Neverness to Everness Launches April 29, 2026
Hotta Studio, the team behind Tower of Fantasy, has confirmed that Neverness to Everness (NTE) will officially launch on April 29, 2026, across PC, iOS, Android, and PlayStation. After months of closed beta testing and a marketing campaign that has steadily ramped up since late 2025, the game is positioned as one of the most ambitious open-world gacha RPGs to arrive this year. Pre-registration numbers have already climbed past 20 million globally, and the game's stylish urban fantasy setting has generated serious buzz across social media and gaming forums.
For players who have been following the gacha RPG space, NTE represents a significant shift in direction for Hotta Studio. Tower of Fantasy, while commercially successful, received mixed reviews at launch due to technical issues and a world that felt sparse compared to its competitors. NTE appears to be the studio's response to that criticism, built from the ground up with a new engine, a more focused narrative, and a combat system that borrows ideas from action games rather than traditional RPG rotations.
Gameplay: Urban Fantasy Meets Action Combat
NTE drops players into a modern-day city that blends real-world architecture with supernatural elements. Think neon-lit streets, rooftop parkour, and underground dungeons hidden beneath shopping districts. The open world supports full vertical exploration, meaning you can scale buildings, glide between skyscrapers, and enter interiors that other games in the genre typically lock behind loading screens.
The combat system is the headline feature. Instead of cycling through elemental skill rotations, NTE uses a real-time action system closer to Devil May Cry than Genshin Impact. Characters have light attacks, heavy attacks, aerial combos, dodge counters, and unique ultimate abilities that play out in cinematic sequences. Early beta testers have praised how responsive the controls feel, especially on mobile where action combat often suffers from input lag and cluttered UI.
Each playable character belongs to one of six factions within the game's world, and faction affinity affects both story progression and gameplay bonuses. Running a team of characters from the same faction unlocks passive buffs, while mixing factions provides flexibility for harder content. It is a system that encourages experimentation without punishing players who want to stick with their favorites.
The Gacha System and Premium Currency
Like most games in this genre, NTE uses a gacha system for character acquisition. The premium currency is called Lumina Crystals, and players can earn a steady supply through daily missions, story progression, exploration milestones, and events. The base five-star pity sits at 80 pulls, with a soft pity kicking in around pull 70. A guaranteed featured character system is in place, so if you lose the 50/50, your next five-star on that banner is guaranteed to be the rate-up character.
Weapon banners also exist, but Hotta Studio has stated that NTE will not lock core gameplay power behind weapon gacha. All characters are fully viable with four-star weapons, and the five-star weapon options provide incremental stat boosts rather than transformative playstyle changes. This is a notable departure from Tower of Fantasy, where weapon gacha often felt mandatory for endgame content.
A battle pass system will launch alongside the game, offering two tiers: a free track with basic materials and currency, and a premium track priced at roughly $10 USD per season. Premium track rewards include exclusive cosmetics, additional Lumina Crystals, and character enhancement materials that speed up progression without gating it.
How NTE Stacks Up Against Genshin Impact and Wuthering Waves
The inevitable comparisons to Genshin Impact and Wuthering Waves are already flowing in, and NTE sits in an interesting position between the two. Genshin leans heavily into exploration, puzzle-solving, and a slowly unfolding story. Wuthering Waves focuses on fast-paced combat and a darker narrative. NTE carves out its own niche with the urban setting and a stronger emphasis on multiplayer content.
Co-op in NTE supports up to four players for open-world exploration and up to eight players for raid-style boss encounters. These raids are designed with specific roles in mind: tanks, damage dealers, and support characters all have clear functions, and coordination matters. If the endgame raid content delivers on its promises, it could give NTE a retention advantage that its competitors currently lack.
The visual style also sets NTE apart. Rather than anime cel-shading or painterly realism, NTE uses a hybrid art direction that blends stylized character models with photorealistic environmental lighting. The result is a world that feels grounded yet fantastical, and the character designs lean into modern fashion rather than traditional fantasy armor.
Pre-Registration Rewards and Cross-Platform Play
Pre-registration is open now on the official NTE website and through the App Store and Google Play. Milestone rewards already unlocked include 20 free pulls at launch, a four-star character selector, and a bundle of upgrade materials. Full cross-platform play and cross-save will be available from day one, so progress carries over between mobile, PC, and PlayStation.
For players looking to stock up on Lumina Crystals at launch, top-up packs will be available through the in-game store and through third-party platforms. Topping up early often comes with first-purchase bonuses that double the amount of premium currency received, making launch day the most cost-effective time to invest if you plan to pull on the initial banners.
NTE is shaping up to be the most significant new entry in the open-world gacha RPG space since Wuthering Waves launched in 2024. Whether it can sustain that momentum past the honeymoon period will depend on content cadence, endgame depth, and how well Hotta Studio handles live service updates. But based on everything shown so far, it deserves a spot on every mobile gamer's radar heading into late April.
