By Jacob Miller | Sep 25, 2025
Game Mechanics from Multiple GenresInitially, it seemed Ananta was a gacha-style title, like Genshin Impact, but it skipped those mechanics altogether and instead melded elements from other game genres. The gameplay trailer featured Spider-Man-like swinging reminiscent of Insomniac's games, car sequences similar to Grand Theft Auto, hand-to-hand combat from Sleeping Dogs, and a hacking sequence that called back to Watch Dogs. The anime-style characters — even just the female protagonists — were inviting comparisons to HoYoverse's Zenless Zone Zero, while side characters seemed more futuristic, again randomly calling to mind Cyberpunk 2077.
Some critics applauded the aspiration behind the multi-genre comparison, but also pointed out the male protagonist, Captain (presumably named for Captain Venus), who has symbiote-like combat mechanics much like Venom in the Spider-Man games. His grabs and slams were almost identical to the Yank symbiote skill. Still, none of this lowered the excitement for the game directly.
Anticipation Ahead of Launch
Ananta has accumulated over 12 million pre-registrations across a combination of in-game platforms. Naked Rain, no-nothing of course to the publisher's credit, has not had to address the comparisons to other franchises and likely due to the positive reception overall. Ananta's sort of combination of familiar mechanics and aesthetics, with the chemistry of open-world exploration, will land this game as one of the most hyped games in 2025, and I expect the publishers, NetEase Games, to sell well.
