Neverness to Everness Review, Is the New Anime GTA Good?

The gacha genre has been facing criticism lately for repetitive mechanics and uninspired designs. Enter Neverness to Everness, a fresh take that could change the scene. After spending about eight hours in its closed beta phase, this game shows promise with unique gameplay, an immersive world, and a refined gacha system. Here’s a breakdown of what makes it stand out and where it still has room to improve.

Storytelling and Worldbuilding Improvements

One of the major upgrades from the first closed beta is the story. Previously, the narrative was confusing and mostly in Chinese, making it hard to follow. This time, the game offers more cutscenes and worldbuilding that clearly set the stakes.

You play as part of an anomaly hunting agency dealing with strange disruptions in the city. While the story remains somewhat complex, it’s more digestible and well-paced without overwhelming players with lore dumps. The tone balances lighthearted moments with serious consequences, making it approachable even if you’re not a story buff.

Gameplay Variety and Overworld Design

The game offers a rich open world with minimal loading screens, thanks to Unreal Engine 5’s capabilities. The city feels alive, with NPCs going about daily activities and detailed environments like wet pavements and dynamic weather effects.

You can enter buildings, open shops like coffee houses, manage employees, and explore at your own pace. The unique anomaly challenges scattered around the overworld provide varied combat encounters, avoiding the repetitive enemy grind seen in many gacha games.

There are plenty of activities besides combat. You can buy luxury cars and apartments, take part in delivery quests, and engage in city progression alongside character progression. This dual-path system keeps players engaged whether they prefer fighting or city-building.

Combat Mechanics: Strengths and Weaknesses

Combat in Neverness to Everness is clearly action-focused and draws inspiration from popular titles like Honkai Impact 3rd, Genshin Impact, and Zenless Zone Zero. It features an elemental wheel system that allows combining different elements for unique effects, such as slowing enemies or triggering special status conditions. Enemies have break bars that, once depleted, stun them temporarily.

While the combat system shows improvement over earlier betas, it still feels somewhat clunky and less responsive compared to its inspirations. Some abilities can feel unpolished, and the overall flow lacks the smooth impact seen in similar games. Combat encounters in the overworld are also sparse, focusing mainly on anomaly events rather than constant enemy encounters, which may or may not appeal depending on player preference.

Gacha System and Rates

The gacha system here has some player-friendly features. The game guarantees the featured five-star (S-rank) character, with a reasonable 1.88% chance per pull. There’s a soft pity at 70 pulls and a hard pity at 90 pulls, which helps limit frustration. An interesting twist is the inclusion of a dice mechanic on the gacha board, giving chances for partial refunds on pulls and adding a layer of strategy to summons.

The weapon banner uses a separate currency system and guarantees featured weapons after a set number of pulls. Overall, this setup feels more generous and transparent than many other gacha games, which may improve player retention and satisfaction.

Progression Systems: Characters and City

Player progression is split into two areas:

• Character Progression: Uses stamina-like resources for leveling, ascending, and upgrading weapons. The artifact system lets you preview substats before investing resources, reducing wasted effort on bad rolls. The game also includes constellations (similar to other gachas), but with a neat option to remove any constellation if you want to test different builds without permanent changes.
• City Progression: Involves upgrading properties, buying vehicles, and running shops. City stamina is a separate resource used for activities like delivery quests and commissions. This side of progression offers a different gameplay loop that focuses on lifestyle and simulation elements alongside combat.

Visuals and Performance

Neverness to Everness leverages Unreal Engine 5 to deliver impressive graphics and immersive environments. Character models and NPCs are diverse and believable, though some designs feel familiar or slightly generic. Weather effects dynamically change textures and reflections, enhancing immersion.

Performance-wise, even on a high-end PC, the game experiences occasional stutters and texture pop-ins due to asset streaming. There are minor bugs and physics quirks, but these can be amusing rather than frustrating. The lack of loading screens adds to the smooth feel of exploration, even if optimization still has room to improve.

Neverness to Everness is a promising entry in the gacha genre with its mix of action, city-building, and fresh storytelling. The improvements since its first beta are clear, and the developers show they are actively refining the game. While combat needs polish and performance can be spotty, the overall experience is engaging and often entertaining.

What could really make this game a standout is how it respects player time and resources through fair gacha rates and diverse gameplay systems. If it continues on this path, Neverness to Everness might just breathe new life into the gacha genre. Time will tell if it delivers long-term, but early impressions are hopeful. Whether you’re a gacha veteran or just looking for something different, this game is worth keeping an eye on.