Neverness to Everness launches April 29, and it is the kind of free-to-play RPG that is worth separating from the usual pre-registration noise. Hotta Studio is not just putting another anime-styled open world into the market. It is trying to move from Tower of Fantasy's sci-fi wilderness into a busier urban fantasy pitch, with a global launch across Windows PC, PlayStation 5, iOS, Android and Mac.
The official launch FAQ says NTE goes live April 29 at 11:00 a.m. UTC+8, which is 3:00 a.m. UTC. Account progress carries across Windows PC, Mac, PS5, iOS and Android when players use a PWG Account, although server data is separate between Asia, America, Europe and Southeast Asia. That matters for a game chasing the same long-session, multi-device habits that now define much of the gacha RPG audience.
Neverness to Everness did not make our new games worth watching this week, where MotoGP 26 and INDUSTRIA 2 already had strong April 29 hooks. It earns the closer look because the April 29 release is bigger than a quiet PC indie slot. A new Hotta Studio launch with PC, console and mobile support lands directly in one of gaming's most competitive lanes: the open-world live-service RPG, where players already have years of investment in Genshin Impact, Honkai: Star Rail, Wuthering Waves and Tower of Fantasy itself.
Hotta Studio gets another shot after Tower of Fantasy
The developer-history angle is important here because Hotta Studio already knows both the opportunity and the baggage of this space. Tower of Fantasy gave the studio global visibility as a shared open-world RPG from developer Hotta Studio and publisher Perfect World Games. Its Steam page still shows the mixed reality of that reception: a large free-to-play audience, but "Mixed" overall user reviews across more than 11,000 ratings and "Mostly Negative" recent reviews at the time checked.
That does not doom Neverness to Everness. It does explain why this launch is interesting. Players who tried Tower of Fantasy remember the promise of a large anime sci-fi world with co-op exploration, weapons and character collection, but they also remember the friction that can come with performance, grind, monetization, update cadence and live-service sprawl. NTE arrives with a chance to keep Hotta's strengths, spectacle, character-driven combat and platform reach, while showing that the studio has learned from the parts of Tower of Fantasy that wore players down.
The setting helps. Instead of another ruined planet or fantasy continent, Neverness to Everness opens in Hethereau, a city where supernatural anomalies are part of daily life. The official event page describes the player as the first "unlicensed" Anomaly Hunter, working with the antique shop Eibon to handle public commissions. That gives the game a sharper identity than its acronym suggests: urban mysteries, strange clients, stylish companions and a city that can turn ordinary streets into something unstable.
The launch details players should know
NTE is free to play, with optional in-game purchases listed on the PlayStation Store. The PS5 listing identifies Perfect Entertainment Co., LTD. as publisher on that platform and lists the release date as April 29, 2026. The official FAQ adds that the game supports PS5 Pro, Windows PC, App Store, Google Play, Apple Mac and Google Play PC availability.
The download is not tiny. Hotta lists at least 60GB of free space for the Windows version, with another 60GB temporarily required during extraction. Mobile players need at least 20GB free on iOS or Android. Recommended PC specs include an Intel Core i7-12700 or better and an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 or AMD Radeon RX 6700 or better, while the minimum starts at an Intel Core i7-10700 with a GTX 1660 or Radeon RX 5600.
Pre-launch rewards are part of the pitch, as expected for a free-to-play RPG trying to convert pre-registrations into day-one logins. The official FAQ says global pre-registration and social media milestone rewards have been unlocked, including Beetle Coins, Elite Hunter Guides, Fabricated Dice, the A-Class character Haniel and an Officer Whisker glider livery. A separate official launch-events post says Version 1.0 includes more than 120 pulls just for showing up, with more available through earned gameplay rewards.
Those numbers will get attention, but the better question is what players do after the launch generosity fades. NTE's long-term test will be whether Hethereau feels like a place worth returning to, not just a backdrop for reward calendars. Urban open-world RPGs have a different burden than broad wilderness games. Streets, shops, apartments and transit spaces invite scrutiny. If the city feels dense, reactive and strange, the supernatural premise can sing. If it feels like a pretty hub stretched between activities, players will notice quickly.
Who should watch the April 29 launch
Neverness to Everness is mainly one to watch for players who like character-collection RPGs but want a more contemporary setting than the genre usually offers. The pitch has obvious crossover appeal for Genshin and Wuthering Waves players who are comfortable juggling dailies, banners and long-term account progress, but the PS5 and PC launch also gives it a shot at players who bounced off mobile-first RPGs because they wanted a bigger-screen experience from the start.
That cross-platform reach may be its best advantage. A free PS5 download lowers the barrier for console players who are curious but not committed. PC support gives the game room to grow through streaming, guides and performance-minded communities. Mobile keeps it in the daily rotation if the account systems behave. Hotta cannot win that audience by scale alone, but launching everywhere at once gives NTE the right shape for modern RPG habits.
April 29 is not short on releases. MotoGP 26 has the official-season hook, Magin: The Rat Project Stories brings Daedalic into a dark fantasy deck-builder lane and INDUSTRIA 2 has a clean PC shooter pitch. Neverness to Everness is the riskier spotlight, but also the bigger swing. It is Hotta Studio asking players to give it another long-term account, another city to learn and another live-service RPG to fit into their week. That is a high bar. It is also exactly why this launch is worth watching.