Ananta Looks to Cover All Walks of Life

At Gamescom 2026, I was treated to a short demo of Ananta, the upcoming urban open-world RPG from Naked Rain Studio and NetEase Games, which has been impressing people since its first unveiling and has a massive following already. As a free-to-play game, it looks like it offers players the freedom you’d expect in games such as Grand Theft Auto, along with adding just about every major feature from the most popular games in the last 10 years.

This alone was enough to interest me in checking the game out at Gamescom, and while I only really got a chance to take a look at two story missions, one from each city on offer, there were the foundations of something that could be very fun indeed.

Going Nova in Nova City

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Nova City is a bustling city with plenty of chaos.

I had two short story missions available to me, along with the ability to explore the sandbox a bit. Starting with the first in Nova City, I quickly found myself getting into a brawl with a bunch of thugs, and I got a brief tutorial on how melee combat works. It was quite pleasing to see all of the staples you’d expect here, such as parrying and countering, but perhaps more interesting was the ability to throw your enemies into the environment, such as into the windows of parked cars.

The fight was cut short, and before I knew it, I was in a car chase. It has to be said, Ananta wears its Anime inspirations on its sleeves, with over-the-top cutscenes and, unfortunately, women scantily clad, along with the camera focusing on them. Still, the scene itself did look gorgeous with the art style, and it’s clear to see the production values are through the roof here.

While in the car, I had the ability to shoot at my pursuers’ vehicles, and the first thing I attempted was to shoot out the tires, which I was pleased to see was possible. The cars perhaps went down a bit too easily, but it’s all in service to this bombastic scene this was presenting, and despite going on a bit too long, it’s hard to deny that I wasn’t enjoying it all before the story section came to an end.

I unfortunately didn’t get as much time with the sandbox after this, as I was quickly prompted to switch over to the other story mission on offer, but I did get a quick look, and it’s here where, to me, Ananta shows the most promise. The freedom on offer and the range of activities was quite staggering, and I can see myself playing the game just to have a play about in this world.

Stealth in Chongxiao

The next story mission was almost a complete tonal shift from the one I just played. Now, finding myself in the newly revealed city of Chongxiao, it is akin to a quiet countryside city, with a lot more nature around.

Now in control of a woman named Yinglong, I found myself in an orphanage where thugs were seemingly looking for someone. What followed was a stealth sequence where I needed to keep low and try to find my way to Yinglong’s sister, who I needed to get out of there. While this included basic stealth mechanics, I definitely felt the tension and, as I’m the most impatient person ever when it comes to stealth, I did get caught a few times, causing me to repeat the section a few times.

After making my escape from the orphanage, I eventually found myself in a cave where everything seemed to shift a little, and before long, after learning of the abilities that Yinglong actually had (why she didn’t use these earlier, I’m still not sure), I had an escape sequence before this short mission came to an end.

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The part of Chongxiao I found myself in was far more peaceful.

My hands-on ended with another short period of exploring Chongxiao, and it was immediately noticeable how different it was from Nova City. It was far more peaceful; the constant chaos was missing, and I really appreciated the different experiences between the two cities. I hopped on a nearby bike and rode to a marker on my map, which turned out to be a mini-game where I could make tea using motion controls. A simple task, but it just hinted at some of the range of activities and experiences that will be on offer with Ananta.

I’d like to have had more time with the open world than the story missions, truth be told, but there was enough there to keep me intrigued for the full release on January 15th, 2027. For now, I’ll have to go back to plotting how I’m going to make my name in this massive world.