While Western and Japanese game companies trip over themselves to please corporate overlords like BlackRock and Vanguard by churning out sanitized, “inclusive” crap filled with censorship, identity politics, and ugly “female” characters that appear masculine. Meanwhile, countries like Korea and China have capitalized on this shift, capturing the attention of gamers with their free-to-play titles that entice players through monetization strategies centered around limited-time attractive characters.
Among the many F2P titles in the spotlight, two have particularly caught my attention: Azur Promilia, an open-world ARPG featuring creature capture mechanics, resource gathering, and farming developed by Manjuu, and Project Mugen.
Initially revealed in August last year, Project Mugen was promoted as an urban open-world ARPG designed to rival miHoYo’s Genshin Impact. Set in a futuristic city, it promised dynamic traversal options, including driving cars, wall-riding, and grappling-hook swinging.
After its last update in September 2023, which highlighted gameplay and quality-of-life features, Project Mugen went silent, with no updates from its Chinese developers, ThunderFire, or its publisher, NetEase. However, the title has recently resurfaced, rebranded as Anata, reigniting interest in the project as it draws closer to going live.
A recently released trailer for Project Mugen confirms its rebranding as Ananta. The trailer places significant emphasis on the game’s use of vehicles, showcasing street races and characters interacting with cars in various ways. It appears that players will have the ability to commandeer vehicles from NPCs, drawing comparisons to the Grand Theft Auto series due to its open world nature but obviously with a less violent and more visually stylized approach compared to GTA 6’s fixation on diverse inclusivity and depravity.
The trailer also includes a glimpse of a gunfight occurring while another character drives, as well as a battle against a car that transforms into a violent robot, highlighting the integral role vehicles will play in combat.
In an interview with IGN last year, Project Mugen/Ananta lead producer Ash Qi shared that the primary inspirations for Ananta were Prototype and its sequel, developed by Radical Entertainment and published by Activision.
“When I was maybe 10 or 12, I played Prototype and Prototype 2,” Qi said. “Those are the games that inspired me to make Project Mugen. Prototype reminded me of the Venom character from Spider-Man, and it was so cool. And I loved the city.”
So far, developer Naked Rain has introduced five main characters for the game, all bearing a resemblance to other “anime-esk” games much like miHoYo’s recent release of Zenless Zone Zero, another popular urban-fantasy ARPG. The game will also feature a multiplayer mode, allowing players to explore the city online with friends.
As of now, a total of eight characters have been officially revealed.
While the new Ananta trailer included snippets of combat, they weren’t as extensive as those showcased in the original Project Mugen trailers. . Instead, the spotlight was on all the cool open-world activities you can dive into. Beyond the slick parkour moves, you’ve got side gigs like basketball, volleyball, weightlifting, and darts and who knows what else they’ll throw in by release.
The game’s combination of anime-style characters, dynamic parkour and swinging mechanics, and cutting-edge graphics creates an intriguing experience that has kept fans like myself hooked since its first teaser over a year ago.
Unfortunately, the new Ananta trailer didn’t include a release date or even an approximate timeline for the closed beta. However, pre-registration is open, allowing eager players to secure their chance to dive into Ananta as soon as it’s available.
