Ananta Preview
Ananta seemed to embrace freedom, chaos, and a truly dizzying level of player choice, with a variety of oddball characters, crazy events, and urban activities across its two metropolises.
Ahead of its tentative release in 2027, publisher NetEase and developer Naked Rain unveiled more information about free-to-play, open-world RPG Ananta. Ahead of its trailer premiering at Gamescom, RPGamer was invited to a virtual preview event to learn more about the game, its world, and gameplay loops. Ananta is set to be released in 2027 for PlayStation 5, PC via Steam and Ananta‘s official PC client, and mobile platforms.
Ananta is set across a variety of urban cities, with the player taking on the role of a Captain, either male or female, who serves as an elite Agent within the A.C.D. (Anti-Chaos Directorate), which is headquartered in the lively and sunny metropolis of Nova City. In this role, players must deal with strange, paranormal events throughout the city caused by Chaos, an underlying force intrinsic to humanity. This can manifest in a variety of ways, including toilets racing through traffic or creatures manifesting throughout the city. With the A.C.D. having gone belly-up, players must recruit agents to rebuild it, combat Chaos-related events, and experience multiple identities.
Primarily set in the sun-baked seaside city of Nova City, the preview event revealed the game’s second city, Chongxiao, which was said to be modeled after the real-world cities of Shanghai and Guangzhou. Along with the Asian-inspired Nova City, players will need to traverse Chongxiao and build up their status by engaging with the game’s basic premise of being a social media influencer. The gameplay loop was billed as “go viral, save the world,” with players needing to grow their social media fanbase to unlock new story content. By engaging with story events, character and NPC interactions, and completing gameplay experiences, players will see increased fan growth, leading to more fame and, in turn, more story and gameplay experiences.
New gameplay additions included flying cars, more vertical spaces, bicycles, and a wide variety of mini-games. The game appeared to offer a truly wide variety of activities for players, which aligns with the developer’s intent to create a vibrant and moving city. Beyond the new additions, Ananta showed off an extraordinary variety of methods to navigate the cities, including wingsuits, motorcycles, speedboats, and various flying vehicles. Aside from the variety of methods to traverse, the preview event stressed that players can take on a variety of professions, including a police officer, hacker, or even a gang leader.
Combat in Ananta is modeled after different martial arts styles, and players will need to seek out martial arts masters to learn new styles that will aid in combating Chaos-related events, growing the A.C.D., and increasing their social media following. The preview event cited Shaolin kung fu as one particular influence. In Chongxiao, martial arts masters were often portrayed as unassuming and hiding in plain sight, with a skilled yo-yo player among them. Combat appeared both fast and stylish, with interactive terrain and items playing a major role in turning the tide of battle. For example, aside from adjusting their own gear, players can use objects like guitars strewn about the environment or take enemy weapons in order to gain an advantage. Dodging and blocking were also incorporated into combat, with precise timing being paramount to executing counterattacks.
On the whole, Ananta seemed to embrace freedom, chaos, and a truly dizzying level of player choice, with a variety of oddball characters, crazy events, and urban activities across its two metropolises. Chongxiao, in particular, took after its inspirations quite well. The combat looks fast-paced and exciting, while the exploration seems wide-ranging and limitless. Its story events showed an endearing level of humor, chaos, and charm, with a diverse cast of characters from many professions and walks of life. Players looking to explore Ananta‘s world will not have to wait much longer, as the game is set to release in 2027.
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