Project Mugen Trailer Debuts Open-World Urban Fantasy RPG

Netease Games has dropped the first trailer for Project Mugen, an urban fantasy RPG that looks to be going head-to-head with miHoYo’s upcoming Zenless Zone Zero. It will be a free-to-play game available on PC, mobile, PS4, and PS5. While pre-registrations are now open for players interested in the title, Netease has provided no indication of when we might be able to get our hands on it.

As for the gameplay, the trailer available below makes it look like a premium offering. In particular, the traversal options are entrancing, with standard on-foot movement being accompanied by Spider-Man-like swinging, air dashes, and wall running. You’ll also be able to commandeer vehicles if that’s more your speed. Meanwhile, the combat seems to be real-time and extremely flashy, mixing melee, gunplay, supernatural powers, and Like A Dragon-style environmental attacks.

Following a leak of some snippets from the trailer earlier this week, some commentators referred to Project Mugen as an anime version of Grand Theft Auto. It’s easy to see where those comparisons come from given the dense metropolitan setting, but the team-based combat and the look of the gameplay seem to put it in more in line with Genshin Impact or Honkai: Star Rail.

The story takes place in a secondary world that blends reality with the supernatural. You’ll play as an Esper — which sounds like some kind of investigator — to tackle mysteries, partake in what the city has to offer, and ultimately save the world from Chaos. So, you know, pretty standard anime RPG fare, but at least it looks exceptionally pretty. It’s a “love letter to urban fantasies,” according to Riten Huang, senior marketing director at Thunder Fire Studio, adding that, “We wanted to create a world that players could relate to, yet find enough mysteries to keep them coming back.”

Project Mugen is being developed at Naked Rain, a subsidiary of Thunder Fire Studio, which is itself a subsidiary of Netease Games. We’ll be keeping an eye on it as we head closer to release so make sure to check back for all the latest.