Ananta has not yet launched globally. This page includes details from official posts, developer interviews, hands-on previews, and the January 2026 Closed Beta Test as of February 16, 2026.
The Captain is the player character in ANANTA. You pick a male or female avatar, give the character a name, and take the role of a newly appointed captain of the A.C.D. task force. When you arrive in Nova Cityyou discover the task force has been disbanded. Together with Taffya new recruit, you rebuild it from scratch.
Overview
The Captain sits at the center of Ananta's story. Wikipedia's summary and NetEase's own press materials from TGS 2025 both describe the player as the leader of the ACD task force, the unit dedicated to investigating supernatural anomalies and combating a force called Chaos that threatens humanity. Gameplay trailers from the September 2025 NetEase showcase name the on-screen avatar Chenxiu, a placeholder that reinforces that the Captain's proper name is set by the player rather than the game.
The Captain is one of four confirmed launch-roster characters, the others being TaffySeymourand Richie. All four are unlocked through story progression with no gacha. Character previews describe the Captain as the balanced all-rounder of the team: combat, traversal, and leadership duties are all built into the base kit, whereas the other three specialize in speed, technical infiltration, and close-quarters brawling.
Customization
Wikipedia and the NetEase December 2024 press release both confirm the same customization scope. Players choose between male or female at character creation, set the name, then change outfits and vehicles over time. Physical build and story role stay the same between the two versions, with only minor dialogue differences. The game's stated monetization model is cosmetic, so outfit and car purchases are where paid content is concentrated, reinforcing that customizing the Captain's look is a long-term activity rather than a one-time choice.
The trailer footage shows the Captain cycling through multiple outfits across scenes, and Simulation Daily's recap of the TGS 2025 reveal confirms a dedicated fashion store exists specifically to customize the crew and the Captain within it. Pre-release coverage calls out clothing and vehicles as the primary cosmetic categories, with housing systems hinted at for the future.
Combat Abilities
The Captain uses Chaos Liquid powers that look like a dark symbiote covering parts of the body. In practice this translates to grappling toward targets, slamming groups of enemies, and empowering punches with tendrils of Chaos energy. The visual design draws symbiotes and the manga Chainsaw Man.
Beyond the Chaos Liquid toolkit, the Captain shares Ananta's universal combat foundation: a two-button attack/block system layered with dodge rolls, counters, and heavy use of environmental props. Previews describe it as Jackie Chan-style brawling, with chairs, trash cans, and even cars usable as weapons. Gamer Rant's features summary singles out the Captain as able to slam multiple opponents, propel toward specific targets, and chain enhanced punches, mapping the Chaos Liquid ability set directly onto the combat loop.
Traversal
Like other charactersthe Captain can parkour across rooftops, wall-run, and use grapple points to swing between buildings. The Chaos Liquid abilities double as traversal tools, letting the Captain propel toward distant surfaces. See Traversal for the full breakdown.
Because Nova City is built with three vertical layers, rooftops, mid-level interiors, and street level, the Captain's symbiote-like swinging is the intended way to traverse the full stack. The NetEase TGS 2025 release emphasizes that accessible interiors across all three layers are core to the design, which means the Captain's Chaos Liquid tendrils are effectively how the player crosses the city between missions.
Team Leadership
Narratively and mechanically, the Captain leads a four-character party. In open-world play the Captain is the primary avatar, but during major battle events and boss fights the player can switch between the four characters, a system that multiple outlets compare to GTA V's character swap. Each character keeps their own routine in the city when not being played: calling Taffy on the phone or swapping to Seymour pulls in that teammate's full kit without abandoning the Captain's schedule.
Developer interviews from TGS 2025 describe the Captain as the anchor that recruits each ally. Taffy is the first recruit, Seymour and Richie follow through story progression, and additional allies are planned as post-launch updates. The player's job is essentially to rebuild the ACD from the ground up, assign roles to each recruit, and hold the team together against escalating Chaos threats.
Infinite Trigger and Esper Lineage
Early Project Mugen materials address the player as an Infinite Trigger investigator. Later posts continue to use Captain as the default title. Both appear to be in-universe handles rather than a proper name. See Infinite Trigger and Espers for more context.
Wikipedia's entry clarifies that all main characters and some NPCs in Ananta are Espers, people with supernatural abilities. The Captain's Chaos Liquid powers are the player's personal Esper signature, the way Taffy's transforming hammer or Seymour's digital reach are theirs. The Infinite Trigger title is the top classification for supernatural investigators in the setting, so calling the Captain an Infinite Trigger is both a rank and a description of the Esper specialization the player brings to the task force.
Character Sheet
Attribute | Detail |
|---|---|
Role | Player character, protagonist, ACD task force leader |
Abilities | Chaos Liquid tendrils: grapple pull, group slam, enhanced punches, swinging traversal |
Customization | Male or female avatar, custom name, interchangeable outfits and vehicles |
Placeholder name | Chenxiu (as shown in gameplay trailer footage) |
Team composition | 4-character switching roster with Taffy, Seymour, and Richie |
Monetization ties | Paid cosmetics focused on Captain outfits and vehicles, with housing as a possible future add-on |
Narrative Role
The Captain is both detective and street-level enforcer. Missions revolve around maintaining order, confronting gangs, investigating Chaos incidents that range from rampaging mechs to the game's running toilets-in-traffic gag, and exploring Nova City on the ground. The story frames the Captain's leadership as tested repeatedly: whether to pursue force or diplomacy, which incidents to escalate to the full team, and how to sort chaos from order when neither is obviously innocent.
The arrival in Nova City to find the ACD disbanded is the inciting moment for the main story. Everything branches from that rebuild: recruiting Taffy, pulling Seymour and Richie back in, and eventually fielding a full anti-Chaos task force capable of responding to incidents citywide.
Trivia
Gameplay footage from the TGS 2025 trailer shows the Captain's on-screen name rendered as Chenxiu. Multiple outlets note this is a placeholder rather than a canonical name for the character.
Ananta's monetization is focused on letting players buy new outfits and vehicles for their Captain. The no-gacha promise means that unlike most comparable games, the player is never behind a summon-rate paywall for characters, only for cosmetics.
Early Project Mugen materials pitched the player as an Esper with the top-tier Infinite Trigger classification. The Captain title is the present-day ACD handle layered over that earlier framing.
The Captain's swinging traversal uses Chaos Liquid tendrils rather than synthetic webs or grapple hooks. Previews consistently frame this as the game's nod to both Marvel's Spider-Man and Prototype's Alex Mercer.
Related
Chaos Liquidthe symbiote-like power source the Captain uses in combat and traversal
Taffythe first ACD recruit under the Captain's command
Seymourthe hacker who handles intelligence for the Captain's team
Nova Citythe Captain's base of operations