Neverness to Everness
2026 action role-playing video game
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Neverness to Everness (NTE; simplified Chinese: 异环; traditional Chinese: 異環; pinyin: Yì Huán, lit. 'Strange Ring') is an open world action role-playing hack and slash game developed by Hotta Studio, a subsidiary of Perfect World.[4] In the city of Hethereau, the player is an Appraiser who explores the open world and fights hostile forces.[5]
| Neverness to Everness | |
|---|---|
| |
| Developer | Hotta Studio |
| Publisher | Perfect World Games |
| Director | Kee Zhang |
| Producer | Yang Lei |
| Engine | Unreal Engine 5[1] |
| Platforms | |
| Release |
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| Genres | Action role-playing, gacha |
| Modes | Single-player, multiplayer[3] |
Gameplay
The game is a 3D action role-playing game played with a 3rd-person view. The player controls different characters and collects items as they travel around in the open virtual world. The player character can run, jump, sprint, climb, swim, and drive various vehicles to move around in the world. The character's special movements, except for sprinting, are limited by a regenerating stamina bar that slowly depletes as they continue in that movement mode.[6][7] Each character has different skills, called Esper Abilities, which synergize with other characters.[5]
Players are able to switch between characters in a team of 4, and can perform common hack and slash gameplay mechanics like basic dodges, perfect dodges, and parries. Characters also have different Esper types which are split into Lakshana, Cosmos, Anima, Incantation, Chaos and Psyche.[8] There are also class types which are split into the gas, solid, liquid, plasma, and synthesis. [9]
The game features vehicle customization and upgrading business.[10]
Plot
Neverness to Everness takes place in Hethereau, a modern fictional metropolis where supernatural anomalies and everyday urban life coexist. As an Appraiser, players are tasked with investigating these anomalies, manifestations that range from disturbances to overtly dangerous phenomena, and using Esper abilities to contain or neutralize them.
As the Appraiser delves deeper into the anomalies, they encounter a rotating cast of companions with their own Esper powers that are crucial for unraveling the larger mysteries of Hethereau. These characters help reveal how the anomalies affect different parts of the city and its inhabitants. Their interactions and investigations gradually uncover a layered web of cause and effect behind the supernatural occurrences.[11]
Development and release
Neverness to Everness is produced by Suzhou-based Hotta Studio, a subsidiary of Perfect World Games.[12] The game was developed in Unreal Engine 5.[13]
The combination of Hotta Studio developers enjoying making Mirroria (a cyberpunk city) for their previous title, Tower of Fantasy, and the positive feedback from players, inspired them to make an open world game. Their "year and a half" experience developing urban content helped them complete Neverness to Everness in less than two years.[14]
Neverness to Everness was first officially announced, via the release of a promotional video, on July 16, 2024.[4] In November 2024, the game held its first closed beta in China.[15][16] A global closed beta test followed in July 2025, with a second and final global closed beta conducted in February 2026.[17][18][19]
Neverness to Everness launched in China on April 23, 2026, and worldwide on April 29.[20]
Reception
Controversy
Generative AI usage
In the days after Neverness to Everness was released, players accused the game of using AI art and AI-generated video.[22][23] Ironmouse, a VTuber who produced sponsored content for the game, ended her partnership with the company and said that the company had told her that there would be no generative AI assets in the game.[23] In response to the controversy, Hotta Studio issued a statement via the official NTE Twitter account, writing that "AI-assisted tools were used only on a small number of background and environmental assets, not on the characters or stories that define this game." They also announced that they would review and rework the relevant assets.[22]
Community response was mixed over Hotta’s response to AI controversy with some players remaining unconvinced by the response. Several commenters also questioned Hotta addressing two specific artworks, both of which were the most highlighted in the controversy, arguing that it might be a knee-jerk reaction if the studio doesn’t acknowledge other lesser-talked-about AI-generated content while many were convinced that Hotta Studio was attempting to downplay the scale of its AI usage, with not only in-game content appearing suspicious to some, but also advertisements circulating on social media platforms. On the other hand, many players seemed happy to see Hotta addressing the situation, hoping that would result in further AI cleanup and improvements to the game.[24][25]
