NetEase Games and Naked Rain today announced that Ananta, the highly anticipated free-to-play urban open-world action RPG, will launch worldwide in 2027.
The open world game will debut on Ananta’s official PC client, on PC (Steam), PlayStation 5 and mobile platforms . To date, the game has accumulated over 17 million global pre-registrations from players across 110 countries and regions.
Alongside the launch date announcement, Ananta has released a new trailer officially unveiling Chongxiao, the game’s second major city. Yet, one game, two cities. It’s got an amazing variety of gameplay.
Ananta is built around a central premise: Go Viral. Save the World. At its core is a gameplay system driven by social influence and the pursuit of attention. Players take on an identity that is entirely of this era: the influencer.
In a modern city governed by algorithms and online culture, players engage with the urban world through the lens of a content creator — an experience unlike anything seen in the urban game genre. Ananta brings its open world to life through interconnected stories, unexpected encounters and player-driven experiences. Every mission, crisis and citywide adventure presents an opportunity to build a reputation, grow social influence, gain access to new resources and unlock unique influencer perks.
Players can recruit a diverse cast of agents to rebuild the A.C.D. team, switch between playable characters and experience multiple identities, each offering a distinct perspective, storyline and approach to exploration and combat. When trouble strikes, dynamic martial arts combat encourages creativity, enabling players to use interactive surroundings and transform everyday objects into unexpected weapons.
Inspired by real-world metropolises such as Shanghai, Hangzhou, and Tokyo, Ananta’s cities feature distinctive cultures, atmospheres and challenges. Its wide-ranging gameplay is designed around freedom and discovery:
● Explore a Living Modern World: Visit cinemas, mahjong parlors, arcades, cat cafés, maid cafés, gyms, restaurants, clothing stores, open-air hot springs and more.
● Travel Without Limits: Guided by the philosophy “go where you can see,” players can move around by car, motorcycle, helicopter, yacht, subway, hang glider and other forms of transportation.
● Build Your Own Yeet Squad: Meet more than 100 NPCs with individual stories and quests. Build relationships, recruit allies and unlock exclusive items, badges and combat abilities.
● Experience Multiple Lives: Step into roles including NCCA officer, hacker, delivery rider and content creator, opening new ways to interact with the city.
● Fight Your Way: Combine martial arts techniques with environmental elements to develop a personal combat style.
By seamlessly blending urban exploration, character-driven storytelling and creative freedom, Ananta invites players to live out their own urban fantasies. In a world where the unexpected is always around the corner, every choice can lead to a new story—and every journey is yours to shape.
Click to Pre-register for ANANTA: https://www.anantagame.com/501/
Naked Rain embraces a global development approach and operates with studios in Hangzhou and Montreal. The studio spearheads major storyline production, artistic creation, and commercialization, with over a decade of experience in F2P games. The team excels in console, PC, and mobile game operations, with an art team specializing in anime IP design. Meanwhile, they leverage cutting-edge technology, specializing in open-world games and cross-platform development.
NetEase Games, the online games division of NetEase, is a big China-based developer and publisher of video game IP across a variety of genres and platforms. NetEase Games’ development and publishing slate includes titles such as Marvel Rivals, Where Winds Meet, Knives Out, and Naraka: Bladepoint, and partnerships with major entertainment brands such as Warner Bros and Mojang AB (a Microsoft subsidiary).
In a press briefing, Ananta’s team said it’s been about a year since the last major public announcement. Ananta is an open-world RPG set in a city inspired by real modern metropolises.
Players have full freedom in how they want to engage with this world. It’s a kind of urban experience that’s nothing like everyday life, and honestly, a lot more fun. At the Tokyo Game Show last year, I played the game. The team released two brand new gameplay trailers introducing the first major city, Nova City.
In Novo City, players can reach any destination they can see by swinging across buildings, driving cars, cruising on yards, or even windsuit flying. And beyond getting around, players can freely take on roles like police officer, hacker, or driver, using virtually anything in the city as a combat tool to deliver the kind of kung fu movie action that gets people genially excited.
Ananta won the Future Division Award at TGS 2025, hit over 400 million video views across global streaming platforms, and now the game has 17 million global pre-registrations. Players from 110 countries and regions. So the team is now releasing a trailer about a new cty.
In a press briefing, the Ananta team said the protagonist is searching for his missing father and has to university with his partner Taffy to join the ACD, which is a specialized agency dedicated to handling chaos events across the city, only to find out it’s already gone under. To review the ACD, the captain and Taffy decided to go viral using fame and followers to track down their missing colleagues.
During one city crisis, the protagonist earns the nickname “Eat Master” and become Nova City’s biggest internet celebrity overnight, but fame comes with complications. The team starts drawing attention from all kinds of powerful factions across the city, and they begin uncovering some pretty dark things hidden beneath the surface. Find that, build ACD, and while they’re at it, save Nova City. That’s the mission.
The second is the rule. The modern urban setting isn’t new territory for games. You’ve probably played as criminals, gang leaders, or hackers before. But Anata gives players an identity that feels truly of this moment: the influencer. In a world built on internet and attention, you are not just a hero; you are an influencer.
That leads into the third thing. The third is a gameplay loop to grow your following. Players need to use every tool at their disposal to earn exposure and gain fans. You can follow the main story and push the narrative forward. You can help citizens deal with the random crisis across the city, or you can dive into every corner of the open world through live streams, challenges, and bounties, chasing attention by any means necessary.
For the internet attention, nothing is off the table, and as your fan base grows, you will progressively unlock new story chapters, side quests, mechanics, and companions, building a satisfying loop that keeps pulling you back in. Ultimately, what the team wants to give players is a brand new fantasy. What it actually feels like to be an influencer set inside a living, breathing modern city. And the company took the wraps off Chongxiao, a brand new city inspired by modern China.
In designing Chongxiao, the team drew extensively from the landmark architecture and cultural identity of two of China’s most celebrated cities, Shanghai and Hangzhou. To give you a more complete picture of what Chongxiao looks like, the team noted recognizable landmarks in the world: the Oriental Tower, the Bound Skyline, and Wu Kang Reb from Shanghai, alongside West Lake, Lei Feng Pagoda, and the Long Jingtie Philip from Hangzhou.
They are foundational to how Chongxiao was built. As for why the protagonist arrives in Chongxiao, in the trailer you see the hero face a powerful new enemy during a mid-year confrontation on the plane, and come out on the losing end. In need of reinforcements, the protagonist leaves Nova City and returns to his hometown, Fengxiao, setting the stage for an entirely new chapter in the story.
And the new city brings new gameplay. The trailer hints at a number of new mechanics coming to Chongxiao, starting with how you get around. We’ve added flying cars, hang leaders, and our tool boats, opening up and attached full vertical space in new ways. And for something more street level, we’ve also brought in bicycles, electric scooters, and skateboards-the everyday ride that give Chongxiao its authentic city feel.
On the combat side, the team is building on what players already loved and layering in combat styles rooted in Eastern martial arts, as you might have caught in the trailer. Think Shaolin Kung Fu and blade techniques, and beyond the action, the team also added some casual city mini games because sometimes you just want to slow down, take in the city, and enjoy the moment. And finally, there are new characters.
No living city is complete without people who make it feel alive. And remember, our protagonist comes back to Chongxiao looking for martial arts masters who can help in the fight ahead. These matters are hidden in plain sight. The unassuming uncle taught in a yo-yo.
The neighborhood masseuse, completely ordinary on the surface, anything but underneath. What stories are hidden behind these characters? What will they put our hero through? The team will leave that as a little mystery, one the team thinks players are going to love uncovering a city drawn from modern China, new mechanics, new companions and new adventures.
Disclosure: Gamescom paid my way to Germany for the event. The content of this story is solely the responsibility of GamesBeat.