Neverness to Everness is an open-world game dedicated to the paranormal

Free open-world role-playing games are a dime a dozen these days. This thought came to my mind while playing Neverness to evernessan upcoming title from Tower of Fantasy developer Hotta Studio and Perfect World. What exactly could it offer that games like Genshin Impact or Wuthering Waves haven’t already done?

However, as I progressed further into the demo, I realized that features such as the focus on paranormal events and a sprawling city setting were what captivated me. I also had the opportunity to speak with Alan Dong, head of Perfect World’s overseas marketing team, to learn more about the ideas that inspired the team.

When the Neverness to Everness demo began, I was in a futuristic city called Hethereau. The cyberpunk-inspired ideas were full of dazzling neon signs and brightly lit streets.

Pocket tactics: Neverness to Everness takes place in a huge urban area. Was there anything in particular that made Hotta Studio choose this particular setting?

NDE team: “When we started developing NTE, our vision wasn’t just to create a huge open world, but to build a city that felt truly alive – a place where players could get lost, not just because of it its size, but because of…” its depth. Every decision we made was centered around one central goal: creating a more immersive and experiential urban environment.

Through the concept of coexisting anomalies, we incorporate traditional fantasy elements into this game. Anomaly is an umbrella term for all beings, objects, phenomena, places and memes that possess supernatural properties that are not based on reality from a human perspective. As for why we chose to create an urban open world, we find it more interesting and entertaining – both for players and for ourselves.”

Perhaps the most surprising thing about exploring Hethereau in Neverness to Everness was that I was able to drive a car to get around the city. Given the surroundings, it made so much sense. As a side note, I should mention that even though my Grand Theft Auto mindset kicked in, I was unable to run over pedestrians. They simply moved out of the way or bumped into them, which didn’t help.

Can you explain to me the technical process of designing large urban environments?

NDE team: “While we benefit from efficient technical support, the urban environment in NTE does not emerge automatically. The team designs and builds every corner of the city manually, relying on real prototypes and our worldview. While this approach may not be considered “advanced,” it is essential to creating an immersive and engaging urban experience. We believe it is necessary to focus on each neighborhood rather than blindly expanding the map.”

Hotta Studio also developed Tower of Fantasy. What makes “Neverness to Everness” different from your previous title, aside from the setting?

Dong: “It’s mostly about the themes, as Tower of Fantasy is more focused on sci-fi MMORPG ideas. However, Neverness to Everness [delves further into the supernatural]. We also designed the environment so that anomalies coexist with people’s daily lives.”

Anomalies are indeed omnipresent in Neverness to Everness. At one point I walked through a train car before the surroundings transformed into blood red hues and tones. Then an interdimensional door appeared and I was whisked away to a side alley. There, an inconspicuous vending machine suddenly turned into a monster that I had to kill using a character’s skills.

As far as characters and teams go, Neverness to Everness allows you to form a squad of up to four heroes. Only a few select characters were available for the demo. These included Mint, whose whirlwind attack allows her to spin and dash straight at targets, and Nanally, a tiny fighter who can deal multiple damage while spawning an underboss minion.

The character design reminded me of colorful, anime-esque offerings like Genshin Impact, Wuthering Waves, and of course Hotta Studios’ own Tower of Fantasy. Since I didn’t have much time to try out all the available battles, I’m still excited to see how the high-end gameplay is presented.

Could you mention the number of characters at launch as well as how the gacha mechanics work?

Dong: “We are still in the development phase, so we can’t really reveal the number of characters or the gacha system yet. However, we plan to conduct testing in mainland China so that players can provide feedback.”

As mentioned, I had doubts when I started playing Neverness to Everness, although those concerns stemmed from playing too many free gacha games in the past. Nevertheless, certain peculiarities and facets fascinated me. The game has all the right ingredients to be successful, such as a large, open world to drive around in, as well as a plethora of strange creatures and supernatural events to keep you on your toes.

There’s no definitive release date for Neverness to Everness yet, but we know it will be available on iOS and Android devices. We’ll be sure to keep you updated as we learn more about the game’s further development.