There’s the saying, “good artists copy, great ones steal.” And then there’s whatever Ananta is doing. The upcoming open-world RPG from NetEase developer Naked Rain is going viral again thanks to new footage from Tokyo Game Show 2025. While it might look like the latest round of Genshin Impact-inspired mobile anime slop, the developer has confirmed it won’t be relying on exploitative gambling mechanics to earn its keep. It will, however, be ripping off Spider-Man in every way it can.
First, let’s start with the new trailer. Released earlier this week, it shows seven minutes of gameplay depicting all the ways you can explore, fight, and hang out in Ananta’s urban playground. Taking the reins of special agents patrolling the streets for strange anomalies, the new footage is almost a greatest hits highlight reel of all the past games the upcoming mobile release is pulling from, including not just Grand Theft Auto and Spider-Man but also Watch Dogs, Sifu, and more. There’s fluid martial arts brawls and smartphone hacking games. And of course, there’s the web-singing people have been gawking at since the game was first announced.
It looks neat, and it’s impressive this is a game designed for mobile devices and not high-end consoles. Naked Rain is promising multi-level exploration from the ground-level streets to city rooftops, as well as interiors you can explore at different elevations. There are vehicles you can get in and drive, weapons you can pick up off the ground, from guns to golf clubs, and NPCs who will supposedly react to whatever chaos you’re causing while out exploring. “Every choice ripples through the life of the city,” the developers write. We’ll see.
For some players, this is a win-win-win. Steal one game mechanic and you’re a thief. But take a bunch from all different games, pour them into a blender, see what comes out, and you might be a genius, or at least someone with the potential to make NetEase a lot of money. For others, however, Ananta is a bit too “shameless” when it comes to ripping off the competition. It’s not just that you can web-swing around town like Spider-Man, it’s that you can also use Venom-like powers to smash bad guys with attacks that look straight out of Spider-Man 2. Uncharted didn’t invent quick-time events, but some of these chase scenes look really on the nose.
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Whether all of this will ultimately make for a good game remains to be seen. Ananta could be a breakout free-to-play hit that makes people rethink what certain genre mashups are capable of, or it could just be a tricked-out car with no gas in the tank. One other big thing going for it is that, unlike a lot of games in this space, Ananta won’t be hocking pay-to-win character loot boxes, also known as gacha mechanics, in order to make money. Naked Rain confirmed to Famitsu (via Automaton) that the game’s monetization will instead rely on cosmetics and other customizable features ranging from outfits and cars to the player’s house.
It’s not the only post-Genshin Impact mobile RPG to be shifting away from gacha mechanics. The makers of Duet Night Abyss, which arrives on mobile next month, announced they too would be ditching the hero loot box grind and getting rid of star ratings for equipment to limit pay-to-win mechanics. It’s also doing away with stamina limits, another popular way for nickel-and-diming players on mobile. “In the last test,” DecaBear says, “[Testers] said our gameplay–which is built around fast-paced grinding–kept getting blocked by stamina limits,” producer DecaBear said. “And that felt pretty bad.”