After previewing the “Urban open world RPG,” Ananta, at TGS this September, I was invited to interview a team member from Naked Rain about the game. My preview of Ananta isn’t exactly glowing, as I was mostly overwhelmed by a myriad of systems, mechanics, tones, and influences that left me questioning what the game actually was. As a result, I was a little surprised to see this offer come, but I thought it would be a good chance to actually get some solid info on a game that is mostly just unanswered questions right now. Shining a light I was hoping that this interview would help shed some light on some of my lingering questions regarding Ananta’s near-endless list of apparent influences and mechanics, while also highlighting just what kind of structure it would have. The game is apparently both a narrative-driven open-world game and will heavily feature gacha elements, so I was curious how much of the experience will be gated off behind “pulls” and other typical gacha roadblocks. The interview was to be over email, something understandable as Naked Rain is a Hangzhou-based developer, and lining up time zones and video call translators is a pretty big ask. I was told that answers would be provided by a specific team member on the production team. As such, I based my questions on things someone in that discipline would likely be able to talk to: overarching structure, pacing, tone, influences, etc. However, having now received a response to my questions, PR has requested that these answers be credited to Naked Rain as a whole rather than to that one person. I was not made aware of who answered these questions. These answers speak to that dehumanisation of the respondent, as they do a pretty comprehensive job at avoiding actually answering most of the questions and instead lead with marketing bullet points for the most part. A big part of interviewing humans is picking your battles, warming someone up, and having a handful of more substantive questions that will drive the basis of your write-up. In this case, those two questions, in which I try to actually nail down how playing or paying for Ananta might work, were passed up. So, with that in mind, here are my unedited questions and Naked Rain’s unedited answers. Questions and sort of answers So the game is obviously extremely big in terms of scope, and the characters you play as are quite different in how they traverse the world. How does the team pitch the game to players on a basic level, without it feeling overwhelming for players? Naked Rain: Our goal is to create a game that surpasses players’ imaginations, allowing them to experience a virtual, fantastical life in an open world. The essential aspect is to allow players to fully engage with the lives of these characters and face different kinds of challenges. Continuing on from that question. Live service and gacha games can often struggle to onboard new players as the months go on, and they have to get players up to speed with newly added mechanics/characters/systems. How does the team at Naked Rain plan on supporting the game and making it so that players can keep up? NR: This aspect is absolutely critical, and we’ve had some specialized designs that will be revealed in future updates. The main character shown off so far, Captain, is maybe the best example of a character with a unique mobility style, being able to swing from building to building. How do you juggle making that kind of character-specific movement fun while also not making things like driving feel pointless? NR: We believe that players have different preferences; some enjoy quickly reaching their destinations by swinging, while others prefer to take public transportation and leisurely appreciate the city. In making these designs, we focus more on giving players the freedom to choose their preferred style of play. Different vehicles could potentially evolve into truly distinct gameplay experiences in future updates-transforming them from mere movement tools into vessels of certain gameplay. A lot of the commentary around the game’s trailers has been around how Ananta seems to be heavily inspired by everything from Grand Theft Auto and Marvel’s Spider-Man, to the Batman Arkham games, and even the Like A Dragon/Yakuza games. How does the team feel about this commentary, and were there any games or pieces of media that inspired Ananta in particular? PR: Team passed on this. From the demo I played at TGS, certain characters had their own specific missions. Applying a gacha structure to open-world design when telling a narrative seems like a challenge. What has been Naked Rain’s approach to storytelling, and will certain story elements be gated behind unlocking certain characters? PR: Team passed on this. The TGS Gameplay trailer rushed to 3. 5 million views on YouTube shortly after release. How has the team found fan reaction to the game? Were you expecting people to be as excited as they seem to be, even pre-release? NR: We are truly excited. What’s important is that we have made a lot of progress over the past two years and we are happy to showcase the efforts we’ve made during this time. We will keep working hard, so please stay tuned! The tone and the atmosphere of the game seem to really be clicking with people, and I found myself humming the trailer music that was played at your TGS booth for a few days after. What are some of the guiding lights for the game stylistically? NR: It’s hard to say specifically where the inspiration comes from, as our team has taken inspiration from many different cultural elements. However regarding the music, we can say that that these songs are from the producer’s own playlist. Finally, are there any parts of the game that you think players will be really surprised by? What do you think their reactions might be? NR: What we aim to create is a world where players can fully experience things that are difficult or even impossible in reality. Keeping the current world as it is would be boring, so we are developing with the hope of realizing the “dream world” that everyone imagines. What did we learn, Palmer? I am not sure if I know any more about Ananta after that. I still don’t really know what I will be doing moment to moment in Ananta. I don’t know how much the gacha trappings with affect the experience of playing the game. But at least I do know the producer of the game, Ash Qi, has a great playlist. However, until the core fundamentals of Ananta are actually laid out in front of me, I will continue to remain skeptical of this ambitious and overwhelming game.
https://www.shacknews.com/article/146979/naked-rain-is-remaining-extremely-cagey-regarding-what-ananta-actually-is
Naked Rain is remaining extremely cagey regarding what Ananta actually is
