Perfect World held a special preview broadcast today (the 18th) ahead of the launch of 'Neverness to Everness' (NTE), a new urban fantasy open-world RPG from its subsidiary developer, Hotta Studio. The development team appeared on the broadcast to share game details and introduce pre-launch events.

Urban Life in 'NTE': Where the Mundane Meets the Anomalous

The broadcast began with an introduction to the world and key themes of NTE. The 'Anomalies' frequently mentioned in the game refer to all supernatural and surreal entities that have existed in the world for over a thousand years. While the 'Circle' has continuously contained and managed them, a massive anomalous disaster 40 years ago brought them to the public's attention. Consequently, the Anomaly Management Bureau under the Circle has taken the lead in containing and eliminating these threats.

The main setting, 'Hetero City,' houses the headquarters of the Anomaly Management Bureau. Wertheimer Towers are scattered throughout the city to monitor readings and periodically detect and manage anomalous phenomena. Hetero City is home to various 'Espers' and Anomalies, with Espers ranging from those who look like ordinary humans to those with physical mutations. Players arrive in Hetero City as 'Esper Zero,' discovered by the Bureau in the midst of an anomaly while suffering from amnesia, and begin to navigate both daily life and anomalous events.

As a modern urban setting, Hetero City features a variety of vehicles. Once purchased, cars can be customized in tuning shops—modifying both the exterior and interior—to suit the player's personal style. Players can also invite other characters to the passenger seat to enjoy a drive together.

However, players must be cautious: repeatedly crashing into other cars or objects, or threatening pedestrians, will trigger the Peacekeepers to intervene. Vehicles can be purchased or requisitioned from citizens. Sometimes citizens may be uncooperative; while you can threaten them to take their car, doing so will alert the Peacekeepers.

If arrested by Peacekeepers, you will be taken to a detention center and held for a period based on the severity of your offense. You can be released by paying bail, serving time, or performing labor, or you can attempt to escape.

Beyond driving and jail time, you can use public transportation to explore Hetero City and acquire various types of housing. Through gameplay, you can collect furniture and decorative items to customize your home, invite other characters to swim in the pool, or engage in various interactions. You can even accompany characters you've invited to hold hands and explore the city together.

These features were partially revealed in the previous CBT, but the official launch version features refined voice acting and motion capture to enhance immersion. For instance, NPCs passing by will react differently if they notice the camera. A dating system has also been added, allowing players to invite characters to specific locations.

Funds for enjoying city life can be earned through 'City Tycoon' activities, which involve completing various missions. Players spend 'City Vitality' to take on side jobs like delivery, taxi driving, shop management, fishing, or playing in a band to earn 'Ponz,' the currency needed for city life. At launch, these activities will offer rewards like costumes and cosmetic items, and some content has been enhanced with multiplayer features to enjoy with friends. Additionally, reaching a certain level in City Tycoon grants the S-rank character 'Cheese' for free.

Combat System with Attribute Synergy and a 90-Pull Pity System

The second part of the broadcast covered key in-game information, including attributes, the combat system, and character recruitment.

NTE features six attributes: Light, Spirit, Order, Phase, Chaos, and Dark. Forming a party with characters of different attributes triggers the 'Esper Cycle' effect when support skills are used. As characters deal damage, the cycle gauge accumulates; when full, the character icons that can resonate with the current character light up. Switching to those characters triggers their support skill and the cycle effect, applying debuffs or dealing additional damage to enemies.

During combat, dodging just before an enemy attacks triggers an 'Extreme Dodge,' allowing for a special 'Extreme Counter' attack with a basic attack. When an enemy prepares a special skill, a red circle warning appears; hitting the enemy during this window triggers a counter-attack, parrying the blow and stunning the enemy. By depleting the enemy's 'Collapse' gauge to zero, you can leave them in a groggy state and continue attacking freely. Some enemies have specific elemental weaknesses, and using support skills or Esper Cycles that target these weaknesses depletes the Collapse gauge more effectively.

Key progression and combat content includes 'Anomaly Boundary' for growth materials, 'High-Risk Requests' for challenging boss fights, and 'Beyond the Orbit,' a periodically resetting challenge mode. Players can also encounter various anomalies throughout the city, offering unique experiences based on changing rules and mechanics.

The recruitment system was then explained. Recruitment involves rolling dice on a board, featuring a 90-pull pity system with no off-rate drops. If the featured S-rank character does not appear by the 70th pull, the drop rate increases. Featured banners also reward players with various cosmetic items, including costumes, based on the number of pulls. Byproducts called 'Directionless Artifacts' can be exchanged for recruitment resources and other items.

'ARC' equipment can be obtained using a separate currency called 'Triple Keys,' with an S-rank guaranteed at 60 pulls and the featured ARC guaranteed at 80 pulls. The pity count carries over permanently to other ARC banners. Some ARCs can also be obtained once through gameplay.

Meanwhile, to reduce the burden of character breakthroughs, 'I-Hwan' has adopted a system where awakening effects are not fixed but can be freely selected and activated after a breakthrough. For example, you can choose to activate a 2nd-breakthrough awakening option while at 1st-breakthrough status, rather than being restricted to the 1st-breakthrough option. Furthermore, you can swap and select other breakthrough options as needed depending on the situation.

The first featured character is 'Nanari Collins,' an Anomaly Hunter from Avon. Nanari is a Spirit-attribute S-rank character who enters an 'Electromagnetic State' when using skills. In this state, she can walk freely on walls and ceilings, and her basic attacks deal Spirit-attribute damage. Her Ultimate summons the creature 'The Second' to deal wide-area Spirit damage, while pulling enemies in and dealing additional Spirit damage with basic attacks for the duration.

Hotori, the manager of Avon, also appears as a pickup character. Hotori is a Light-attribute S-rank character with the ability to manipulate time. When Hotori enters battle, an 'Open Clock' is displayed, and energy accumulates over time. Once the energy is full, she can cast her ultimate, 'Surging World,' which deals area-of-effect Light damage while simultaneously stopping time. During this time, Hotori can draw her tachi to unleash more powerful attacks on enemies, with each strike accumulating stacks. Once the maximum number of stacks is reached, the time stop ends with a powerful finishing blow. The Nanari pickup event runs from server launch until May 13, and the Hotori pickup event runs from May 13 to June 3.

Visual and Optimization Improvements, Plus a Porsche Collab

The final part introduced improvements based on CBT feedback, launch events, and rewards. The official launch version offers a comprehensive experience, including detailed character screens, ray tracing support, a first-person perspective when holding hands, improved controller feel, and customizable key bindings.

Notably, leveling up City Tycoon unlocks a music player, allowing players to play their favorite tracks at any time, including while driving. Along with music player improvements, new tracks have been added through collaborations with 'Persona 5: The Phantom X' and 'Tower of Fantasy.' A collaboration with Porsche is also confirmed, allowing players to drive the Porsche 918 Spyder in-game. Offline collaborations are also planned, with Nene Chicken and GS25 confirmed for the domestic market.

Regarding rewards, all global pre-registration and social media milestone rewards will be distributed. For the official launch, the first five 10-pulls on the standard board will be 20% off. Within these 50 pulls, players can select and pull for their desired standard S-rank character, and the pity stack for the standard board will not reset after this selection.

Additionally, a starter attendance event will provide the A-rank combatant 'Umitsuki,' the S-rank ARC 'Moment of the Galaxy,' and 12 'Dice of Truth' (limited recruitment tickets). Extra rewards are granted as the account level increases, totaling 10 'Dice of Truth,' 35 'Dice of Deception' (standard tickets), 25 'Triple Keys' (ARC tickets), and 300 'Phantastones.' Leveling up City Tycoon grants 'Cheese,' her ARC, and awakening materials. Players can earn over 120 pulls through gameplay, with approximately 470 pulls available throughout the 1.0 version period.

To celebrate the launch, 1,600 Phantastones and 10 'Dice of Deception' will be sent via mail, with an additional 600 Phantastones provided through broadcast events. During version 1.0, Nanari's costume 'Academy Star' and Cheese's costume 'Breath of Green Bamboo' will be discounted. Pre-download opens on April 27 at 11:00 AM. Through the 'Hetero Settlement Guide,' players can guarantee an A-rank ARC, and inviting friends to pre-register enters them into a raffle for prizes including a PS5.

NTE will be released on April 29 for mobile, PC, and PS5. Further details can be found on the official community.