Hotta Studio, best known for the uneven but ambitious Tower of Fantasy, returns with Neverness to Everness, a supernatural urban RPG that trades sci-fi for modern mysticism. Set in a gorgeously realized contemporary city where the occult bleeds into everyday life, it’s a game that understands atmosphere better than almost anything in its genre. The opening hours unfold like a Persona game directed by a Hong Kong noir filmmaker—moody, deliberate, and absolutely dripping with style. When you’re investigating cursed apartment buildings or tracking spectral anomalies through neon-lit alleys, NtE feels genuinely special.
Combat borrows liberally from Hotta’s gacha game playbook, blending character-switching action with elemental synergies and flashy ultimate abilities. It works surprisingly well here, liberated from the free-to-play constraints that hobbled Tower of Fantasy. Boss encounters against reality-warping entities demand pattern recognition and team composition thought, though standard street fights can devolve into button-mashing monotony. The urban open world rewards exploration with hidden shrines, side cases involving trapped spirits, and environmental storytelling that actually matters. Performance across platforms is impressively stable, though the iOS version makes curious concessions to draw distance.
What holds Neverness back from greatness is its unwillingness to commit to a singular vision. The supernatural detective framework clashes with generic MMO-style fetch quests. Pacing lurches between contemplative investigation and frantic action without graceful transitions. The gacha-adjacent character acquisition system—even in this premium release—feels like a vestigial tail from Hotta’s previous work, undermining what could’ve been a tighter narrative experience. Still, when this game locks into its groove, chasing down paranormal mysteries through rain-slicked streets, it’s magic.
