VANIA ANDANI PURIDA (30802300005)
For years, anime-style action games have impressed gamers with stunning visuals, over-the-top gameplay, and rich narratives. But as time goes on, the magic wores off and reveals a darker reality that loomed its consumers; that is the gacha system. It thrives on a FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) monetization model, where players are enticed to spend in-game currency or real money for a chance of getting shiny characters or items. After all, big game companies saw their ultimate money-maker from a desperate audience.
It has been acting as a mini lottery that spreads like tumor on many free games; where it often than not targets anime lovers. However, gamers are seeing a light at the end of the tunnel with the upcoming release of Ananta and Duet Night Abyss; where these two free games, still with their high-quality anime looks and gameplay, does not come with the tumor that is the gacha system.
Gacha is Just Re-packaged Gambling
Obviously people aren't
stupid; gacha systems have long been criticized for its nature in exploiting
players psychologically, especially towards a younger audience, to do excessive
spending in order to justify their status or survive the game. Indonesia's
economy would call this practice "maysir" or gambling.
"Let’s be real, gacha is basically gambling with a different skin," user u/1-NotReal on the Official Ananta subreddit made a post regarding Ananta gacha-free status, "You want the new character? You either save every crystal from past updates, or you drop about $400 to guarantee them."
Which is why, these two
upcoming titles are gaining many fans and hype all around. It was a case of
developers listening, not only in increase of quality, but the fact that they
removed or stopped playing around with the idea of a gambling system. Years of
people getting fatigued from being dragged around by shiny collectibles and
experiences looking for their wallets, gamers are overdue for a shift in the
genre of free anime-style action games.
Ananta and DNA's Surprising Choices
Chinese developer Naked rain Games, a
veteran studio from the JRPG industry, revealed at the end of September 2025 a
brand-new trailer for their upcoming GTA-like open-world action RPG Ananta. Of
course, being a free anime-style action game with such a high-quality
production, even those excited for it had already resigned their fate to a
potential gacha system.
However, they soon revealed news through the Japanese game magazine called
Famitsu that dropped the expectation-shattering news of confirming that Ananta players will not experience a character gacha system. Instead, all of the
playable characters can be unlocked for free as the story progresses while
monetization will rely on cosmetics.
No character gacha is a mad decision because they are THE ultimate selling point of these games, yet they're throwing it
out of the picture to just sell a true "one-time purchasable"
experience with cosmetics acting as optional decor DLCs. While they COULD go
ahead reveal a gacha model for items and what not, I feel it doesn’t come close
to the devil that is pay-walling characters with the most game mechanics.
Interviews with the Devs
So, is Ananta a sign of
upcoming free-to-play developers taking the right step? Or is it a rare exception
from them? Thankfully, during their appearance
at Tokyo Game Show 2025 in Japan, Ananta's spokesperson named Ash went ahead
and got interviewed during the TGS and by other magazine that's dying to know
what Naked Rain Games are thinking.
"We did this because we
wanted players to experience as much of the story of each character as
possible," Ash commented during the
4Gamer interview, "with character gacha, the story you can experience
changes depending on whether or not you can draw that character."
(Translations by u/TamakisBelly).
"This game is being
developed with the main focus on the player experiencing the life of a
character," Ash to a question during the
TGS on the aim of getting rid of a character, "... In order to allow
players to "experience the life of a character," we want them to be
able to freely choose a character ... we have made it possible to obtain
characters in a way that is not a gacha." (Translation by
u/EyeBallFunnyMan).
"As for detailed monetization," Ash
answering a question regarding a battle pass possibility by the IGN Japan, "we plan to consider the direction once the content is
more solid." (Translation
by u/TamakisBelly).
Honestly, I believe their answers chose to clearly stray away as they can be at this development stage, many fans at the comment section of Ananta's YouTube channel and Subreddit seems to agree on how they appreciate devs who care to deliver a good story more than revenue chances first. Even if cosmetics monetization became a problem, they've definitely got a good trust by not restricting the main meat.
There is also another highly
anticipated fast-paced combat RPG
game that also went for the same route (it even did it first!) which is Duet Night Abyss; an upcoming anime-style action game
with high-quality
visuals that removed their gacha system close to its launch,
unlike Ananta that planned it at the beginning of development. As such, they
are free to say characters, items, and stamina are free to get; so, there's
no ambiguous confirmation like Ananta.
Based on the media outlet
AUTOMATON interviewing its producer, they say this was a clear response to
community feedback and survey where players satisfaction was answered to prioritize gamers
enjoyment in the long run by preventing a forced
spending system.
Gacha Players' Reactions
With all this news, gacha fans on Reddit, especially r/gachagaming, had shared their thoughts on how announced big gacha games throwing the system out. It even got people stating jokingly that Ananta and DNA should just be discussed in a new thread for these trend of gacha-free anime-style action games. User u/TheAhegaoFox made a sarcastic comment about a new subreddit about former gacha games, "Hey, are you tired of real gacha games cluttering up your addiction where you gamble in them and you actually have character gacha banners? Get on down to r/RealFakeGachas!"
We're so Back?
The shift away from the gacha model was due to all the awareness surrounding its predatory jaws and the red ocean market, making game developers adapt and sell a more consumer-friendly product. Though of course, gamers and other fans are cautious of the hype. Despite the blurry details with development still fresh out of the oven, most are optimistic to at least try the games out. "Don't wanna be a doomer, but these games first need to succeed with this new model." a comment by u/ShawHornet with 450+ upvotes reflects on what many others are saying, "... if the games drop and sales are bad you'll never see games like these again. So better support it if you want more stuff like this."
Whether Ananta and Duet
Night Abyss will live up to their hype will only be told by
time, but its clear that the prospect of free anime-style action games free
from the gacha tumor is exciting many players. Even if they haven’t fully launched yet, these two titles is already a change of fresh air.
If they succeed, it could make developers to take notes of making a
profitable free game through progression and skill alone to make gamers spend
real money not in gunpoint, but through love for the game.
If any readers are interested in checking out this games, even just to support the monetization model change, the writer hopes to see you during a match/co-op session; because oh boy, am I ready to play already.
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