At TGS 2025, Neverness to Everness (NTE) and Ananta shone as ambitious free-to-play urban open-world RPGs blending anime style with GTA-like freedom. NTE (Hotta Studio/Perfect World) dives into supernatural anomalies in a metropolis, while Ananta (Naked Rain/NetEase, ex-Project Mugen) offers whimsical, character-focused city escapades.

Both projects have been revealed for quite some time now, but Ananta's first gameplay showcase has not been revealed until now. In this article, Gurugamer is going to compare the two game to see which one is the better Anime GTA.

Gameplay: Character based gacha Vs GTA Batman Spiderman

Core Mechanics

  • NTE: Overall, NTE uses a character based combat system that follow the Genshin format. In this game you have a team of 4 characters to switch around, and each character has one of 6 available elements. Each character has the usual normal attack, charged attack, skill and ultimate. By fighting, you can fill a special bar which would trigger a special effect when you switch to a character of a correct element.
  • Ananta: Ananta's combat feels more like a single player game, as it is no longer a character gacha anymore. Overall, the gameplay feels like a mix of Batman Arkham and Spiderman and GTA, left mouse to attack and right to counter. There's a weapon wheel lifted from GTA that players can use to switch between different guns. The biggest emphasis, however, is MC's ability to sprout tentacles and swing around like Spiderman.

Traversal and Activities

Both games have seamless transitions between driving, combat, and exploration without loading screens. While Ananta has the Spiderman swinging, it doesn't really feel like much of an improvement as only the mc can do it, and most people would just fast travel around or use cars.

Both title have mini-games and open world activities such as, street racing or pursuits.

World-Building: Magical vs Technology

  • NTE: Hethereau is a supernatural city blending urban life with otherworldly disruptions. The settings of NTE is more focused on magical elements as players can just enter a tunnel and come out into a literal otherworld.
  • Ananta: Nova City (NY-inspired) is a futuristic city. The settings look more grounded as the most abnormal thing you can see from the trailer is just mc's ability to sprout tentacle.

Graphics and Technical Performance

It is actually astounding that both these games will run on mobile.

Engine and Visuals

  • NTE: Unreal Engine 5 for "next-gen" details; TGS demos praised anomaly effects, high-res urban scenery, and 4K upscaling in betas, creating immersive, glossy supernatural visuals that pop during events.
  • Ananta: Unity 6 with vibrant anime art and smooth animations; footage shows minor glitches but strong action sequences, with pleasing cel-shaded styles that avoid hyper-realism fatigue, as noted in reactions.

Performance Notes

  • NTE: Polished performance in urban pops, with UE5 enabling detailed anomaly distortions and lighting.
  • Ananta: Demands high specs for fluid parkour and destruction; mobile risks "cooking" devices, but PS5 demo ran smoothly at TGS, highlighting potential optimizations.

Platforms and Accessibility

NTE Gacha system

Supported Devices

  • NTE: Mobile-focused TGS demo; PC and console versions implied through betas and cross-platform teases; pre-registration open for global access.
  • Ananta: PS5 demo at TGS; PC, iOS, and Android confirmed, with cross-save progression; offline technical tests soon, and Razer collab hints at optimized hardware demos.

Release Timeline

  • NTE: Ongoing betas, no firm date, but TGS presence builds hype for potential 2026 launch.
  • Ananta: Development extended to compete with NTE; global launch eyed for Q2 2026, with 15-minute playable demos at TGS drawing crowds.

Monetization and Business Model

  • NTE: Gacha model but you can get the banner character as long as you reach pity. This is a huge improvement over other gacha titles.
  • Ananta: Apparently you can unlock all characters by playing. Monetization would be for cosmetics only.

Which is the better Anime GTA?

Overall, the two games look about the same, except for the combat aspect. As NTE is a gacha, it would continuously release more and more characters, while Ananta's characters are completely free. As characters abilities in NTE are unique, the gameplay will be more challenging and have more variants than Ananta.

All characters in Ananta seems to be more generic, but that also means the game is much easier to get into.

In conclusion, it comes down to which gameplay you prefer. I personally like NTE more as I just need RPG progressions in my games.