Elevating Expectations: ‘Ananta’ Producer Ash Qi Compares Every Protagonist to a Marvel Avenger

The upcoming free-to-play urban open-world RPG, Ananta (formerly known as Project Mugen), is making headlines not just for its ambitious blend of mechanics—including Spider-Man-style traversal, GTA-like city exploration, and anime aesthetics—but for the extraordinarily high bar set by its development team. In a recent interview, producer Ash Qi of Naked Rain studio asserted that the characters within the game are so richly developed that “many of the characters in the game could be protagonists in their own game.”

To articulate this depth, Qi invoked one of the most recognizable media franchises in the world, comparing the roster to the Marvel Avengers. While a bold claim, the producer detailed a character design philosophy that aims to provide a far more intricate player experience than the typical gacha-RPG formula often associated with the game’s aesthetic.

The Core Vision: Every Hero Has Their Own Story

Producer Ash Qi’s comparison to the Avengers was not made lightly, and it reveals a crucial design intent for Ananta’s narrative structure. The goal is to avoid the common pitfall where supporting characters merely orbit the main protagonist’s story. Instead, Ananta is being built to host a multitude of independent storylines that converge for major open-world plot events.

The producer explained the concept by using examples of major Marvel heroes:

• Independent Arcs: “Characters like Captain America and Spider-Man have their own storylines, separate from the larger plot, and they are the protagonists of their own stories, each with their unique missions.”
• Character Focus: This approach is intended to keep all major players in focus. The developers are working on a feature where players will encounter the characters in their daily lives within the city, even when they are not actively controlling them. When you switch characters, your original hero continues their own life—an ambitious feature to realize in a vast live-service RPG.
• No Character Gacha: Crucially for monetization and player accessibility, the development team has confirmed that characters will be earned through story progression, not a gacha system. This supports the notion that each character is a valuable, story-driven asset, rather than a randomly rolled collectable.

This design philosophy, if executed successfully, could indeed set Ananta apart in the crowded Action RPG space, offering unparalleled character agency and depth.

The Multi-Genre Challenge and High Expectations

The development team is not shy about drawing inspiration from some of the biggest and most successful titles in video game history. Beyond the character focus, hands-on previews from Tokyo Game Show 2025 confirmed that the game’s mechanics borrow heavily from several other high-profile franchises:

• Traversal: The aforementioned web-swinging (or “magic tendril swinging”) is an obvious nod to Marvel’s Spider-Man, offering high-speed, dynamic movement across the densely packed city skyscrapers.
• World and Interaction: The urban scale, the ability to steal vehicles, and the reactive NPC ecosystem are all reminiscent of the Grand Theft Auto and Yakuza franchises, creating an immersive, interactive cityscape.
• Combat: The dynamic, environmental combat that allows players to use street furniture and props as weapons is inspired by classic Hong Kong action films and the cinematic flow of the Jackie Chan style of choreography.

While this amalgamation of successful mechanics creates a truly exciting preview, the comparison to the Avengers—a decades-old franchise with a vast network of established characters—raises the stakes. Critics caution that a game attempting to be an “anime GTA meets Spider-Man meets Yakuza” already has a staggering array of systems to polish. Adding the mandate that every character must feel like the protagonist of their own hypothetical game creates a substantial challenge in terms of content creation and ongoing support.

Monetization and Future Outlook

With no release date currently set, the developers remain focused on development for PC, PS5, and mobile platforms. The emphasis on avoiding a character gacha suggests the monetization will be heavily focused on cosmetics, such as outfits and vehicles—a far less aggressive model than most of its peers in the Asian RPG market. This focus on ethical monetization could be Ananta‘s true trump card, allowing players to fully invest in the game’s promised character depth without the financial pressures of a loot-box system.

For players seeking a truly ambitious, character-driven open-world experience, Ananta remains one of the most intriguing and closely watched upcoming games. The success of its Early Access and subsequent launch will depend entirely on its ability to meet the incredible expectations set by its own producer.