Neverness To Everness offers so many options

Michelle Brändle

29-4-2026

Translation: Natalie McKay

In free-to-play game Neverness To Everness, I’m a hunter battling monsters in a big city, taking on tough guys in illegal street races, and even starting my own band.

I find myself right in the thick of the action from the very first second. Playing as three unknown characters in a row, I battle black-and-red monsters on skyscrapers that look like the New York skyline.

My three fighters are clearly pursuing the same goal, but they couldn’t be more different: an enigmatic woman, an emo kid with a certain charm and a werewolf. The characters’ combat sequences are staged in an epic way, and I quickly get to grips with the straightforward combat system.

Then my own character comes into play. All I can do here is choose between a standard female or male character, but I’m happy with how they look. During the cutscene, I find out I’m in New Helios – a bustling metropolis described as «lacking character». Whatever that means. The problem? An alien-like force is plaguing the city with entities called anomalies. As a result, New Helios has been placed under lockdown and is currently attempting to fight these creatures. I have to say, this is a really cool sci-fi concept that Hotta Studio’s come up with!

I work at an antique shop – as a hunter

In the next cool animated scene, which takes place a few weeks after the events of the opening fight sequence, my character – who I’ve named Lynn – drifts through a city called Hetherau as a passenger in a car. The fact that a floating hand’s driving while a crazy DJ plays on the radio makes the whole scene seem utterly absurd.

The high-speed ride ends at the Bureau of Anomaly Control. That’s where I meet Mint: a cat lady with blue hair who tells me to go straight to the director. Mint’s charmingly animated, and I immediately took a liking to her.

My mission quickly becomes clear: I’m supposed to help fight anomalies and get to the bottom of my past – since my memories of it have been completely erased. So I end up working at the Eibon Antique Shop in Hetherau. This provides cover for a team of anomaly hunters, and I’ve joined them.

From now on, I can move freely throughout the open world and discover all the details and people in my neighbourhood. There are fascinating buildings on every corner that I can enter and explore.

The basic concept: fighting anomalies

The first anomaly I have to fight is a spatial anomaly leading to another dimension. A brightly coloured door opens to reveal the entrance. Now I’ve got to find the Nexus: a key to eliminating or containing the anomaly. Whatever that looks like. My anticipation’s increasing.

Together with Mint – who’s now the second character in my roster – I slip into this dimension and follow the trail of the Nexus. On the way, I come across the black-and-red monsters I encountered at the very beginning. I take them down with dynamic moves and a combat system similar to the one I’m familiar with from Genshin Impact. This means that – depending on the character – I have a specific skill and ultimate. These constantly recharge during combat. I can switch between the different characters at any time.

After I’ve fought my way through the monsters, the Nexus appears. And it’s less of a «key» and more of a huge monster – the boss battle begins. But winning it isn’t so simple. Mint explains that particularly strong anomalies can’t be eliminated, only contained. But no sooner has Mint paid the monster a compliment than it starts to weaken, and we can finish it off. A cruel twist of irony!

From now on, I’ll take on these anomaly-fighting assignments whenever I feel like it. In return, I get Fons (the currency in the game) and plenty of rewards for more characters, weapons and gear.

I can level up my characters by completing missions. This is achieved through combat experience, but also using various pieces of equipment, known as cartridges and modules. At first, I’m a little overwhelmed by how this gear system works, but I get walked through it step by step and I’m given a guide for more details. This suggests that Hotta Studio may be financing the game by selling these gear pieces and characters in-game. It remains to be seen how this will turn out.

The antique shop and a family mission

At Eibon, butler Adler takes care of me – along with his restorer Taygedo: a spirited little dog with a TV for a head. Adler becomes my third character as we battle a relatively harmless anomaly in the antique shop.

The other members of the hunting party are a lovely bunch. The boss – Hitori – is pretty, but she’s fairly self-absorbed and has a serious drinking problem. People come to the antique shop every day with missions. But I also find low-level anomalies scattered all over the city, each marked by symbols on the city map.

An early mission really blows me away: Kodak – the owner of a photo studio in the city – is battling with an anomaly. Hitori decides we’ll all go there as a family so we can take a family photo once we’re done. The anomaly – a camera – constantly takes photos, causing players to be transported to an alternate dimension and transforming objects into images.

The quest feels like a horror detective game with creative photographic elements: inverted colours, chromatic aberrations and terrifying monsters that pop up all the time. And where am I, anyway? Luckily, the game keeps showing me which way to run. Finally, my family and I find the culprit in a dark room, and we take down the shrill creature that looks like a giant film reel. As a reward, we also get that lovely family photo we wanted.

After my battles, my characters always have to recover. My room at Eibon’s a good place for that. When I sleep here, my combat points recharge. If I’m not near my room, one of the payphones in the city will do the trick, or the Wertheimer Tower in the centre.

City Tycoon: from car races to band practice

Just when I feel like I’ve got the hang of it, NTE suddenly throws completely new game genres into the mix. On a Tycoon Map, I see that I can unlock various professions: from fishing, to driving a taxi, to starting my own band.

I choose car racing first. This brings in a decent amount of pocket money, but I have to make a significant investment up front. I want to use the Fons I’ve earned so far to buy one of those cool cars at the nearest garage. But to be honest, all I can afford is a little red banger. That should do me for now – right?

With my new purchase, I’m going up against a couple of office drones who spend their Sundays racing cars. The race has three stages, and I’ve to win each one by a comfortable margin. The controls are straightforward: I can steer and accelerate. But when it starts to rain on the track, I underestimate the extra force involved in drifting and keep crashing into streetlights and barriers. That brings me to a complete stop, and I struggle to catch up with my opponents after that. After my fifth attempt, I give up and move on to other missions.

Maybe it wasn’t the brightest idea to try out Taxi mode right away. I can give people rides around town in my old banger, but they’re always complaining about my driving. «Can’t you go any faster? I’m in a hurry,» «Follow the highway code» – make up your mind! Well, at least I’m getting paid for it. Maybe it’ll be enough for a better car or a proper repair after all my accidents.

In the meantime, I’m heading over to the Star Sign Live House, where my band can play in the evening in exchange for a few Fons – depending on how good I am. During the day, I can practise on my drum set here. To start with, I have five songs to choose from. I’m familiar with the concept: I have to keep the beat by playing the right parts of the drum set at the right time. On a PC, these are typically the D, F, J and K keys. That makes practising pretty simplistic – but fun for a quick break. If the developers included some well-known, popular songs in the future, this band option could have a lot of potential.

A cute story and stunning graphics

There are many cutscenes in between the quests. I like them, and the animations are charming. They also explain a lot about what’s going on, all the characters and everything I can experience in the city. Plus, they flow naturally into the gameplay. In other words, both the story and the vast open world look incredibly stylish. I constantly find myself wanting to take screenshots of the beautiful view. Too bad this option’s blocked until the game’s released. But I can still take screenshots with my characters in-game.

The anomaly battles, the sprawling city (which will likely grow even bigger in the future) and the many City Tycoon options all seem promising to me. On their own, they aren’t that complex, but they’re still entertaining, varied and challenging enough.

The charming characters and the interesting sci-fi story tying everything together keep me thoroughly entertained. I’m excited to see whatother anomalies are in store for me, what new characters I’ll get to meet and whether I’ll be able to prove myself in Hetherau with a souped-up race car.

Neverness To Everness is now available for free on PC, PlayStation 5 and mobile devices. Hotta Studio provided me with an advance version of the game for PC.

Michelle Brändle

Editor

Michelle.Braendle@digitecgalaxus.ch

Ever since I learned how to hold a pen, I've been doodling away in bright colours. Thanks to my iPad, digital art has also become part of my life. That's why I love testing tablets – from the graphic design range to the regular kind. When I feel the urge to express my creativity without lugging lots of equipment, I go for the latest smartphones and start snapping away. more

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