Neverness to Everness preview - "An exhilarating, anything-goes RPG, but with an ongoing identity crisis"
- The freedom the open world offers is exhilarating
- Combat isn't as fluid as the RPG it's seemingly trying to be
- Theming isn't quite coherent just yet
Back in my carefree Tales of Destiny days, all that wide-eyed ten-year-old me could do to feel mildly insurgent was to sneak to a cave off the beaten path, in vehement defiance of the next town the narrative was telling me to visit.
In Neverness to Everness, becoming an outlaw is inevitable - so before you step into the colourful world of Hethereau, you'd best be prepared to embrace the full criminal life.
Everyone's calling it an anime GTA
In my aforementioned Tales of Destiny act of anarchy, the exhilaration of taking on enemies far stronger than I was - and getting beaten to a pulp within seconds - was an absolute thrill, because even though I'm the most non-confrontational person in the world, it's fun to feed my (non-existent) rebellious side every once in a while.- Etheria: Restart review - “An attractive RPG that will demand a lot of your time”
In Neverness to Everness, you're encouraged to cause chaos to add even more colour to the already vibrant city, as you're free to do literally whatever you want across its open world.
Want to commandeer a car from a hapless citizen? Go right ahead. Need to flex those itchy hands? Feel free to steal people's personal belongings while they're not looking. Eager to rise up the ranks on the police's Most Wanted list? You don't even need to ask.
Paint the town red and the world's your oyster and all that - plus, it's all presented with gorgeous Genshin-esque visuals powered by the Unreal Engine, with streets that look wet after the rain and nights that shine under the city lights when you're out and about.
And when you're on your sweet ride of choice (the RPG gives you a taste of the biker's life to begin), cruising through the highways without the weight of the world on your shoulders, anything's possible.
It's the end of the world…but this is fine
Well, in reality, there is some weight you'll have to carry along with you, as you're tasked with investigating Anomalies that are literally turning the world upside down.The futuristic society you're in is the epitome of order, but the unexplained Anomalies popping up here and there are ruining the utopia by turning otherwise harmless objects and locations into twisted versions of themselves.
Your first real commission, for instance, will have you investigating a seemingly haunted photo studio, with possessed inanimate objects that really did send chills down my spine as I was going through the missions.
Thankfully, the incredibly animated cast of characters fighting alongside you is more than enough to keep things lighthearted despite the doom and gloom.
The RPG doesn't take itself too seriously, with the 2D goofiness that sometimes plays out during cutscenes, and the overly expressive personalities that leap right off the screen.
An identity crisis in progress
While the main protagonist felt typically vanilla to me, the supporting cast shines not only with their character designs, but also in combat. Skills are flashy, animations are top-notch, and enemies look hella cool - especially that unbeatable police boss that you'll have to face when your Wanted meter gets too high.There's a degree of strategy here too, as you can time your dodges and unleash counterattacks while chaining combos together as you switch your partymates on the fly.
It's all well and good, but the thing is, the combat just feels very much like Zenless Zone Zero, even down to the cross icon that flashes for a split second right before an enemy attacks.
And while emulating the combat style of HoYoverse's urban ARPG isn't a bad thing, the problem is when that emulation falls short of the original - and that certainly seems to be the case in Neverness to Everness.
Controls didn't feel as intuitive, combos weren't as fluid, and attacks didn't feel as satisfying as Zenless Zone Zero - at least, from my experience during the beta. The animations are solid, sure - but there's a severe lack of polish at the moment, and clearing battles didn't make me feel like I'm a god-tier unstoppable force of nature.
- Mongil: Star Dive preview - "Colourful personalities and fast-paced combat, with a side of monster-taming"
Even the themes and aesthetics feel very much like it's trying to be something it's not. In ZZZ, for example, there's a clear music-based theme running throughout the RPG, from the lo-fi beats to the record disks littered across the currencies, items, and menu elements.
Here, the cassette tapes and icons feel random - there's no single, coherent theme that Neverness to Everness wants to portray.
And while the larger-than-life takoyaki restaurants and the tofu shop with a sign that looks suspiciously similar to Initial D are a nice touch, it all simply adds to the confusion. Because it's trying to be everything at once, it has somehow ended up with nothing at all.
At the moment, the freedom it offers is unparalleled - you can pet a good boi shiba rolling around on the street, by the way - but even that is bogged down by an identity crisis.
Does it want to be a sim where you can buy fancy apartments and fast cars (because you certainly can), or does it want to go full GTA with its open world? Does it want to be an action-packed Zenless Zone Zero-like with exhilarating combat, or is it content putting battles and missions on the sidelines in favour of the more looming aspects of the big city life?
Will Neverness to Everness ever find something it can truly call its own? Only time will tell. Of course, it's still early days, so I'm confident that it'll find its identity at some point. It's no doubt a gorgeous and massive endeavour, and I want it to succeed if only so we can have an actual anime GTA in the market.
Even with the beta's bugs, it's certainly got potential once it finds its footing - which I hope happens sooner than later, so that I can get back to my newfound life of crime.
