Ananta Might Have One of the Most Interesting Open Worlds Coming in 2027
Ananta has been one of those games that has been pretty difficult to judge from trailers alone, especially given the little information we had for so long. Since the reveal of the release date and new gameplay during Gamescom, this upcoming free-to-play open-world RPG has shown off huge cities, cool combat, driving, character switching, and a frankly ridiculous amount of things to do. But until people get to spend some proper time wandering around its world, there was still a pretty obvious question: does the game really feel like that when you are the one playing it?
Following the Gamescom demos, the answer seems to be surprisingly close to yes.
Ananta is now scheduled to launch worldwide on January 15, 2027, and many creators and press members got hands-on time with different sections of the game during Gamescom.
One creator who tested both available demos came away particularly impressed by something that does not always come across in trailers. Nova City really feels huge when you are exploring it yourself. A lot of information from these Demos is under NDA, so creators could not share it all, but we still learned a lot from what was revealed!
Nova City Feels Like a Real City
The first demo offered more than two hours of relatively free exploration around Nova City, allowing the creator to mess around with combat, driving, traversal, NPC interactions, activities, and character switching. And apparently, the scale of the city was one of the biggest surprises. Nova City is not just a bunch of huge skyscrapers that look impressive when the camera is flying through them. Once you are moving around on the ground, the distances between locations start to become noticeable, making the city feel much larger than it might appear in a trailer.
That matters quite a bit for Ananta, because the whole game seems to be built around the idea that you are supposed to live in this city. It is not just a place you move through from one mission marker to another, since this will be your main place. Other Gamescom previews have also highlighted the amount of interaction available throughout the world, with journalists describing a city that feels unusually dense with things to discover.
You Can Interact With the People Around You
One of the more interesting details from the hands-on session was how NPCs react to what you are doing, a bit like GTA 6. Pull out a gun and civilians can panic and run away. Attack someone, and they may flee or fight back. Drive toward pedestrians, and they will try to get out of the way, and they can react angrily afterward. None of this is particularly revolutionary on its own, but it is important for a game that is trying to sell itself on being a living open world.
Even better, different characters can interact with the city in completely different ways.
Richie, for example, is a police character who can stop civilians, question them, perform alcohol or drug tests, and arrest people who have committed an offense.
Switching Characters Changes How You Explore
Ananta does not appear to work like a traditional gacha RPG where you have three or four characters on screen and constantly rotate between them during exploration and fights. Instead, you control one character at a time, with a character wheel allowing you to switch between the different members of your cast. Again, a bit like GTA allows you to swap between the main characters. The camera pulls away from your current character, travels across the city, and then zooms into whoever you selected.
The characters also do not simply “freeze” in place until you come back to them. They continue doing their own thing, meaning that switching characters can reveal them in completely different situations. And because each character has their own abilities, the choice can also change how you move around the city.
The protagonist can swing between buildings, but another character can summon a motorcycle… there are plenty of ways to get around the city, depending on who you are controlling.
At least it will feel less repetitive to go around the city! If you are bored of swinging around buildings, just switch to another character!
The Traversal Looks Like One of the Best Features
A lot is going on when it comes to getting around. You can run and climb across a surprising number of surfaces, swing between buildings, and use cars to cover longer distances. The creator who tested the demo found the driving particularly smooth and accessible, without the overly loose handling that some open-world games suffer from.
There is also a metro system that can be used as fast travel, and you even get a short subway sequence to make the transition feel more natural.
It is a small thing, but these details matter when your entire game is built around making the city itself part of the experience.
Combat Is Unique as Well
The combat also looks somewhat different from what you might expect if you have played a lot of action gachas. As mentioned, you control only one character, so there is no constant swapping around to create elemental reactions, specific combos, or things like that. Characters can fight unarmed, dodge and parry, and a weapon wheel lets you use different weapons and even objects found around the environment.
Yes, that includes things like baseball bats and street signs.
Special attacks are also more linked to the weapon you are using, and finishers and QTEs can also be triggered during combat.
The regular enemies in the demo did not sound particularly difficult, although that is not necessarily a bad thing at this stage. The creator did not get to test bosses, so it is still too early to know how hard the combat can become. We will know more once Ananta starts throwing more serious enemies at you.
That is one of the big limitations of these demos. We still have not seen enough of the game’s long-term combat progression to know how well the system will hold up. The devs did share that they have already planned to support the game for at least 7 years, so a lot of content is probably coming, but everything is still secret for now!
There Is a Surprising Amount of Random Stuff to Do
Another thing that seems to be working in Ananta’s favor is how much the developers are willing to let you do outside of combat. You can enter places such as gyms and use their equipment, with activities including treadmills, squats, and even yoga. There are clothing stores where you can buy individual pieces and mix and match them instead of simply selecting complete outfits. You can even take other characters to the cinema, choose a movie and watch it together.
These are not necessarily features that will make or break the game, but they help reinforce the idea that the open world is not just there to connect missions together.
And that might be Ananta’s best quality so far.
Chongxiao Shows a Very Different Side of the Game
The second demo moved away from Nova City entirely and into Chongxiao, a region inspired by traditional Chinese environments. If you are not a fan of big cities, you will definitely like this second zone more. Instead of skyscrapers, traffic and a ton of people, Chongxiao has traditional architecture, vegetation, tea plantations and a much slower pace. It is relaxing and beautiful.
The playable section included a traditional village and activities connected to tea production, and a story sequence involving Yinglong and her sister.
Other Gamescom coverage also pointed out how good it felt to have such a different atmosphere. And that is probably more important than simply having two different-looking maps. If Ananta can genuinely make its different regions feel like different places to live in, it could give the game a lot more variety once new areas start being added.
But There Are Still Some Pretty Big Questions
The Gamescom demos are encouraging, but they do not suddenly answer every question about Ananta. We still have not seen enough of the endgame, long-term progression, or big boss encounters. Multiplayer is another big unknown, especially since it is supposed to become part of the game. Performance also needs to be tested properly. The demo reportedly ran smoothly, but preview PCs are not exactly representative of every gaming PC or phone that will eventually run the game.
We also did not see anything about the gacha system itself. Outside of the fact that it will not be around characters, there is not much we know.
So there is still plenty to prove!
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