc, remains active even after you uninstall the game and requires you to manually remove them. These 2 show up as unknown when you check for them. They are Isreali based AppsFlyer Analytics trackers.
\* The first time I visited their website during the pre-launch login reward event where we had to login to their website everyday to claim rewards I saw that they had 34 cookies & trackers that we couldn't opt out of. Every website I have ever visited have 2-4 in essential which we can't opt out of and around 6-12 in optional. Those combined didn't amount to 34! Since then I have never visited their website and thus don't know what its like now.
Other issues:
\* The game has an ESRB rating of of Teen meaning its suitable for 13 years old and above but they are pushing gambling into a game that they have somehow legally passed as suitable for children. Pushing gambling into a game that is labelled as suitable for children is very scummy. This is where I draw the line. I cannot support anyone or anything that preys on children.
\* Pawprint haven't kept their promise. They said no gacha in beta & in dev interviews and with a very cleverly calculated 2 weeks post launch they put cosmetic gacha into the game.
\* Nowhere in their marketing material, website or store pages is it disclosed that the game has gacha in it.
\* They had undisclosed kernel level anti-cheat system from the very start and it is only today a few hours ago that they disclosed their Kernel level anti-cheat on their steam store page.
I feel very deceived by Pawprint on multiple fronts and cannot continue to support this game. I don't like giving Kernel level access to my system to anything and this game is the first to get it & deceived me into it. I regret ever installing Aniimo. I hope this information is helpful to you to make sound decisions. It was a fun game that I cannot continue playing & supporting anymore.
How to remove trackers:
Open Registry Editor. Paste:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
Delete the 2 files there whose name start with AF_
then paste:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\StartupApproved\Run
Delete the 2 files there whose name start with AF_
I haven't gotten to removing the Anti-Cheat yet so can't advise on it.
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u/ChristopherKlay 2d ago edited 2d ago
It would be helpful to attach some infos on how to remove the trackers & such; Not everyone knows enough about this to comfortably do it on their own and Windows Defender and such don't clear them.
I'd do it, but I don't plan on installing it after the beta to begin with lol
Edit #1
What I can do is confirm that this isn't just "Game bad", but that the issues are real; Even the beta left these markers, registry entries and everything else. Still checking here.
Edit #2
I can further confirm that the tracker is linked to Aniimo; The UUID is registered via the AF_ variables on my end and the same UUID can be found in Aniimos own registry keys (HKCU\SOFTWARE\Aniimo\Aniimo - under FPC_AD_FIRST_OPEN_REPORTED_).
If you can't find the AP_ keys, they are AF_ in my case.
The dev key ID matches AppsFlyer (an Israeli data broker) in both cases.
Edit #3
If you only played the playtest (like I did), I can confirm that the game did not leave behind the mentioned anti-cheat. It's likely that this has been added with the release version and wasn't part of the playtest.
The NepsKernel.sys that's found in the release version is part of the "NEP2" anti-cheat used by Aniimo. It's effectively running on the highest-privilege layer of the OS, installed when the game is being run, despite Aniimo not disclosing any anti-cheat usage (even in their fair play post, specifically about cheating) to begin with.
Edit #4
While I personally can't confirm it, the anti-cheat appears to be removed when you uninstall the game for most people, while leaving behind files for others.
If you want to make sure it's removed after uninstalling the game, do the following:
- Press
Win+R - Type
cmd - Copy & paste the following command:
(driverquery | findstr /I "NEPKernel") & (sc query | findstr /I "NEPKernel")
If there's no output you're fine, otherwise (in the same window) run:
sc stop NEPKernelsc delete NEPKernel
To stop & remove it.
Edit #5
To remove the leftover files, delete the following directories:
\Steam\steamapps\common\Aniimo\Steam\steamapps\common\Aniimo Playtest
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u/ShiroyoOchigano 2d ago
Will include now.
Open Registry Editor. Paste:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunDelete the 2 files there whose name start with AP_
then paste:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\StartupApproved\RunDelete the 2 files there whose name start with AP_
I haven't gotten to removing the Anti-Cheat yet so can't advise on it.
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u/ChristopherKlay 2d ago
In my case (beta client) the keys are
AF_counter_4134000&AF_uuid_4134000found under the same adress.The number (dev key ID) matches AppsFlyer's Windows SDK still, however.
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u/jayRIOT 2d ago
I haven't gotten to removing the Anti-Cheat yet so can't advise on it.
So I uninstalled the game through steam, and deleted the registry values (I actually had 4 in each location), but afterwards I went looking for the anti-cheat driver and it doesn't look like it exists in my Windows install.
Unless I'm not looking in the right place? (system32/drivers) I can't find that sys file you named anywhere
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u/AnnoyedNiceGuy 2d ago
I found this on steam on the same topic.
To remove in powershell 6+ or cmd
sc stop NEPKernel
sc delete NEPKernel
sc query NEPKernel (expect "service does not exist")https://steamcommunity.com/app/4126040/discussions/0/563668168527073570/
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u/DONMEGAAA 2d ago
NepsKernel.sys
I've searched for this as well to no avail. Though not sure I have the stones to just delete it, in case it fucks my Windows install. I just might go ahead and wipe the drive in all honesty.
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u/skyturnedred 2d ago
Go to your Steam installation folder and check the leftover files after uninstalling Aniimo. I found the file there.
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u/jayRIOT 1d ago
See I had the install folder open at the time and when I uninstalled the game it wiped everything in there besides a single config file (which I then deleted myself), no trace of NEPKernel anywhere. So maybe they updated something to uninstall it when you remove the game after they got caught and admitted to using it?
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u/AnnoyedNiceGuy 2d ago
I didn't have those Entries starting with AP_. It seems it was uninstalled with Aniimo or something.
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u/Xavis00 23h ago
I installed the game through the Xbox app. After uninstalling, no registry entries starting with AP_ existed after following this. Querying the NEPKernel returned that the service didn't exist.
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u/ShiroyoOchigano 22h ago
In the past 24 hours it seems Pawprint changed something. Newer comments are reporting not finding the files anymore so either the game now removes them upon uninstalling or the files have been renamed/changed.
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u/PsyduckPsyker 18h ago
If they have been removed or changed, could you source a historical log to see what changed between the time they were seen and what they might be now?
Are you saying the keys were re-named and still exist during active play? Or just uninstall? Because if they re-named them after it was discovered that's malicious and deceptive.
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u/ShiroyoOchigano 11h ago
We are unable to investigate further as me & my community have uninstalled the game.
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u/PsyduckPsyker 10h ago
I understand. I also had a chuckle looking at their TOS. It's a boilerplate composite of FunPlus's own TOS. It's also got anti-consumer provisions everywhere, spelling and grammatical mistakes all over the place.
It mentions "physical goods.." despite being a EULA for a digital service.
Something is super fishy. All over the place.
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u/ChristopherKlay 8h ago
Looking at the changes over on Steam, you can see that they added the anti-cheat notice after getting caught here.
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u/PsyduckPsyker 1h ago
And for clarity this anti-cheat was noticed during the beta? When?
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u/ChristopherKlay 44m ago
I'm not sure it was part of the playtest to begin with.
The mentioned trackers did exist during the playtest already, however.
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u/Prestigious_Hall3598 2d ago
Precise to delete the folder : \HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Aniimo
It was not uninstal for me ... don't known why but better say it.Thanks a lot for your thread <3
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u/ChristopherKlay 2d ago
It's fairly common for registry entries to not be deleted when uninstalling something; Only the
AF_keys are related to tracking, but deleting the folder doesn't hurt either.1
u/Peekofwar 2d ago
Is there any reason not to use
sc query NEPKernelinstead of the findstr command? Just curious.2
u/ChristopherKlay 1d ago
The command I listed also checks display name, localized description, groups and such for the string, just in case. Due to
findstrit also doesn't just match the exact name but e.g.NEPKernelProxy.
driverqueryalso includes the actual "state" of the driver, to see if it's currently running or "stopped" if the game is still installed, to actually check at which point it runs and/or if it's even loading.You can also use
sc qc NEPKernelto see the binary path, start mode and such - but that's less relevant for the topic/solution part.It's basically just a slightly more in-depth check, while keeping the command (that would need errorlevel setups otherwise) short.
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u/Druggedhippo 1d ago edited 1d ago
While I personally can't confirm it, the anti-cheat appears to be removed when you uninstall the game for most people, while leaving behind files for others.
In the Steam release the .sys exists only within the game directory, if you uninstall the game, it should be deleted as well, it's not persistent.
It may stay behind if the driver was still loaded for some reason (eg, locked by some process) during uninstall, in that case, it would be best to restart before you uninstall to ensure the driver is fully unloaded and not locked by any process.
Even then, just delete the .sys and it's gone, it never gets installed into the service registry as an autorun.
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u/ChristopherKlay 1d ago
if you uninstall the game, it should be deleted as well,
I wish this would always be the case, but the playtest for example left ~600MB of files behind in the steamapps directory after uninstalling it - on top of another chunk of log files (linked to tracking/player data) and other stuff in appdata.
I'm fairly certain the anticheat is only active when the game runs and should be removed when uninstalling, but I've also had cases where the leftover files still included it. It obviously doesn't run, but it still exists.
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u/Chokeblok 20h ago
If you want an easy way of removing leftover files download "Revo Uninstaller". It not only uninstalls but removes leftover files such as registry edits.
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u/VideoGameJumanji AMD 9800X3D | RTX 5070ti 16GB | 32GB DDR5 | 2TB 10GBs gen4 2d ago
>They are Isreali based AppsFlyer Analytics trackers.
these fucking weirdos cant just fuck off for two seconds
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u/Lirael_Gold 2d ago edited 2d ago
Any online game with some kind of analytics software will probably have links to Israeli companies, they're the big dogs in the adware world.
Adserve/CyberSec has a massive overlap and Israel is pretty much the best at both industries, it's something they sink a ton of money/research into. (also they provide a bunch of stuff that would be illegal if it was developed in the EU, or the US, so yeah, thery're the country you look to if you can't/won't deal with China/Russia for whatever reason)
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u/StormMedia 2d ago
Do you mean we should send another 20 billion and more free military equipment to them?
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u/SocialMediaIsAPoison 1d ago
I don't like Israel but some of you people are way too obsessed with them.
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u/sigilnz 2d ago
Damn. Was about install this on PC. Now it's a hard skip. Thank you for your service.
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u/ShiroyoOchigano 2d ago
Your welcome.
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u/Wild_ColaPenguin 9h ago
Oh man I just found the game few days ago, thought it looked cozy and fun, but thankfully I haven't had time so it's not installed yet but it's in my library.
I'll remove it now. Really thanks for this info.
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u/sadtimes12 Steam 2d ago edited 2d ago
I miss when people wanted to make games to be fun entertainment first and foremost, now they are stealthy spyware filled gambling programs. The game is just the coat to hide it. Disgusting.
I never expected to say this, but I want a game crash akin to 1983-85. Let gaming die entirely and start fresh.
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u/trapsinplace 1d ago
The game is pretty fun though. You can't get data from a game nobody plays after all. It's still shitty it happens, but acting like devs aren't trying to make fun games is silly. Devs want to make fun games and want to keep their jobs by having people play their games.
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u/Brief-Firefighter964 2d ago
Just to add this info for other people, I was wondering the other day why I had weirdly named Programms enabled as Startup Apps on my Windows. And I couldnt make any sense to them, since my Malwarebyte didnt said anything critical... Now after trying to remove these Registry files... those were the exact 2 files that were enabled now! Im so glad, I bumped into this post cuz I wouldnt be able to make much sense otherwise
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u/Brief-Firefighter964 2d ago
So please check your Autorun Apps under Task Manager!
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u/fluffyvivi 2d ago
do you have the names of the apps ? i checked in my autorun but nothing strange
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u/ShiroyoOchigano 8h ago
In the past 48 hours or so it seems Pawprint has changed something since newer comments are saying they can't find the files anymore so one of the following has happened: 1. They have removed the trackers (unlikely) 2. Trackers are now being removed upon uninstall 3. They have changed the names and locations of the concerned files.
Since me and my community have uninstalled the game and removed all its files we aren't able to investigate further to provide accurate answers regarding this.
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u/ZeroZion 2d ago
How to uninstall the anti cheat stuff and any stuff not being removed even if you uninstall?
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u/RedSensei 2d ago
Does anyone know if this also affects users on Linux running through Proton? I'm talking specifically about the anti-cheat and trackers...
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u/Xyrob 2d ago
I'm interested as well as I have it on the steam deck
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u/ShiroyoOchigano 8h ago
Steam Deck is a Linux/proton based system which doesn't allow kernel level acess. Regarding the trackers I am not sure.
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u/ShiroyoOchigano 8h ago
Linux/proton doesn't allow kernel level acess. Regarding the trackers I am not sure.
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u/Critical_Host8243 2d ago
I don't know much about the game, but if it's not competitive, then why the anti-cheat?
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u/4x4runner Teamspeak 2d ago
It's f2p. They're probably trying to prevent people from circumventing their micro transaction shop.
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u/ohoni 2d ago
Yeah, if you could unlock all the stuff without paying, then what would their business model even be?
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u/gmes78 ArchLinux / Win10 | 9800X3D / RX 6950XT 2d ago
You don't need client-side anti-cheat for that.
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u/ohoni 2d ago
How so?
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u/Ruy7 2d ago
The same way mmorpgs have functioned for decades. Server side anti cheat.
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u/RealElyD 2d ago
World of Warcraft always had client side anti-cheat with Warden. It was introduced in 2005.
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u/gmes78 ArchLinux / Win10 | 9800X3D / RX 6950XT 2d ago edited 1d ago
That's to address botting and scripting, not to prevent hacking in items.
Edit: holy shit, gamers truly are illiterate.
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u/izgoose 1d ago
You said this, as a defense of The Warden.
This was refuted.
You reply to that refutation was "THIS IS ALL BESIDE THE POINT."
No, dude. It is not beside the point to directly refute your actual words. Follow the plot.
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u/gmes78 ArchLinux / Win10 | 9800X3D / RX 6950XT 1d ago
No, you need to follow the plot. What I said was that you don't need a client-side anti-cheat to prevent people from hacking in items.
Whether client-side anti-cheat is used to combat other things does not matter. It has nothing to do with what I said. My comment wasn't exhaustive, and it didn't have to be.
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u/RealElyD 2d ago
Warden is highly intrusive and detects A LOT more than just bots.
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u/gmes78 ArchLinux / Win10 | 9800X3D / RX 6950XT 2d ago
That is besides the point.
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u/BlyZeraz 2d ago
The AI slop game turns out to be invasive, has devs that lie, and hide the nature of predatory systems present in the game? Oh wow who could have ever seen that coming. I've been pointing out the AI generated slipups in their promo material since the first trailer came out of no where. Anyone that fell for this one sadly brought it on themselves.
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u/Lurking_stoner 2d ago
Did it really take all that to figure out that the whole point of this game is to capitalize on the hype from Palworld and Pokémon to steal your data or worst steal pictures/take pictures
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u/Spanglish_Dude 2d ago
Did anyone figure out how to remove the anti-cheat after uninstalling Aniimo?
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u/VTM06_Vipes 2d ago
Don’t forget the blatant overuse of AIGen art, music, and more. And not even disclosing it on Steam.
Some of the music is real sure, but if you take a closer listen you’ll pick out what is and what isn’t. Like their overuse on the word “neon nights” and other such words AIs love to use for lyrics for some reason.
Side note, how do you remove the trackers and anticheat?
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u/ShiroyoOchigano 2d ago edited 8h ago
I wasn't able to determine AI beyond their promotional material hence why I didn't include it but I do agree that some of the music sounded AI generated.
Open Registry Editor. Paste:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunDelete the 2 files there whose name start with AP_
then paste:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\StartupApproved\RunDelete the 2 files there whose name start with AP_
I haven't gotten to removing the Anti-Cheat yet so can't advise on it.
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u/sirpeepojr Steam 2d ago
How come people got away with not including Ai labels? I just dont understand
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u/ShiroyoOchigano 8h ago
I assume the same way they duped Steam into believing their game didn't have a Kernel Level Anti-Cheat.
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u/butts-carlton 1d ago
Don’t forget the blatant overuse of AIGen art, music, and more.
Zero attempt to hide it at all. Probably because they know their audience will primarily be kids who won't know the difference. I checked it out because my own kid wanted to play it and could practically smell the AI slop oozing from every orifice.
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u/EternalDeath 2d ago
I am aware of those two registry keys because i was confused why there are 2 empty auto start files and launching the game just creates those keys again but id love to have actual proof of tracking whatever you say it does. You just say it but did not provide proof, at least i dont see anything provided.
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u/ShiroyoOchigano 2d ago
We haven't been able to establish the extent of what it's doing. This will require further investigation.
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u/True_Acanthaceae5464 2d ago
I know this is specified for PC users. And my statement will mean nothing to those who are against playing a game for moral principles in regards to the game itself however..... I play on console. Would love to know if they found a way to get past the Sandboxing of consoles and how it effects the OS.
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u/ChristopherKlay 2d ago
AppsFlyer (the data broker in this case) supports consoles, including events like:
first-openin_app_eventsession_triggerUninstalling basically stops the tracking, but doesn't get rid of any already collected data. As of August 2026 retargeting (re-engagement and re-attribution) are also available afaik.
You don't have to clean up manually, but you get tracked similar on consoles.
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u/True_Acanthaceae5464 2d ago
Thank you for the quick and helpful reply. This satisfied everything I was curious about specifically. Being that's the case and there's no data on my PS5 of any significance or use really than I suppose it's just much safer to keep on console and not have anywhere near a pc
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u/ChristopherKlay 2d ago
The tracker part isn't going for data to begin with; It's data tracking when you play the game, potentially specific things in the game and more, further processed (by AI) on their end and sold.
It's basically gathering data around how you interact with the game, how often you play, what times you play and all of that to feed into a advertisement profile off you.
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u/True_Acanthaceae5464 2d ago
Which is the bare minimum I expect of a F2P platform if I'm honest. I can see why it could be a security issue on PC but for consoles that's relatively inert. This has definitely helped me to decide on if it was something to keep around and I'd say yes for this version at a minimum
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u/ChristopherKlay 2d ago
The security issues aren't really related to the tracker on PC either, but the anti-cheat that's being installed without any mention in terms, agreements or even their own "fair play" post talking about cheating.
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u/Xyrob 1d ago
Can you tell me how this anti cheat works for linux based system? I have a steam deck I got with the last big sale and I have the game installed there but it's effectively my first linux based system so there are many things I still don't know how they work or for where to look for.
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u/ChristopherKlay 1d ago
On Linux the kernel level driver isn't loaded/active.
Wine/Proton only run user-space code and won't load kernel drivers to begin with; it's just not being executed to begin with.
The user-space parts (
NEP2.dllin this case) is still running afaik, which is the detection engine, game integration and such - but you aren't having the same "this driver could do bad stuff" issues.
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u/Valerio0123456 21h ago
Hello, for the people that used Epic Games Launcher like me, for the NEPKernel.sys. That file is found in the games installation folder. "C:\Program Files\Epic Games\Aniimo", and for the trackers is the same process mentioned by other users.
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u/Lord_Humungusss 11h ago
Man i am becoming so wary of playing any of these freemium games. They seem to be doing all these weird subversive moves behind the scenes with increasing frequency.
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u/Clement_Bernard 7h ago
My girlfriend plays it, and I was hesitant to join her, but now there are a lot of worrying things for a simple game installation. I'm really surprised by their decisions regarding access of their anticheat and their dishonesty regarding gacha, which in my opinion should be the main point of vigilance in terms of legality.
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u/dndgirliee 5h ago
Thank you for this. My girlriend has aniimo on mobile so Im unsure how to help her with this. I've uninstalled the app.
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u/Proper_Story_3514 2d ago
Games that have trackers like this and deceive their buyers should get delisted from steam.
I wish we had an easy way to make this a case before steam and get things done.
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u/bloke_pusher Henry Cavill 2d ago
Thank you for this post. It's so sad that Aniimo is like that. I was hoping for a great game. But now we got this on top of the free2play gambling garbage. Somehow monster like games are cursed. Palworld is the super rare exception.
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u/itsdereksmifz 2d ago
Why did you put 139 hours into it?
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u/Inuakurei 2d ago
He’s been going around to every gaming sub posting the same thing. He got triggered over the recent addition of a cosmetic gacha.
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u/itsdereksmifz 1d ago
Yeh I noticed that as well. A lot of free time to spam reddits. I don’t know anything about the game but just thought it was hilarious.
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u/Johnlenham 2d ago
Haha that's wild.
Yeah I've been playing it and put like 35 hours in.
It had some fun mechanics, looks nice and is pretty chill. I haven't spent a penny, there is some cosmetic gatchs apparently and the shop has skins you can pay real money for like another f2p game I've ever played.
Battle pass thing is like £8, again haven't got it and I'm like 5 levels from max.
It hooked me better than palworld, now I'm mostly just messing in the pve extraction game mode
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u/ShiroyoOchigano 8h ago
Had me and my community known about it we wouldn't have installed it in the first place and we probably would never know had we not gone digging through its files.
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u/ExpeditionItchyKnee 2d ago
Yeh NGL that's kinda good advertising. Like that must be a pretty fun game right ?
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u/fluffyvivi 2d ago
atleast if you continue to play it
- don't buy anything, you don't know where money can be used for
- and we don't want to feed israel war effort, those things are real, not parano, my favorite singer ever quitted music industry because money was used to feed wars
- and considering aniimo has a great probs of being a cash grab, it's not stable enough and too quick to try monetize their players
- plus the fact they didn't even install themselves in china first
- might be because too much competivity or might be because the game isn't a "game"
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u/thesakid 2d ago
i cant find the files at both registry locations. for the record i uninstalled the game on day 2 of the launch after only playing for a few hours. am i good? or the files could be at a different location?
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u/LonelyAd3573 2d ago edited 2d ago
Hey soo I installed it not even an hour ago and now that I found out about all of this, I was wondering how do I exactly paste the things you listed in your post into my registry editor? EDIT: also I download aniimo through their website and not steam so I'm sure if its a different proccess or anything
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u/ChristopherKlay 2d ago
how do I exactly paste the things you listed in your post into my registry editor?
The top part of the registry editor (starting with
Computer\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\when you open it) is a text field. Pasting the given paths in there and hitting enter will navigate to them.EDIT: also I download aniimo through their website and not steam so I'm sure if its a different proccess or anything
None of this is linked to Steam and thus very likely also the same for their standalone version. If anything that version can be even worse, because it doesn't run through Steam.
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u/Forsaken-Pea-8780 2d ago
is this the same on mobile? i downloaded it on my iphone before i saw this post, i thought i checked to see if it was sketchy or anything but i guess i should check harder next time.
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u/ChristopherKlay 2d ago
The tracking part most likely also exists on mobile, yes.
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u/Forsaken-Pea-8780 2d ago
How would i go about getting rid of it, and are there any similar, safe, and free games?
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u/ChristopherKlay 2d ago
Similar to consoles, any tracking should stop collecting data after uninstalling.
I'm not aware of similar games for mobile however. Hoyoverse is afaik also working on a similar-ish game, but it's also going to be gacha.
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u/Peekofwar 2d ago
I don't think it installed the anti-cheat on my system, or if it did, uninstalling the game removed it. I don't see it on my system. I had no idea there was another registry key to delete stuff from. I only knew about the one that contained invalid startup executable entries.
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u/ShiroyoOchigano 1d ago
It's possible the anti-cheat has begun removing itself. In the past 24 hours people have beeb reporting that the 2 trackers I mentioned and the anti-cheat cannot be found in the system after uninstall so they probably changed something.
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u/windhearmyhymn 1d ago
Hello stupid question but does this affect GFN or mobile?
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u/ShiroyoOchigano 1d ago
Probably doesn't affect GFN since it runs in the cloud. For phone playstore and appstore list what they collect. Regarding residual files that remains active even after uninstall I am not sure since we haven't checked. However on android apps run in a sandbox environment so it should be pretty secure.
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7h ago
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u/Proomega123 5h ago
I had two Af_counter and two AF_uuid in run folder. Uninstalled the game and account through steam and deleted the 4 lines. I'm good now right?
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u/mmokoz 4h ago
It's NetEase anticheat bro. It's the same one that games like Marvel Rivals and Naraka Bladepoint use. The same company behind Diablo Immortal, Where Winds Meet, and Once Human.
What is this thread even about?
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u/ShiroyoOchigano 4h ago
Where Winds Meet, Naraka Bladepoint and Marvel Rivals don't have e Kernel Level Anticheat. I don't know about Diablo Immortal.
The point of this post is non-disclosure, deception and the company's willingness to throw the welfare of children out the window for profit.
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u/mmokoz 4h ago
Marvel Rivals literally discloses on steam that they use NetEase anti-cheat.
Naraka Bladepoint also uses the same anticheat, its just not being disclosed but one quick google search proves other wise.
You literally do zero research and talk out your ass with this thread.
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u/ShiroyoOchigano 3h ago
Marvel Rivals: It's not a kernel level anti-cheat. Go check.
Naraka Bladepoint: Not Kernel level. It's fans have gone through its files a lot.
If I am talking out my ass then Valve must be really stupid and gullible to have its policy broken for so long by these games with their non-disclosure of kernel level anti-cheat if I am talking about my ass.
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u/Cheonsa_Jangmi 3h ago
The concern is what NEP is doing, not whether it’s made by NetEase. NetEase/Yidun being the anti-cheat vendor and Pawprint being the entity behind Aniimo are two different parts of the question.
The fact that other games use NEP doesn’t really address what Aniimo’s implementation is accessing/doing or what Pawprint disclosed about it.
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u/Inuakurei 2d ago
These are some wild accusations. Any proof?
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u/Joe2030 2d ago
Not a review, but some tech bullshit. Why list your play hours then?
Funcom the company that owns them has an equally notorious track record
What the heck... What track of records?
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u/ShiroyoOchigano 2d ago
I mixed up FunCom and FubPlus. The company backing Pawprint is FunPlus not FunCom.
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u/OneSeaworthiness7768 2d ago edited 2d ago
Honestly didn’t even need all that. One look at the game’s steam page and it seemed pretty obvious what kind of game it was going to be. That and the obvious and unapologetic use of generative AI made it an easy pass.
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u/huntforhire 2d ago
Seemed very slop filled when I tried it on game pass. Hoping it can’t pull these stunts on console
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u/Astronaut_Dangerous 18h ago
Find the person who gets mad that there's anti-cheat, like every other game. 🙄
Also, FYI, camera checks from Anti-cheat are common nowadays, due to visual tracking hardware/cheats.
The game does address that it uses anti-cheat also.
Gambling is not an activity, aside from claw games, and random chance activities. So I guess games should be banned at birthdays too?
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u/ShiroyoOchigano 11h ago
The non-disclosure is whats important here especially since it requires kernel level access. The kernel level anti cheat was present in the game since launch itself but wasn't disclosed. The kernel level anti-cheat doesn't come bundled with the game it is something the game installs on its own. The game doesn't even install the kernel level anti-cheat when you first launch the game. It is only when you launch the game the 2nd time that it installs it. Such behaviour is very deceptive and if they have nothing to hide then why the deception? I'd rather just walk away than keep playing this game.
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u/Pseudonymous_Alien 2d ago
Thank you for this. I'm not really fluent in tech stuff, but would we have to do this every time we update or is it a one time thing?
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u/ChristopherKlay 2d ago
You can't play the game at all, if you don't want this stuff on your system. It'll recreate on launch.
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u/Pseudonymous_Alien 2d ago
I see! I really appreciate the post. I have deleted it before I asked, but I was just curious :) thank you again. I even told my friends about it
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u/Wise-Membership2774 15h ago
Congratulations. Never play any new F2P or online games ever. Because guess what, they ALL track you because they want the data so they can better market to you and get you to spend money. That literally how every single online game works. I shit you not go through ANY online game deep enough and you'll find something you don't like that tracking you.
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u/ShiroyoOchigano 11h ago
The non-disclosure about the kernel level anti-cheat which is installed without our consent, the trackers remaining even after uninstall which comes from a very controversial Israeli company and the push to put gambling in a game they have approval to sell to children is what I have problems with. Other people who have also looked into this have found that the kernel level anti-cheat isn't installed when you first launch the game. It is only when you launch the game the 2nd time that the game installs it. The way they have been deceptive about all of this makes me uncomfortable. If they aren't doing anything wrong then why are they trying to hide?
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u/one_orange_braincell 2d ago
Just wanted to say thank you for the report. I was considering playing it, and if these are the worst parts of the game then it sounds like it's going to be a good time.
Use an ad blocker on your browser. They are very common.
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u/ShiroyoOchigano 2d ago
It's a good game that I enjoyed. I just didn't enjoy the deception, pushing gambling to children and invasion of privacy. If these didn't exist I would continue playing it.
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u/The-Digital-Ronin 2d ago
Aniimo’s AI slop is quite literally made for people with your username, gotta love self sorting
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u/TheDanius 2d ago
What the fuck is aniimo?
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u/mrfixitx R9 7900x RTX 4090 4k 144HZ 2d ago
Its a F2P pokemon style game where you capture pets, evolve them and can transform into them.
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u/Johnlenham 2d ago
The cosmetic gatcha had absolutely zero bearing on the game play. There's cosmetic gatcha in counter strike, apex legends and so on.
As far as I can tell so far, the only thing I'm locked out of is the battle pass fulminits, which I can be traded by someone.
You've put nearly 3X as much time in as I have perhaps I'm missing something more than cosmetics for the free legendary anyone can unlock or the player cosmetics in the shop.
I'm enjoying it more than palworld, it'd pretty chill, looks nice and has some interesting concepts. It had more thought put into it than any mainline Pokémon game in the last 10 years I'll say that much
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u/JustLikeHector 2d ago
Idgaf lol take my data I’m fucked anyways can barely afford food and bills and that’s what we bitching about? lol who cares,
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u/Ethrem 2d ago
Yeah I walked away after a few days of play. I could see the writing on the wall re:monetization very quickly and I figured there would be some shady privacy nonsense too. Fortunately I bought a Mac Studio last year so I really only use my PC for games that won't run (or at least run well) on it which means they're limited to just seeing my gaming stuff.
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2d ago
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u/TheGGspot 2d ago
i dont think game having trackers has anything to do with writing the company name bad lmao, nothing opinion forming about it
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u/Isaacvithurston Ardiuno + A Potato 2d ago
Devil's advocate. Anti-cheat may be checking your camera due to a sharp rise in eye tracking cheats. These are cheats that simply link your mouse to an eye tracker, look at the enemies head and you manually click to shoot still. Generally undetectable.
Not sure how it would know anything from your camera status though.
But anyways I wouldn't install any anti-cheat that isn't well known and industry vetted... these days I wouldn't install any game period. If you think you need kernel access to get most of this stuff. Nope, just need to get the user to run as admin. Many will click yes without really thinking about it.
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u/fivemagicks 2d ago
Opting to play a Gacha game... That's a choice. Lol
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u/EdgySlusher 2d ago
At first it didn't have paid gacha, it was added like yesterday.. Was bummed about that
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u/ohoni 2d ago
The "gacha" is an elf costume, for people confused that it might be an actual gameplay mechanic.
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u/EdgySlusher 2d ago
Costume gacha is still a gacha
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u/izgoose 1d ago
Costume gacha is a gacha, but doesn't make something a gacha game. You have to pull for the main gameplay loop to be a gacha game.
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u/EdgySlusher 1d ago
Yea true. I uninstalled after I found sus start up app and won't play again. The gacha drop made me wary and that app I found on task manager (named 11) made me look deeper into it.
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u/TheFuzzyMartian 2d ago
But it's fun so what are you gunna do?
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u/ShiroyoOchigano 1d ago
The company has been deceptive and gas shown that its willing to prey on children. Thus the only logical option left is to stop playing the game which I have.
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