Preview: We Played Anime Open World Ananta, and It Could Change Everything

Two years ago, when we interviewed Ashley Qi from NetEase subsidiary Naked Rain, we asked the Lead Producer outright: is Ananta – then known as Project Mugen – real?

He insisted it was, and now having played a PC build of the outrageously impressive anime open world for around 30 minutes, we can finally corroborate his comments.

The game has changed more than its name in that time, and when we catch up with Qi afterwards, we’re surprised to find him fresh faced despite the countless late nights him and his team have clearly invested into the game.

Still, positive feedback works like an elixir, and we’re catching up with the developer a couple of days after the game’s re-reveal trailer has topped 2 million views on PlayStation’s official YouTube channel.

Image: Push Square
We ask him how that feels.

“We’re really thrilled, definitely,” he beams. “But more importantly, we have made a lot of progress during the last two years. This is the most vital part. And we’re just happy to let everyone see what we’ve done for the past few years.”

Naked Rain has not just made progress: it’s built arguably one of the most impressive games we’ve ever seen.

The release’s inspirations run deep: Marvel’s Spider-Man, GTA 5, Batman: Arkham Asylum, and Uncharted 2: Among Thieves to name just a few.

Qi doesn’t disagree, but he still believes his team has made something unique. He tells us that the developer is trying to create a hip and trendy experience that will appeal to young players.

“This game is all about young people,” he explains. “It’s got a cool and trendy vibe. And we’re combining all that together into an urban environment which makes it unique.”

Our demo consisted of two parts: a set-piece laden story mission which we wrote about earlier. And the opportunity to explore the open world freely as several different characters.

The story mission is a jaw-dropping spectacle, there’s no other way to describe it; while it’s heavily scripted and doesn’t give you any freedom to stray from its rules, in many ways it’s the perfect taster because it introduces several of the release’s eclectic array of systems.

You start out fighting a gaggle of goons outside a restaurant, tapping R1 to punch and L1 to counter. The flow of the combat is almost identical to Batman: Arkham Asylum, but there are several contextual moves that the hero Captain will perform, like smashing foes off car bumpers and tying them up with his Spider-Man-style webs. (More on that later).

He also has telekinetic powers for some reason, so he can pull up manhole covers and use them to deal additional damage.

As the demo progresses, he finds himself riding shotgun with an agent named Richie. This is your standard on-rails shooter, where you’re picking off enemies from the passenger seat using an assault rifle, while everything explodes around you.

The two switch positions throughout, so you also need to drive the car for a bit. The handling is a little bit loose and the drift could use work, but it’s a reminder that Ananta still hasn’t perfected every single system in its arsenal – even if it’s scarily close.

As the demo matures, Captain finds himself dragged along the ground by a truck in a very clear nod to the Naughty Dog set-piece from Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End. It’s all extraordinary stuff, realised with a frightening number of bespoke animations.

We ask Qi how his team have been able to execute on so many different mechanics so impressively.

“We’re not designing those functions and features spontaneously, but on purpose,” he explains. “We focus more on the gameplay, but also different characters’ identities, abilities, and professions. And the key point is we have developed different characters with different gameplay styles to create more storylines.”

Which brings us perfectly to the open world portion of our hands-on.

Loading into the sandbox prompts a GTA 5-style drop into the city, and we find Captain – clearly a bit of a local celebrity at this point in the game – posing for selfies with some impressionable teen girls.

After the short cutscene, the camera pans back and we have control.

Captain controls differently to the other characters in the game because, as alluded to earlier, he has Spider-Man swinging capabilities. The traversal works identically to Insomniac’s effort, but it feels… Well, honestly, just as good.

The animations are great and the speed feels right, the only thing we’d perhaps mention is that the physics are a touch floaty, but it’s still a game in development and that will likely be tuned.

Switching to another character, like delivery driver Taffy, the GTA 5 effect occurs again – only this time you can’t swing.

“Taffy is a courier,” Qi tells us. “So, she is good at carrying goods. But she is not good at fighting and other things.”

While it seems like Taffy does have the same core combat abilities as Captain, we’re guessing she’s tuned differently and does less damage. She can call upon a bunny-style segway, however, which allows her to boost around the city in a different way to Captain.

As you explore the open world, mini events occur.

For example, we stumbled upon a man stuck inside an ATM (the cash dispensers in this city apparently have teeth). But a swift kick to it freed the innocent suspect, and allowed us to get on our way.

We stopped at the nearby arcade just to see if we could go inside and, lo and behold, among the UFO Catchers and video game parodies we found a rudimentary clone of Space Invaders that we could play in exchange for a small quota of in-game cash.

It’s worth noting that we only had 30 minutes in total to play and couldn’t possibly see everything in that time, but we simply had to ask Qi what’s the catch?

By this point, we’ve established that, confoundingly, Ananta is a real game that plays surprisingly solidly. But it’s also a free game with no character gachas.

We point out to Xi just how disruptive this business model is likely to be.

“We still need to commercialise the game,” he laughs. “But we want to create a new model that’s not pay-to-win or anything like that.”

Ananta will fund itself through the sale of cosmetics, although it’s unclear if these will be part of a gacha like in Infinity Nikki or not. He explains that you will be able to buy some clothing items using in-game currency, but rarer ones may require you to top-up your wallet similarly to, say, GTA Online.

For Xi and his team, though, the route to making money is creating a game people want to play.

“We prefer making a good quality game to ensure we have all the players and all the fans playing our game,” he notes. “And that’s the baseline of before you start making money.”

We push for more: will the game have an update cycle like Genshin Impact, for example, where new content and storylines are introduced every six or so weeks?

“We will definitely have regular updates,” he explains. “However, we are doing differently in a few ways. For example, we have a movie theatre in our city. You can actually watch a movie inside the game. So, we might add new movies the next time you play.”

He continues: “We will also add some new professions to enrich the experience and impact the overall plot.”

But with so many ideas already crammed into the game, isn’t there a danger the project may grow to a scope the developer simply can’t cope with?

“It’s not unlimited,” Xi points out. “We evaluate each milestone and won’t just keep adding crazily, but reasonably. Every milestone will help us get closer to our final destination.”

No one at NetEase will say when the game plans to release, but it’s clear the studio is on the cusp of something special here.

Having gone hands-on with the game, this is not smoke and mirrors – there are minor controller quirks, tiny little physics bugs, and the odd frame rate hiccup which in an unusual way help illustrate this is the real deal.

If the monetisation is fair and the quality remains at a consistent level across the board, it’s not just the gacha market that should be concerned – this could have an impact on the traditional AAA space, too.

Thanks to Ashley Qi and the whole NetEase team for taking time out to catch up with us. Please note, this interview has been lightly edited for readability. What are your thoughts on Ananta so far? Let us know in the comments section below.