Neverness To Everness: A fresh look at the latest urban open-world RPG

In the past week, a new player has appeared on the market that seems quite interesting. Neverness To Everness, or NTE for short, launched worldwide on April 29, 2026 for PC, PS5, Android, and iOS. In China, players could already get started a bit earlier since April 23, but now we can finally play it too.

What immediately strikes me is that this isn't yet another fantasy world with dragons and elves. No, it's set in Hethereau, a fictional Japanese city where the supernatural is just part of daily life. You play as a sort of unlicensed Anomaly Hunter, which is actually quite funny when you think about it. You are literally someone who illegally investigates paranormal matters. The city is full of strange phenomena that you need to investigate and neutralize with special powers.

What I personally think is really cool is that it's not just about fighting. You can apparently also run your own business, race cars, fish, and even buy and furnish an apartment. I really appreciate that kind of freedom in a game. Some players have already found basketball courts on the rooftops of tall buildings, which shows that the developers really thought about creating a living city.

The launch was quite generous by the way. Players get more than 120 free gacha pulls, which is quite generous for a free-to-play game. Additionally, there is an S-Class character selection box where you can choose which character you want. That's a nice way to start.

Hotta Studio, the developer behind the game, apparently gained experience in creating cities in their previous game Tower of Fantasy. That experience shows, because the reviews I've read are generally positive about the graphics and the atmosphere of the city. People call it a true living city that really feels like a city, which is not always the case in open-world games.

There has been some fuss about the use of AI. Some players have noticed that certain background details and, for example, a billboard video look AI-generated. The executive director has admitted that they use AI for atmospheric elements and trial-and-error, but claims that the core assets and character portraits are handcrafted. I have to say I have mixed feelings about that. On one hand, I understand that AI can help with temporary placeholders, on the other hand, it's a shame if it's too obvious.

As for future content, a new limited-time character named Hotori arrives on May 13, and two other characters have already been announced: Lacrimosa and Chaos. Additionally, there will be a collaboration with Porsche, which is quite special for a game like this. Music from Persona 5 Royal will also be added, which is obviously amazing for fans of that series.

As for the gameplay itself, it's a third-person action RPG where you can control different characters. Each character has unique Esper abilities that work well with other characters, so teambuilding seems to be an important part. You can run, climb, swim, and drive various vehicles to navigate the world.

I think NTE is an interesting addition to the open-world genre. It combines everyday urban activities with supernatural action, which is quite unique. Whether it becomes successful in the long term depends on how well they keep updating the content and whether they handle the AI controversy well. For now, it at least seems worth trying, especially with all those free launch rewards.