Neverness to Everness Review: An Urban Fantasy Gacha that Struggles with Style Over Substance

Regardless of your stance on them, make no mistake: the gacha video game market has consistently delivered unprecedented quality over the years. What started with a bang after Genshin Impact's release has slowly grown into a subgenre of games that has amassed millions of avid players.

And I'm pretty sure any devoted fan of this genre must've at least seen or played Tower of Fantasy from Hotta Studios. Well, despite the messy reception of that game, they're back with another adventure for us all with Neverness to Everness, their brand-new supernatural urban open-world RPG.

Given how saturated the market for these games feels at this point, there's a lot in NTE that feels ambitious, from its GTA-like presentation to its gameplay mechanics, which matches the depth of giants like Wuthering Waves. But just how well does it stand out amongst the pack to warrant adding it to your daily gacha game routine?

Well, if you've already got your favorites on the stove, this one might feel like another promising addition to your collection, albeit with a tad bit of a flaw. Let's break it all down.

Flashy, Stylistic, Yet Unbearably Formulaic Storytelling (So Far)

NTE starts off when a typical bustling day in the district of New Helios in Hethereau is interrupted by a massive tear in the sky, known as the Hypervortex anomaly, unleashing widespread destruction across the populace. At this point, I pretty much just pointed at the screen as Marty McFly does in Back to the Future, and told myself how I'd seen this one before.

Our protagonist, who has no recollection of their memories, just narrowly manages to subdue this catastrophe thanks to the aid of the Bureau of Anomaly Control. We butt heads with them and get recruited on the spot thanks to our special sense of anomalies, as well as get a brief introductory scene with the director of the bureau at HQ, Alphard. This is also where we meet the eccentric and erratic Mint, one of the central characters in the game's ever-growing roster.

After clearing another sudden anomaly right at the epicenter of the Headquarters with Mint, she takes us to a secluded area on the outskirts of the city, with a proper introduction to our staying place at Eibon and the surrounding neighborhood. While an otherworldly antique shop at the front, the backend of Eibon's eerily cozy little storefront is a group of unlicensed anomaly hunters like yourself.

I played a huge chunk of the story right until the closing sections of the first act, until I got severely level-gated. The game kicks off with strong momentum, much like similar games in the subgenre I've played before. There’s an immediate sense of mystery, and the world does a good job of revealing itself through events rather than long exposition dumps.

However, that early intrigue doesn’t hold up later on. Although the writing style and overall presentation of the story are very anime-like, flashy, and comical, it offers little to keep me invested in what's happening.

I very much prefer the tighter pacing and consistency of Zenless Zone Zero to the overly stylistic one in NTE. Some of the Anomaly cases here are genuinely entertaining, with a couple of fun puzzle sections. But again, it fails to keep me invested in the world as a whole, as the characters mainly do the uplifting here with their whimsical demeanor. There is, for sure, a good balance, but even the excessively kooky anime bits in the presentation failed to keep me engaged.

A Stunning and Thriving City Full of Interactivity

To anyone who may have mistaken this game for the yet-to-be-released Ananta, trust me, NTE manages to carve out an identity of its own that may give that title a run for its money. While that one looks a bit too overambitious for my liking with all the swinging and GTA-like mechanics, this one (thankfully) takes the latter trait on with a lighthearted spin.

The game’s biggest strength is undeniably its condensed dystopian world. It's filled to the brim with different activities, all presented to you thanks to the handy-dandy City Tycoon menu. The activities range from managing your very own café, completing deliveries, fishing, throwing down bets at the casino, spending time with friends at the movies, and even street racing. Yes, you heard that correctly: actual racing-event activities are present here, thanks to the game's GTA-inspired vehicular system.

There are actual real-world racecars here with some slight body modifications, but rest assured, you can feasibly cruise around town in a Toyota AE86 while racing across the highway outskirts in contested races. But hey, don't get too cocky about stealing cars as an anomaly hunter or using your powers in public, because if the local law enforcement catches you, it's time to spend time behind bars in detention. Thankfully, you can escape from there via some underhanded ways, but yeah, don't even get yourself in there in the first place.

The city feels alive in a way that’s subtle rather than overwhelming. Even whilst you're traveling from Point A to B without using fast travel markers, you'll likely run into local crime scenes or enemies that you can defeat for some extra cash and resources. Not only is it generous, but it also has a pretty laid-back vibe for a game that continuously switches from goofiness to slightly unnerving horror during the anomaly missions.

It legitimately feels like a life-sim with how you have to actually earn money and work your way up to afford better cars or just maintain a resourceful lifestyle, especially when you're giving lifts to pedestrians or just doing other jobs for a quick chunk of change. The entire city space is pretty composed, so you won't ever feel like it's too bloated or huge, at least until they decide to (possibly) expand the map in future versions with major updates.

And for all The Sims fans out there, I just know they're going to have a field day with the café management and housing elements. Think of the former as the Video Rental store from Zenless Zone Zero, but with a bit more added depth. You can interact and set up the menu with various different concoctions of drinks, as well as assign various characters to generate that passive revenue whilst you're out slaying demonic anomalies with your crew.

Finally, once you get your own living space in the apartments, you can decorate it with all kinds of furniture that's obtainable from various sources, even from combat encounters. For all the cultured waifuheads out there, you can also invite your favorite characters over as long as you've reached an optimal bond level with them, because who doesn't want to spend some quality time with Mint or Daffodil?

Atmospheric and Ambitious, But Not Without Flaws

I tried not to draw too many comparisons of this game to it's extremely successful counterparts, but the thing is, the combat of Neverness to Everness is bound to make it feel comparable due to the 1:1 similarities to Wuthering Waves and Zenless Zone Zero. Dare I say, the action combat design elements here feel much stiffer and more superficial than in those two games.

The parrying, swapping, and counterattack mechanics should feel relatively familiar to anyone who's played those two games. But even if not, I strongly recommend checking them out either way, as the combat feels snappier and punchier in both those titles. Look, don't get me wrong, the characters here definitely have unique kits and setups, especially with the elemental system in place, but the foundation itself being completely similar in execution doesn't help it stand out.

The team-building synergy is also there, which is needed if you're going up against the game's endgame Beyond the Rail activity and other tough boss fight scenarios. But thankfully, it differs in areas like the game's artifact system, where you slot these Tetris-like block pieces into a character's console device to increase their stats and provide bonuses. The better space management and optimization of these blocks, the more bonuses you get, so it's like playing an interactive mini-game to build your characters.

Finally, I'm sure many people will want to know about the game's gacha mechanic generosity, and I'm pleased to inform you that it does that exceptionally well, albeit with some minor setbacks. The biggest highlight is that there is no 50/50 chance here, but you still have your usual 70-pull soft pity and 90-pull hard pity. And after 50 rolls, you can freely select an S-rank character from the standard pool.

The gacha system itself takes place on a gameboard where your pulls end up rolling a dice cube, and take it from me that the game will reward you handsomely with resources, even on the basic pulls. And if you spend enough on pulls, you can transform the board into a temporary festive one that greatly enhances your rewards and your chances of pulling an S-rank character.

Now, it wouldn't be a UE5 game without the bugs and optimization issues. NTE runs smoothly on the PS5, but on mobile? Just don't expect a riveting tour of Hethereau. Besides that, it is generally a welcoming game that can blindside you with plenty to offer. If you can slog through some parts, it's a pretty chill gacha to play, especially since you can easily get value out of it with its charitable gacha system. Plus, who doesn't want to hang out with Mint? She's cheerfully adorable.

Neverness to Everness delivers a stylish, lively city packed with plenty to do, and its generous gacha system makes it easy to enjoy everything it has to offer without constant frustration. But beneath all that charm, the bloated gameplay formula starts to show, especially in its story and combat, which struggle to stand out in an already crowded field of other known gacha giants. If you’re already invested in similar games, this can be a fun, low-pressure addition to your routine. Just don’t expect it to reinvent the wheel since it’s more of a comfortable, content-rich ride with a few slightly annoying bumps along the way.