Geeked and Nova sit down together to talk about the game they have both been waiting for — Ananta, the free-to-play anime open world that launches January 15, 2027.
Geeked: Ananta is a free-to-play urban open-world action RPG, and it launches worldwide on January 15, 2027. It comes from Naked Rain, a studio under NetEase Games, and it was first revealed back in August 2023 as Project Mugen.
Nova: It was renamed Ananta in December 2024, and the name fits — Ananta means infinity, and this game is built around a city that never really stops. You play as the captain of a task force, an Infinite Trigger, a top supernatural investigator.
Geeked: Supernatural is the key word. The city looks normal — neon lights, cars, subways, arcades, cafes — and then there is Chaos, supernatural threats living right beside ordinary people, and your job is to deal with them.
Nova: And you do it in style. You can swing between skyscrapers, grapple, wall-run, and glide, with no stamina bar slowing you down. It looks like the traversal from the Spider-Man games, but in an anime city.
Geeked: The city is Nova City, a coastal metropolis about the size of Manhattan, inspired by New York. And there is a second city, Chongxiao, where your character grew up — more traditional, more Chinese in its look, reached by plane.
Nova: I love that there are two cities with two completely different feelings. And you are not stuck as one character. You build a team of four, and you can switch between them on the fly, each with their own job, combat style, and personal story.
Geeked: Four characters, real-time switching, no loading screens. That is the Grand Theft Auto V idea, but in an anime RPG. People keep calling Ananta "anime GTA," and I get it — big city, cars, a wanted system, urban chaos.
Nova: But it is more than that. Combat mixes martial arts with guns, and your fighting style changes with the weapon you hold. You can drive cars and motorcycles, take taxis, buses, and subways, even pilot helicopters and yachts.
Geeked: And the life-sim side is huge. Clubs, cinemas, arcades, cafes, shops. You can be a police officer, a hacker, a delivery rider, or an influencer. The game is loosely about building your reputation as an influencer, but how you do it is up to you.
Nova: Here is the part that matters most to me. Ananta is free to play, and there is no character gacha. Every character is obtainable through gameplay. In a genre full of gacha games, that is a big deal.
Geeked: It is a big deal. Ananta is coming to PlayStation 5, PC through Steam and its own launcher, iOS, and Android. One game, everywhere, on January 15, 2027.
Nova: It was announced at Gamescom Opening Night Live in August 2026, and it won a Japan Game Awards Future Division prize after the Tokyo Game Show demo in 2025. People who played it came away impressed.
Geeked: So here is our take. Grand Theft Auto VI arrives November 19, 2026. Ananta arrives two months later, January 15, 2027, and it is free. That is not a coincidence. That is a challenge.
Nova: And it is a challenge worth accepting. If you love open worlds, if you love anime, if you love swinging through a city at night while supernatural chaos breaks out around you, Ananta is the game to watch.
Geeked: We will have a full Nova episode on Ananta on January 15, 2027, launch day. Until then, keep it on your list.
Listen to Geeked and Nova's full Ananta conversation on our YouTube page, and check back tomorrow for more from The Nerd's List.
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