NetEase recently revealed Project Mugen, an upcoming free-to-play open world RPG with an emphasis on freedom of exploration, combat, and an urban aesthetic. The game is being developed by the recently founded Naked Rain division from NetEase’s ThunderFire studio. To learn more about what Naked Fire aims to achieve with Project Mugen, Siliconera spoke with Producer Ash Qi during TGS 2023 about the upcoming open world RPG.

Daniel Bueno: What will be the focus of the narrative of Project Mugen?

Ash Qi: Project Mugen is an open world RPG with lots of interconnected cities. The role of the player is that of an investigator exploring these cities looking for Chaos. In the process, the player will encounter allies and friends, and will discover the truth of why Chaos is manifesting in the world, as well as the truth about the player character’s identity.

What could you tell me about some of the characters shown so far that hasn’t been shared yet?

Ash Qi: Our philosophy behind character development is that each character will have their own background and identity, as well as their own weapons and features. The characters in Project Mugen are also designed to be relatable, normal people like us. For example, Taffy (the girl with bunny ears,) she is a lazy girl that can also show a lot of energy, and move very fast in her vehicle, a hammer that turns into a motorbike. Taffy doesn’t like to work, and sometimes will be tired while driving and almost fall asleep.

In footage shown so far, we’ve seen some of the tools for exploration and combat, such as the grappling hook, many vehicles, and swimming. What will the verticality that some of these tools add offer in terms of exploration and combat.

Ash Qi: We want players to feel freedom when playing Project Mugen, and provide an outlet to relieve stress within the urban environment of the game. We have various options for traversal and fighting. In terms of combat, we wanted players to be able to be able to user their environment to their advantage.

For example, if enemies are on an elevated platform, players can destroy the platform and throw the enemies to the ground. We are including many such objects and tools in the map that players can throw or interact with to defeat enemies, just like in a Jackie Chan movie.

In the most recent trailer, we could see some interior urban areas. Can we expect to see many of these, and what will they add to the game?

Ash Qi: We designed those interior spaces from two perspectives. The first one is, when the player is acting as an investigator in the game they are at work, and their target is to look for Chaos. Some of the Chaos are good and living peacefully in the world alongside human beings. But some of them are evil, and will be hiding in places like warehouses. These are some of the interior locales that will be present in the game.

The second perspective involves the player when they are not working as an investigator. When they are relaxing, players might want to experience the urban life. It’s just like us as gamers, or game developers. Sometimes we might want to go to a bar, or a café, or other cities. But often in real life we might be trapped in our worlds and we might not be able to go to these places. So, we wanted to reflect those feelings in the game and allow players to visit all of these places freely.

Going back to the methods of transport. Will these methods of transport distinguish themselves other than aesthetically? For example, having exclusive content for each one like swimming minigames, racing, or parkour challenges?

Ash Qi: Actually, we wanted to do the opposite. Since the game is already very complex and offers many challenges, we wanted to make it very easy and smooth to be able to move from one place to another.

With Naked Rain based in Hangzhou, China and having another team in Montreal, has that inspired the layout of the cities and the world of Project Mugen? What other big metropolis have served as inspiration for the world of the game?

Ash Qi: Our philosophy when designing cities for Project Mugen is that we are basing the cities of the game in reality, but we are also looking to surpass reality. For example, the first city shown might seem very familiar, like it belongs in an animation or comic. This city is based on a typical metropolis in Eastern Asia, and aims to reflect cultures of East Asia. We are currently developing new maps and cities based on cities such as London and Paris, among various other cities in the world.

Being a free-to-play game, what methods of monetization can players expect to be present in the game?

Ash Qi: Currently our focus is on developing the game itself, so we haven’t considered the business model yet. Of course, once we are close to launch, we will communicate it. However, we consider the game itself is very important, so if the product is of high quality you can compete in the market. Because of this, we don’t think business model is a problem for the development of the game.

What makes Project Mugen unique and distinguish itself from other possible competitors in the free-to-play market?

Ash Qi: Actually, not only in the free-to-play market but in the whole market, we think our game is quite competitive. Because we can provide so many emotions and experiences in our open world, we think our IP is unprecedented.

In the current free-to-play market there are a few open world games, but few of them are of this urban open world style. There are also some open world games in the North American market, but the focus of these games is on criminal themes. We provide a different feeling and tone. Our team is younger and we are aiming to provide more positive and relatable emotions.

Project Mugen is currently in development for the PS4, PS5, PC, and mobile devices. There is currently no release date set.

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