Neverness to Everness finally launches with open-world urban exploration at your fingertips

I have been looking forward to the launch of Neverness to Everness for entirely the wrong reasons. Those reasons being crime. Finally, after what has felt like years of advertising, Perfect World's game has arrived. We can finally dive in and see if it is a hit or an ambitious flop.

You will be taking on the role of an “unlicensed” Anomaly Hunter, operating in the vast metropolis of Hethereau. Except, beneath the lights and the glamour lies Anomalies, and it is down to you to seal the threats and procure peace. Provided you can drag yourself away from the side activities.

The launch roster holds 15 playable characters to build your team with, and over 40 Anomaly Commissions to tackle. Or, put that aside and take a spin with over 10 customisable vehicles, but make sure to stay on the right side of the law. Draw police attention, and you'll find yourself in prison, where you have three options: serve the sentence with work, pay your debt, or jailbreak. I will be beelining straight to option three.

To help you on your way, and to celebrate a colossal 35 million pre-registrations, Perfect World is gifting all players 20 Free Pulls, 20 Elite Hunter Guides, 30,000 Bettle Coins, the A-Level character Haniel, and the Officer Whisker Glider Livery. You can easily add to this haul with over 470 pulls available through progress rewards, and the S-Class Character Chiz waiting to be claimed in the City Tycoon event.

I suppose we should look at the gacha

As you might have guessed with the talk of pulls, NTE features the scourge of mobile gaming: gacha. There are two featured banners to test out. First is for Nanally, who can use the Colucci Howling Technique to walk up walls and on ceilings, which is great for exploration. Or you can try to recruit Hotori, who has the ability to freeze time. You can do this during open-world exploration as well, where it might come in handy in other ways. Crime. It can help with the crime. 

There is much more to come in Neverness to Everness, with two collaborations locked and loaded. You can soon cruise around Hethereau in a Porsche, dreaming of the time you can upgrade to a Jaguar. The musical catalogue of NTE will also be augmented with tunes from Persona 5 Royal, Persona 5: The Phantom X, and Tower of Fantasy, and we all know Persona music is phenomenal. 

Neverness to Everness can be downloaded from the App Store and Google Play.