Gameplay

Ananta is an urban open-world action RPG by Naked Rain and NetEase Games. Set in Nova City, a Manhattan-scale Japanese-influenced metropolis, the game pairs seamless real-time character switching across the Anti-Chaos Directorate Task Force with the '3C System' (Character, Camera, Control) for high-mobility traversal, environment-driven combat heavily inspired by Hong Kong action cinema, and per-character day-job progression loops. Free-to-play, explicitly non-gacha — every playable character is unlocked through play.

Character, Camera, Control. Naked Rain's stated design target: reachable anywhere in sight.

Three vertical layers — Rooftops, Mid-levels, Ground floors — designed to be reachable in real time.

Movement toolkit: Parkour, Wall climbing, Swimming, Grapple-swinging between skyscrapers, Motorcycles, Cars (with physics), Helicopters, Bicycles, Public transit (subway + bus).

No stamina bar — sprint, climb and swim are uncapped by default.

A two-button core surfaced at Tokyo Game Show 2025 — one attack button and one block/counter, in a free-flow style reminiscent of Batman: Arkham and Marvel's Spider-Man. Early hands-on builds showed contextual finishers triggering off staggered enemies. NetEase has not published the exact button mapping.

GTA-style weapon wheel for firearms: pistols, assault rifles, sniper rifles, flamethrowers, grenade launchers, sub-machine guns, grenades, RPGs.

Enemies can be disarmed on contact — their weapon transfers to the player on the spot.

Cinematic context-driven finishers chain off staggered enemies and prop hits.

Players seamlessly switch between members of the A.C.D. Task Force mid-mission. Each character has independent storylines, day jobs and progression paths.

Switching applies during boss fights and major missions. Exact party-size cap (three vs four playable characters in a single mission) is not yet stated officially.

Early hands-on builds showed a shared ability layout — a basic attack, one cooldown-based skill, and one attack-charged skill — but NetEase has not published an official kit spec. The E-skill / Q-skill naming is likewise unofficial, not from a first-party sheet.

Every playable character levels through a real-world archetype — not just combat.

• Police officer (cop) — Richie

  Richie's loop. XP via tickets, field stops, body searches, breathalyser tests, arrests.

• Delivery worker — Taffy

  Taffy's loop. XP via completed delivery routes. Parallel social-media chase: an in-character goal of reaching one million followers unlocks better job perks.

• Hacker / tracker — Seymour

  Seymour's loop. Surveillance, signal-tracking, tech intervention. Selectivity-gated — he only pursues targets he considers worth his time.

• Live-streamer

  Confirmed by the September 2025 NetEase press release as one of the four headline day-job archetypes. Character assignment not yet publicly confirmed.

• Fitness trainer

  Reportedly an extra role archetype shown at Tokyo Game Show 2025. NOT named in NetEase's official press release, which lists only four (cop, hacker, delivery, live-streamer). Character assignment not public.

• Unemployed bum

  Reportedly a stamina/exploration-driven loop rather than a fixed career, shown at Tokyo Game Show 2025. NOT in NetEase's official press release. Character assignment not public.

• Combat — environment as weapon

  Real-time action combat with a two-button core (one attack, one block/counter) and contextual finishers. Players grab and weaponise urban props — golf clubs, trash cans, cleavers, chainsaws, cars — and a GTA-style weapon wheel covers pistols, assault rifles, snipers, flamethrowers, grenade launchers and RPGs. Producer Ash Qi has framed the result as choreography inspired by Hong Kong action cinema and Jackie Chan.

• Traversal — the 3C System

  An 'anywhere in sight' framework covering ground and aerial movement: parkour, wall-climbing, uncapped swimming, motorcycles, cars with physics, helicopters, public transit (subway + bus), and Spider-Man-style grapple-swinging between skyscrapers. No stamina bar caps sprint, climb or swim. Three vertical layers — rooftops, mid-levels, ground floors — are designed to be reachable in real time.

• Role-switching

  Players seamlessly switch between members of the A.C.D. Task Force — Captain, Taffy, Richie, Seymour — mid-mission. Each character has independent storylines, day jobs and progression paths. Richie levels by issuing tickets and arresting suspects; Taffy levels by completing deliveries on her transforming mallet-vehicle (nicknamed the 'Bunny Bike').

• Open world — Nova City

  A Manhattan-scale city in three districts (Residential West, Commercial Central, Financial East). 24/7 NPC routine cycle, dynamic traffic ripple effects, interactive hotspots (pet cats, gang clashes), mini-games (basketball, claw machines, darts, arcades), photography, an in-game social-media app (Scope), home decoration in player residences. NetEase's design framing is that anything you can see should be something you can interact with.

• Monetization — no character gacha

  Ananta is free-to-play, but every playable character is unlocked through story progression or organic open-world encounters. Producer Ash Qi, in an interview after Tokyo Game Show 2025, explicitly stated locking characters behind gacha would clash with Ananta's high-freedom design. Cosmetics (outfits, vehicles, home decoration) are the monetization backbone. Outfits are gender-shared with automatic body-type adaptation across tall, short and curvy frames.

Districts: Residential District (West), Commercial District (Central), Financial District (East), Sonic Boom Club, Whalebone Library, Eve Art Museum.

Mini-games and activities: Basketball, Slap battles, Nightclubs / dancing, Gym / workouts, Street concerts, Claw machines, Darts, Arcade cabinets, UFO catchers, Photography, Scope (in-game social media), Movie theaters, Home decoration / furniture arrangement, Pet petting.

Vehicles: Bicycles, Motorcycles (including Taffy's Bunny Bike), Cars (with physics, owned and stealable), Taxis, Helicopters, Subway (public transit), Bus (public transit).