With more than fifteen million pre-registrations and counting, Ananta is easily one of the most anticipated upcoming releases. This free-to-play adventure wowed with its most recent gameplay trailer, which showed off more than seven minutes of in-game footage set against the backdrop of its huge, colorful open world.
Featuring glimpses of everything from Watch Dogs-style drone piloting and Yakuza beat-em-up combat to Marvel’s Spider-Man-esque aerial traversal and stealth, it looks like a complete smorgasbord of fun mechanics that I simply can’t wait to master.
Urban fantasy
Ananta has also drawn plenty of comparisons with Grand Theft Auto 6, with fans pointing out the apparent similarities in its driving mechanics, the way in which you switch between its range of playable characters, and the overall concept of a life-like virtual world. “Legend has it that GTA 6 was postponed out of fear of competing with Ananta,” reads one of the highest-rated comments on its memorable State of Play appearance.
It’s an amusing, tongue-in-cheek remark, but it got me thinking: does developer Naked Rain truly envision these two titanic experiences living side by side when other studios have reportedly been shifting schedules around to avoid competing with Rockstar’s next release?
“We really appreciate the comparison to GTA 6,” the team told me in a recent written interview. “We believe they can certainly coexist. Although both [Ananta and GTA 6] fall into the urban open-world genre, there are still very many key differences between us, from the art style and character stories to many other aspects.”
Perhaps one of the most obvious points of divergence is the design of Anata’s world. It’s set in a modern city too, but one of a particularly East Asian bent. “We noticed that many city-themed games currently on the market are modeled on American cities like Los Angeles or New York,” the developers explained.
“Since there are still very few games set in Asia, we wanted to create a game that captures the essence of modern Asian urban life and share it with the world.”
Right now, there’s just one city in the game, they say, which “remains incomplete” in its current incarnation but will be expanded “gradually” over time. There’s also the possibility of new maps being added, which are set to include renditions of “more iconic locations across Asia.”
While the Grand Theft Auto series has always pursued photorealism, Ananta is substantially more stylized with cel-shaded visuals reminiscent of animation. The reasoning behind this is simple and, according to Naked Rain, “many members of the team are fans of anime. So there may be a desire to bring these anime-style worlds to life and deliver them to a global audience.”
Hustle and bustle
Don’t be fooled by the cartoony aesthetic, though; the world in Ananta is far from artificial. One of the most interesting moments in the game’s trailer shows the player assuming control of a different character - the camera pans out overhead before smoothly zooming back in to reveal the other protagonist cruising onto the scene in a flashy sports car.
It feels reminiscent of the character select system in GTA 5 that would play short cutscenes with each switch, giving the impression that you were interrupting the character’s everyday life. It’s taken further in Ananta, however, where the developers explain that “when you switch to a different character, your original character continues to live their own life.”
“As you transition between characters, you’ll witness the progression of their lives and can pick up from where they left off,” they add. “Our goal is to design a system that is unique compared to other RPGs, where diverse people and professions coexist in cities.” It comes as part of a commitment to create “distinct personas rather than just simple characters for players to control.”
This ties into the studio’s overall intentions for the project, too. “Since the beginning, our vision has remained unchanged,” the team reveals. “Our goal is to create a game that surpasses players' imaginations, allowing them to experience a virtual, fantastical life in an open world.” With this in mind, it’s not just important but “essential” that players are able to “fully engage with the lives” of each character as they “face different kinds of challenges.”
You might be concerned that a free-to-play business model could compromise the integrity of this vision, but the team is careful to assure me that they “do not plan to implement character gacha mechanics” and that while “Ananta will operate as a free-to-play game,” the “monetization will primarily focus on character skins.”
“At the heart of this game is the experience of ‘living a character's life.’ While reality limits us to one life, here you can enjoy as many unique lives as there are characters to embody,” they reiterate. “To fully embrace this [...] we want players to freely choose characters and explore diverse life paths - this is precisely why we designed character acquisition without gacha.”
Other “customization elements” will include upgrades for your character’s homes and vehicles, which can all be “acquired using in-game currency”.
Although there’s no firm release window yet, Ananta is set to launch on PC, PlayStation 5, and mobile. I’ll certainly be watching closely for updates as its development progresses; hopefully, there won’t be too long a wait.
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