I have no issue with video games taking influence from one another. Sometimes a game like Dark Souls or The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild comes along and becomes so influential that every other developer in the industry wants a slice. But normally, these build on systems with their own distinct mechanics and unorthodox quirks.
When Genshin Impact arrived almost half a decade ago, it was labelled as a Breath of the Wild clone because of its stamina-based climbing system, handy glider, and so many other components that were pulled liberally from Nintendo’s masterpiece. Its combat was so similar to Nier: Automata and other character action titles, while nearly everywhere I looked was something done better elsewhere translated into this anime girl gacha paradise.
Ananta Isn’t The Anime GTA 6 You Think It Is
Genshin Impact has outgrown these plagiarism allegations in recent years thanks to the sheer amount of creativity in its open world, character designs, music, and narrative. Hoyoverse has created something incredible here, even if its foundations are derivative. And even if it’s a game I haven’t gone back to for years because I’m dead set against its slot machine progression.
The same goes for Honkai Star Rail and Zenless Zone Zero, although those games are far more unique and distinct in their mechanics than Genshin Impact ever was. I thought, for a second at least, that this manner of gooner gacha game was starting to embrace originality. Then I saw the debut trailer for Project Mugen, now known officially as Ananta.
With so many different games making up its cavalcade of mechanics, it’s hard to tell what Ananta wants to be except an anime version of the generation’s defining blockbusters.
Developed by Naked Rain and published by NetEase, this open world gacha adventure is clearly trying to bring the ‘anime GTA 6 meme’ to life with a game that allows you to drive around a sprawling city by hijacking any car you stumble across, which can also be used during epic chase sequences and shootouts with enemies.
You can also soar across the skyline with swinging and parkour mechanics that are pulled straight from the Insomniac Spider-Man titles. I would call it loosely inspired, but the animations are near identical. It allows you to soar into the air using momentum just like those games, or slide around the corners or buildings and sprint up surfaces like the PlayStation-exclusive wall crawler.
It Sucks Games Can Look This Good And Feel So Hollow
I could give Genshin Impact the benefit of the doubt with many of its systems, especially if you stop to consider how influential Breath of the Wild was in the wider landscape, but Ananta is creatively bankrupt in ways I find difficult to justify. A generic anime world buoyed by an arsenal of smart gameplay ideas from other places because it couldn’t be bothered to come up with any of its own. Taking something popular and filling it with sexy anime girls and hot anime boys is a recipe for success in the free-to-play mobile crowd, where the aim is to try and create something visually and mechanically spectacular by any means necessary.
The Grand Theft Auto influences are clear to see, with some shots from the trailer making a concerted effort to mimic Rockstar’s own. Anime girls can be seen walking along a scorching beach, while two of the playable characters are filming a TikTok stream while driving through traffic. It wants to express the sunny and seedy paradise of Miami but with a fictional version of Tokyo. It looks, sounds, and will likely feel great to play, but this quality doesn’t mean anything if the game is so fascinated with pulling from other sources that it forgets to stand out on its own terms.
We aren’t given much idea about what the story entails, aside from a main character that we presumably control who is accompanied by a handful of very attractive characters that might be a part of the inevitable gacha mechanics. Spend money on pulling anime girls, play each new seasonal update, rinse and repeat. That’s the cadence these games have settled into, a massive and profitable ecosystem I have no doubt Ananta wants a healthy slice of.
It sucks that I’m this down on Ananta because so much about it looks great. The character designs are fun and spritely, while the animation of movement, special attacks, and how characters present themselves is bouncy, charming, and gives Zenless Zone Zero a run for its money for sheer exuberance. A lot of love, money, and expertise has gone into bringing Ananta to life, but it is never going to capture my heart when every second it reminds me of something else for all the wrong reasons.
I’ll be playing it for myself when it arrives next year – likely before Grand Theft Auto 6 – and will be excited to see it prove my criticisms wrong. Right now, though, everything about Ananta seems soulless.