Back in December I did a video on Ananta, and the release of some rather unexpected news from testers. It was received overwhelmingly positively, but it was a pretty rough interpretation of the information. Since then, additional information has been received, the details released have been condensed and refined. And that’s what I want to discuss with you all today.
Everything we know about Ananta right now. Quick shoutout to the Ananta News Twitter – I urge you guys to go follow them and join their Discord if you want to stay up to date with everything going on! They’re fast, and accurate with their info!
Ananta is an enormous open-world Urban fantasy RPG. You can freely swing around the world like Spiderman, drive vehicles, go to the gym, change outfits, with fully functional large-scale multiplayer implemented – or at least in the process of being implemented.
Many players were a little cautious when it came to believing what they saw in the trailer, labeling it as “fake,” because no other Gacha has done what Ananta has promised it will do. But numerous testers have confirmed – no, on the contrary, these people are merely hating. They have no idea what they’re talking about, since Ananta has very much so delivered on what they displayed in their trailer.
Chinese players were VERY happy with the game, so much so that it is said the feedback overall was overwhelmingly positive.
Unlike Gacha games like Wuthering Waves or Genshin Impact – which are singleplayer games with pretty basic multiplayer functionality, Ananta is a game being built around both singleplayer and multiplayer.
It is supposedly going to function similarly to GTA5’s offline and online game mode.
MMO elements were also hinted at, to what extent we’re unaware – but incorporating MMO elements into the game on the scale of GTA5’s online mode might be really cool, if you can connect or disconnect from it at will.
The focus will remain on dynamic urban interactions and open-world exploration, being very content-driven.
Now let’s talk controls. The spiderman swinging feature is very much so a reality, with testers claiming it was very fun to use. You attach yourself to buildings and walls, with absolutely no stamina required for neither swinging, or running. Thank god. I loathe stamina in games, especially merely for running. Genshin, are you listening?
As shown in the trailers, players will be able to drive cars, however, that is the extent currently of what is available in terms of vehicles. They may be working on aerial or water mounts in the future, but at present nothing was confirmed. Swimming is going to be present, so maybe boats will be implemented one day.
Concerning vehicles like cars and motorbikes, we saw players commondeering them in the trailer, with additional confirmation that this is possible in the test as well – however, there isn’t a way with which to purchase a car in this version. I’m sure that’s being worked on.
You’re going to be able to race against NPCs – maybe players in multiplayer as well eventually? You’ll engage in a variety of different activities around the city, you’ll work out at the gym – and have a set of gym clothes that you can equip to engage in such.
There is going to be a railroad – meaning a functional train system will be present. We also saw this in NTE, which has me curious – are Chinese players obsessed with trains? I think it’s an awesome way of adding additional layers of exploration and immersion to a game but I wonder what they find so engaging about it.
You can pet cats – with a functional pet system, in the form of cat customization being alluded to in the future.
You can pull out chairs from under NPCs – I got a laugh when I read this on stream. This is gonna enable some incredible trolling – especially if we can do it in multiplayer. Running up to players RPing, and pulling the chair out from undernearth them.
You can steal phones from NPCs that are walking around the city, with every NPC having unique chat logs and conversations going on – we touched on this on stream as well, I personally think the only way of achieving this is through AI generation, which in this instance isn’t a bad thing, and could make for some hilarious encounters.
Characters also possess telekinetic abilities, allowing them to levitate and throw objects at NPCs. You’ll also encounter randomly generated events happening around the city – in one example, a car chase began while exploring the city, and you were tasked with locating and defeating the enemies before they escaped. Which is sick.
Much like GTA and Saints Row, there will be a functional Crime system in-game. You can attack NPCs – which other urban games are opting to disallow. Dunno why – this is such a cool feature. Although you can’t turn them into roadkill.
There is a crime level, where if you hit a certain level, you’re targeted by the law, and sent to jail.
One thing some people will be upset with is the gender ratio. Most of us love Waifu’s, so this won’t be an issue for us, but of the 14 available characters, 11 were female and 3 were male.
The protagonist can be either male or female.
In addition to character genders, you can date your party members – which is where the devs are going to make their money. Normally you pull characters because they’re hot, or powerful. Now you’re going to pull them because you can take them out on dates.
Events like riding a ferris wheel, going to the arcade, going to a nice restaurant – and having a player pull our your chair from underneath you, going to see a movie, hitting up a bar and playing darts. The level of RP is going to be WILD.
Upon reaching an area – let’s say the arcade or gym, you’ll decide whether you want to engage in singleplayer or multiplayer, and then you can invite characters to join you.
While on a date, you’re given numerous options to further the event, with players praising the devs for delivering emotional value through the interactions. While not present in its current form, video calls were hinted at being a possible future feature.
The world features large cities. During the test phase, players were able to freely explore the city and its connected suburbs. Players noted some of the areas felt empty and void of content, with downtown areas feeling densely populated.
I’m sure this is something they’re working on – with a focus evidently on the more important, more actively frequented areas.
Much of the game features a seamlessly accessible world, but some areas required loading screens.
Players noted the game looked visually impressive, but character models needed more polish. This was also one of my issues with NTE – the character models were just not good, especially when compared to WuWa and ZZZ. If you’re gonna sell Waifu’s to take on dates, they better look fucking incredible.
Interestingly – and this is likely a result of the state the game is in at present, there was no sign of Gacha elements of any kind – or any stamina system. While these would likely be introduced the closer the game is to completion, it could be that they opt to pioneer a new way of character acquisition, which could be really cool. Maybe not, but who knows. It’s possible.
Characters still have varied tiers – gold and purple.
There’s an interesting outfit system present that we touched on on stream as well – you can freely customize outfits, just like in Infinity Nikky. I think the standout feature when it comes to outfits is the fact that they warp to fit the individual character, since outfits are shared between characters.
Every Waifu can wear the same maid outfit, the same bikini, the same gym gear. But it’ll fit differently depending on their height, weight, and.. size. Which is absolutely sick. You’ll be able to change outfits wherever you are by calling a “clothing van.”
The story in the current test phase is very limited – it was confirmed to be around 30 minutes at the start, while being engaging. There are lots of side quests that focus on character interactions, delving deeper into character personalities and stories.
Players seem to be a part of the Chaos Countermeasures Bureau, who serve as agents expelling chaos and calamity throughout Nova City.
Ananta is shaping up to be an incredible game. I’m genuinely curious IF and HOW Gacha is going to function, and how current issues are going to be remedied and improved.
Functional vehicles, a dating system, crime system, daily life activities – this game has the makings of something special and I cannot wait to get my hands on it.
I still hold out hope that’ll be in 2025, due to the acquisition of their publishing license, but the devs did state publicly what is most important to them isn’t about releasing as soon as possible, rather, it’s about releasing in as high quality a state as possible, since first impressions are everything. If people don’t like your game, they won’t come back to it.
