ANANTA vs Zenless Zone Zero: gacha, cities, combat and platforms compared

The main difference is how you get characters: Zenless Zone Zero sells its agents through a gacha system called Signal Search, while NetEase says every ANANTA character is unlocked by playing (fact in the registry). Both are free urban action games with anime casts from Chinese studios. Zenless Zone Zero, or ZZZ, has been out since July 4, 2024; ANANTA launches on January 15, 2027 (fact in the registry).

ZZZ is out and ANANTA isn’t, so this compares a released game with announced features; how sure each ZZZ claim is, we list at the end. Another free city game is compared in ANANTA vs Neverness to Everness.

ANANTA vs Zenless Zone Zero at a glance

• Makers: miHoYo and HoYoverse for ZZZ; Naked Rain and NetEase Games for ANANTA.
• Release: July 4, 2024 for ZZZ; January 15, 2027 for ANANTA.
• Platforms: both on PC, PS5, iOS and Android; ZZZ also on Xbox Series X|S.
• Price: both free; ZZZ sells agents through gacha, ANANTA sells cosmetics.
• Setting: New Eridu vs Nova City and Chongxiao.
• Structure: hub areas and missions vs an open city.
• Combat: three agents and a Bangboo in ZZZ; no announced party size in ANANTA.
• Co-op: single-player according to Wikipedia vs co-op with friends.

Developers, dates and platforms

Wikipedia lists miHoYo as the developer of ZZZ, with HoYoverse publishing it outside China, and Unity as its engine. Unity China says ANANTA runs on Unity too (reliable in the registry). After the July 2024 launch, ZZZ reached Xbox Series X|S on June 6, 2025, together with version 2.0, RPG Site reported, and Steam on June 16, 2026, according to GamingOnLinux.

On October 28, 2026 the official site announces version 3.3, “Journey to the Sky”, as live; Notebookcheck dates it October 21 and names two new S-Rank agents, Phoenix and Severian. An Xbox version of ANANTA hasn’t been announced (fact in the registry).

Price and gacha: the main difference

In ZZZ new agents come from Signal Search banners. The limited channel features a new S-Rank agent, an S-Rank is guaranteed within 90 pulls, and the first one has a 50% chance of being the featured agent; if it isn’t, the next S-Rank in that channel is, GosuGamers explains.

In ANANTA paid content is mainly cosmetic, according to Famitsu and producer Ash Qi (fact in the registry). The App Store and Google Play still declare paid random items for ANANTA, which NetEase hasn’t explained (fact in the registry). More in is ANANTA free to play.

Setting: New Eridu vs Nova City and Chongxiao

ZZZ is set in New Eridu, a post-apocalyptic city-state next to Hollows, supernatural disaster zones, according to Wikipedia. You play as Proxies, guides through the Hollows; in the Pocket Tactics review, Belle and Wise run a video store, Random Play, on Sixth Street as cover for that work.

ANANTA has two maps, Nova City and Chongxiao (fact in the registry), drawing on Shanghai, Hangzhou and Tokyo (fact in the registry). You lead the ACD, a task force against Chaos, the supernatural anomalies in the city (fact in the registry).

Structure: hubs and Hollows vs an open city

ZZZ is split into hub areas and missions. At launch, Pocket Tactics found its areas, such as the Sixth Street hub, still quite small, with buildings like the arcade you couldn’t enter. Missions start from a PC in the back of Random Play and take you into the Hollows, where exploration used a grid of screens; Wikipedia says that mode was phased out of new content after version 1.2 in September 2024. Version 2.0 added Waifei Peninsula, whose exploration areas are larger, RPG Site wrote, though still nothing like Genshin Impact’s wide-open spaces.

ANANTA promises an open city where you can reach anything you see, by swinging, parkour or car, without stamina (fact in the registry). The developers aim for the biggest open world among free-to-play games (fact in the registry), and NetEase hasn’t published a map size. More in our ANANTA map guide.

Combat: three agents vs martial arts

In ZZZ you take three agents and a Bangboo, a small helper, into a fight. You control one agent at a time and can switch at any moment; a well-timed dodge or switch triggers a perfect dodge or an assist that slows time, Pocket Tactics writes. Wikipedia adds the Defensive Assist, which parries an attack as you switch in, and Chain Attacks by agents and Bangboo together.

ANANTA’s fights draw on martial arts, including Shaolin kung fu, according to Game Informer, and GamesRadar reports that every playable character has telekinesis (combat). You switch between recruited characters, but party size is an open question: in 2023 the team described battles with four characters, and later materials don’t give a number.

Can you play with friends?

Wikipedia lists ZZZ as a single-player game. ANANTA’s producer describes its multiplayer as co-op with friends, not an MMO (fact in the registry), and a NetEase representative told AUTOMATON that a multiplayer mode is in development (fact in the registry). More in ANANTA multiplayer explained.

How sure is each Zenless Zone Zero claim?

• Official, from HoYoverse: version 3.3 is live.
• Press and reviews: the Xbox and Steam dates, version 3.3 details, Signal Search rules and the game’s structure (RPG Site, GamingOnLinux, Notebookcheck, GosuGamers, Pocket Tactics).
• Community, from Wikipedia: makers, launch, Unity, the team of three, single-player mode and the end of the screen grid.

Which one should you play?

Our assessment: if you want fast team combat in an anime city right now, ZZZ is already on every platform ANANTA is coming to, plus Xbox, and costs nothing to start. If character gacha puts you off or you want a city to roam, ANANTA is the one to wait for; whether its no-gacha promise holds depends on its paid random items. More picks are in games like ANANTA.

Version 3.3 of Zenless Zone Zero went live on October 21, 2026. ANANTA launches on January 15, 2027, on PC, PS5, iOS and Android (fact in the registry).