GTA and Spider-Man are big shoes to fill, but Ananta producer decides to raise expectations even higher with Marvel Avengers comparisons: "They are the protagonists of their own stories"

Upcoming free-to-play RPG Ananta will kind of be like you're Avengers-era Spider-Man in Grand Theft Auto, we think. Also, there's gang violence. Also, you can be an anime girl with bunny ears.

GamesRadar+ noticed the game's kitchen sink approach to open-world antics during our Ananta preview, in which writer Alessandro Fillari describes the title by developer Naked Rain as the "full-on 'anime GTA' experience." But producer Ash Qi also wants us to consider Marvel's noble Avengers, seeing as how "many of the characters in the game could be protagonists in their own game."

"We're trying to create a big storyline that will evolve, giving the characters focus, which will add new characters and new cities to explore," Qi says. "Take Marvel as an example; there are many different heroes and champions in The Avengers.

"However, 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. That's how we see our approach to keeping these characters in focus. We're also developing a feature where multiple characters can team up to fight other antagonists."

As it stands, Ananta – a free-to-play sugar high set in the dangerous Nova City – does seem to include at least one obvious nod to Insomniac's great Spider-Man game by allowing players to swing from buildings using strange, magic tendrils.

"We are trying to achieve a design that feels unique compared to other RPG games, and to capture some of the imagination from our childhood," Qi explains, "with cities being vast spaces where different people and professions coexist."

Though, it all seems to tie back to the butt-kicking Avengers.

"We are trying to create different personas, not just simple characters to play as," Qi emphasizes. "When you switch out to another character, your original character is still having his own life."

TGS players try Ananta, the game that looks like an anime GTA, Spider-Man, and Yakuza hybrid, and shockingly report that it feels like an anime GTA, Spider-Man, and Yakuza hybrid.