Has Neverness to Everness Gone Crazy?

Author / Hashichai

Edited by < the Kaopu Editorial Desk >

The producer of Ananta is in the spotlight again.

Before the new version launched, players overseas collectively worried about the mental state of Yang Lei, the executive producer of Ananta — because in a widely circulated image, he looked utterly exhausted.

In fact, that was a screenshot of Yang Lei accepting an award back in 2025, not the present. Through a mix-up, domestic players used it as an illustration in a discussion about Ananta's version 1.2 content output, and then that "new version's output has exploded, just look at the producer's state" post got translated and reposted by overseas players.

The whole episode was somewhat farcical, but it grew out of discussions about the truly "explosive" output of Ananta's version 1.2... It delivers 19 outfit sets, and alongside new characters and new vehicles, it even includes a full sandbox RPG. Before playing it, many players were already calling it "the strongest content output of the year" and "the most content-rich anime game ever," and after playing the new version myself, I have to say it too: Ananta has gone mad.

The mascot girl "Bohe" becomes a barbarian, the city transforms at the push of a button into volcanic castles, and in the brand-new storyline "Brave vs. the Crimson Dragon," players open the anomaly tabletop game "999 Nights" and enter the "Warren Continent," a map ten times the size of last version's "Sunshine Island." And the first impression upon actually setting foot on this map: this really is a complete, standalone sandbox RPG.

The gameplay has D&D elements while also being a very standard sandbox RPG experience: the protagonist leads a four-person party across the "Warren Continent" through four sandbox levels — snow mountain, volcano, lake, and castle — leveling up and fighting monsters along the way, picking up weapons and equipment, gaining buffs through identification, and even assembling special effects into different build playstyles, before defeating the final Crimson Dragon boss.

From my experience, the "Warren Continent" is packed with solid content — not just a big map, but scenery and environments worth seeing too. Beyond exploring and fighting, players will also run into chance encounters on the "Warren Continent," like lotteries, platforming challenges, and solving chess endgame puzzles. Different maps also hide secret levels requiring puzzle-solving, plus little sheep that need players' rescue.

The sheep play a key role in "999 Nights": they recycle unwanted equipment for gold, sell players high-level gear and essential potions, and you can even hire a sheep to help in boss fights.

In terms of combat, "999 Nights" follows the same combat logic as the city in Ananta, but paired with special builds — like "dragon flame" for fire attacks and other resonance effects — it truly delivers that satisfying, mowing-down-hordes combat experience.

In "999 Nights," one thing we do is step into the perspective of the dragon hunter "Zhenhong" on the way to defeating the Crimson Dragon boss, experiencing her growth and transformation. One interesting detail: "Zhenhong" is positioned as a commoner in the game, and before meeting the final Crimson Dragon boss, she rarely finds suitable equipment — at one point her teammates are already bonding over purple and gold gear while "Zhenhong" is still running plain white gear, with her dragon-form ultimate locked. All of this gets unlocked and experienced through the full story in the final boss fight.

On the other hand, the "Mystery Button" tokens earned in "999 Nights" can be exchanged for certain skins and dye items from the "Warren Continent," which you can then equip and wear in Herlot.

So in terms of worldbuilding, "999 Nights" isn't an abrupt, isolated add-on — it exists as an "Anomaly Realm" within Herlot, since after finishing a fantasy tabletop game you still have to return to city life.

Just like playing tabletop games in real life, "999 Nights" has multiple difficulty levels and supports repeat playthroughs. Each time you open it feels like crossing over from the city into a fantasy anomaly — this run you might be chasing a boss or encounter event you missed last time, unlocking a different weapon and equipment build, or simply going for another round for the meta-progression outfit rewards. Even the fastest clear takes several hours, and a deep run through the full story and combat content could take a day or two.

Of course, on some smaller issues — like enemy variety and the volume of story text — "999 Nights," as a 3D tabletop-style RPG, can't match many mature single-player RPG titles. But judged purely as version content, this time Ananta used a tabletop RPG as its brand-new main-story format, delivering an experience that is both solid and novel while telling the character's story well — a genuinely heavy investment in innovation.

Some may think this fantasy RPG setting is just recycling leftover assets that didn't take much time. In reality, Ananta's version 1.2 was well prepared in advance; as far as I know, work began at least before the game even launched.

In an interview before the open beta, Zhang Yu, then head of Hotta Studio, mentioned: "The team is already preparing version 1.2, which will bring a brand-new gameplay experience never seen before in anime games." At the time I assumed he meant a map like an amusement park, paired with some summer events as a future version. Looking back now, he was talking about this fantasy world of "999 Nights."

No wonder people say: while the industry was still digesting how Ananta spent four years building an open-world anime game, it then turned around and hand-crafted an "Ananta Souls" in just two months.

Back in the city, Ananta's new version is missing none of the expected updates: the new character "Zhenhong" and the soon-to-launch "Yiloy," a total of 19 outfit sets (some obtainable for free), new vehicles, plus upcoming new city gameplay like "Hide and Seek" and "Auction Master."

On the city experience front, version 1.2 of Ananta continues to go deeper. If last version was a racing fan's dream — with the Porsche 918 Spyder collab at the event and new "Dark Racing Scene" gameplay — then this version is a godsend for fishing enthusiasts.

Fishing players can now hang their catch on their cars, buy various fish tanks to keep fish at home, and there's even an event letting players spearfish. Players who have focused on fishing in Ananta are basically near max fishing level by now, and their rods have turned gold. With these new display options, fishing fans can shift their attention from posting screenshots in the comments back to raising fish in-game.

Other city gameplay also continues to expand this version: the "Little Sparrow" mahjong now supports riichi mahjong in addition to the "bloodbath" Sichuan style, the "Vehicle Racing" online mode gained a report function, and home decoration now supports one-click blueprints — this series of refinements is still all about catering to players of different tastes.

Two months after launch, Ananta players have gotten used to the city gameplay, but since the city system has its own separate stamina bar, the daily loop can feel grindy — especially once the novelty of certain city features wears off and they gradually become a punch-in-for-rewards stamina sink. This is a shared problem across the entire anime-game industry.

What Ananta does is reduce the burden and speed things up — faster stamina consumption, higher reward returns.

The new version continues the double stamina consumption / double reward events like Fangsi, plus a selectable S-rank character — essentially helping everyone speed through the transition.

On character design — what anime-game players care about most — Ananta has always stuck to a "one character = one complete experience" monetization model: every limited character comes with city skills and open-world mechanics, like "Nanali's" zero gravity, "Xun's" time stop, and "Zhenhong's" open-world frenzy sprint. Each banner also lets you pull a dedicated set of glider, vehicle, and character skin.

On top of all this, version 1.2's direct-purchase skin for "Zhenhong" comes with exclusive effects paired with the new vehicle — and "999 Nights" is practically a game made just for "Zhenhong" alone. Post-launch support for a single character has now evolved from outfits and vehicle effects into building an entire RPG.

In today's anime-game industry, no one can guarantee that every version's characters will satisfy players and drive revenue through the roof. Amid this shared predicament, the depth of Ananta's character design and the evolution of its mechanics show visible, significant improvement — which is exactly why so many players feel reassured and stay hopeful.

This "worth waiting for" support isn't limited to characters — it shows in every aspect of the game.

In the new version, Ananta specifically optimized character avatar frame display, with a more pronounced out-of-frame style in the UI. Interestingly, this fix came from one player's feedback: since launch, this player had been commenting and demanding the devs optimize the avatar display, pointing out that the cropping of "Daftier's" avatar was wrong.

After one adjustment in a later patch, the player kept "monitoring" the issue, and finally in version 1.2 Ananta optimized the avatar display — the crop position is correct now. Presumably satisfied, this player deleted all their previous feedback comments. The scene was dubbed by players the "Anomaly Purge," and the player was crowned the "Avatar Debt Collector."

In fact, the new "fish tank" feature also came from a player suggestion during the third beta. At the pre-launch event, the producer said on the spot: "We've seen that feedback — since the models are different it needs some time to make, but we'll deliver it later."

That video complaining "the fish tank can't hold fish" has now itself become one of the pilgrimage spots.

Similar cases happen every version: "Tajido" getting a mute option, "Xiaozhi's" city skill getting highlighted in "Pink Paw Heist," and this version's "outfit dyeing" and "outfit part removal."

As this trust gradually takes shape, every time I see player feedback and gameplay suggestions in the community, I start wondering what it would look like if the idea were actually implemented. And knowing Ananta, the more likely scenario is: the devs have already genuinely started building it.

In an anime-game environment where player trust is generally fragile, Ananta players' "worth waiting for" mindset is itself the game's greatest brand asset, and this long-accumulated trust from listening to feedback has gradually become Ananta's competitive edge.

Two months after launch, Ananta has provided many answers.

Before Ananta launched, the industry was asking: what else can be done with anime games? Ananta answered with an open-world city.

Now players are asking: what else can be done within a city? Ananta is pointing the way with the built-in RPG of "999 Nights."

The experiences available in Ananta keep getting more and more varied: players who love driving get racing, players who love fishing get fishing and fish-keeping, players who love mahjong get mahjong gameplay. The team has turned a hospital into an escape room, a prison into a "jailbreak boxing match," and now evolved into opening a tabletop game and stepping straight into a sandbox RPG you can play for days.

Under the city foundation, "999 Nights" makes a start — opening a gateway to different worlds.

Players are already imagining what comes next: someday after the fantasy world, a future version might suddenly drop a sci-fi tabletop game, sending you into a space map piloting a starship — the medium might be a tabletop game or something else entirely; wielding swords through a wuxia world, leaping across rooftops; a CD triggering an immersive live concert; a poster pulling players into the world of The Truman Show.

The point of "including a complete RPG" isn't just the difficulty of pulling it off — strictly speaking, it's not that hard. But even when companies have the production capacity to support it, not all are willing or able to spare the resources. The convention of the anime-game genre is: major version = new map + new characters + 1–2 limited-time events. Big output usually means a bigger map, more outfits, or perhaps one limited-time event presented as a sandbox open world.

But one of Ananta's core gameplay pillars is the city experience, and to enrich it, the team hand-crafted a persistent, replayable built-in RPG with its own progression system. More important than the brute-force aesthetics of the production output here is Ananta's deep commitment to city immersion.

What "999 Nights" brings isn't just an output-driven upgrade of the product's form. While the industry is still wrestling with the impossible triangle of production efficiency, content richness, and reducing player burden, Ananta has directly offered the solution that adding content means adding possibilities — opening a new gateway for anime games.