Does ANANTA have weather and a day-night cycle?

ANANTA has an in-game clock that changes, judging by press reports from the Gamescom 2026 demo: GAME Watch switched the time to evening from the character’s phone, and Famitsu noticed residents changing places with the time of day (fact in the registry). Rain appears in an official screenshot and in trailers, but NetEase hasn’t announced a weather system.

NetEase hasn’t described either feature itself, so everything here comes from hands-on reports, store pages and the official videos, with a timecode for every scene.

Is there a day-night cycle in ANANTA?

Two reports from Gamescom 2026 describe an in-game time of day, though NetEase hasn’t named the feature. GAME Watch played the Longqi Village part of the PC demo and writes that switching the in-game time to evening with a smartphone function brings a bright red sunset that changes the mood of the village. The writer was also struck by how the demo handles light falling from the front and from behind.

Famitsu’s interviewer told the developers at the same show that residents differ in looks, age and behavior and that their placement changes with the time of day. The developers answered that NPCs are built with care so that players feel they live in the city (fact in the registry).

The store pages promise round-the-clock city life. Under the heading “Experience the Thrill of 24/7 City Life”, the Steam and Google Play descriptions mention street racing at 3 a.m. and say that every hour brings something new. Nightlife is part of the pitch too: producer Ash Qi told TechRadar you can catch a live music show or dance the night away (nightlife and live shows).

Our assessment: a clock you can change and residents who move with the hour point to a full day-night cycle. How long an in-game day lasts, and whether time passes on its own, no source says.

Can you change the time of day in ANANTA?

In the Gamescom 2026 demo you could, from the phone, according to GAME Watch. The report doesn’t say whether you can pick any hour or only switch to set times such as evening, and NetEase hasn’t said whether the option will be in the release. The phone also handles selfies, messages and the in-game social network; what is known about it is on the phone and social media page of our database.

Do characters keep a daily schedule?

Yes, according to producer Ash. In September 2025 Ash told Famitsu that each character has a daily routine, such as the hour they go to work or a shop they often drop into, and lives by it while you play someone else, with random detours and the odd skipped shift (fact in the registry). Famitsu had found Taffy sometimes at a vending machine and sometimes at home after switching to her.

At Gamescom 2026 the GAME Watch writer wondered whether some residents act on the in-game clock but didn’t have time to check. How residents live and how you recruit them is in ANANTA’s city residents.

Does it rain in ANANTA?

Rain is on screen, but no source describes a weather system. In the official Longqi Village gallery the Captain spars with Tie Shan under red maples in the rain, clothes soaked and drops in the air (fact in the registry). The Launch Date Trailer opens on a passenger jet’s wing at night in a storm (0:01), and the Project Mugen reveal trailer from 2023 shows a wet street at night with traffic (0:36).

None of the hands-on reports we read from Tokyo Game Show 2025 or Gamescom 2026 mention rain during play. NetEase’s press releases from 2024, 2025 and 2026 and the Steam and Google Play descriptions don’t mention weather either. Fog appears in the 2025 gameplay trailer (2:42), but it comes with a giant monster over a traffic jam, and the trailer doesn’t show whether it is weather or part of the Chaos incident.

Our assessment: a rainy training session in Longqi Village suggests the weather in the open world can change, but NetEase hasn’t shown whether rain comes and goes on its own or appears only in set scenes.

What do the trailers show at night and at sunset?

Night and sunset appear in gameplay footage with the minimap on screen as well as in cutscenes. The scenes we checked frame by frame:

• 2025 gameplay trailer: a red convertible under cherry blossoms at sunset (0:30) and a neon street at night with the minimap on screen (4:06).
• 2025 gameplay video: a car chase along a railway at sunset, also with the minimap (5:35).
• Project Mugen reveal trailer: shots labeled “In-game footage” of a neon street at night (0:10) and a station platform at sunset (0:12).
• Project Mugen production video: the same city in the editor under a low sun, by day and at night (0:48). The subtitles there are about generating the city procedurally and say nothing about time of day.
• Launch Date Trailer: a low sun over the stone pagodas of Weilan Lake (1:42) and a selfie at night on a riverfront with a TV tower (2:42).

Our assessment: the production video relights one city under different suns, which looks like a test of time-of-day lighting. All the videos are broken down scene by scene on our trailers page.

Does ANANTA use dynamic lighting?

Yes, according to Unity China. In December 2024 Unity’s Chinese account wrote that ANANTA uses full-scene ray tracing, GPU-driven rendering for a very large city, an ECS-based system for large numbers of real-time lights and fully dynamic real-time global illumination (fact in the registry). On PC NetEase adds DLSS 4.5 for what it calls a ray-traced world (fact in the registry).

Our assessment: lighting calculated in real time lets a city go from day to night without pre-baked light, which fits what the demos showed. Neither Unity nor NetEase has said these features are there for a day-night cycle.

What NetEase hasn’t said about time and weather

• How long an in-game day lasts, and whether time passes on its own.
• Whether the release lets you set any hour from the phone.
• Whether weather changes on its own, by map or with the story, and whether there are storms, fog or snow.
• Whether seasons change: the footage has cherry blossoms in Nova City and red maples in Longqi Village.
• Whether time or weather affects driving, missions, shops or nightlife.

ANANTA launches on January 15, 2027 on PC, PS5, iOS and Android (fact in the registry).