Neverness to Everness Beginner Guide: First Week Tips

This Neverness to Everness guide covers what a new player needs in the first week: finish the prologue to unlock your free characters and multiplayer, spend both stamina bars every cycle, learn to parry and chain Esper Cycles, and save your pulls for the limited character you actually want. As of November 2026 the game is in Version 1.4 with Version 1.5 arriving on November 11, so a new account also lands in time for a fresh pair of banners and a login event worth 10 free Solid Dice.

We checked this against Icy Veins' new player, free character and Esper Cycle guides, Game8's beginner guide (updated October 9, 2026) and Version 1.5 preview, GameWith's multiplayer and property guides, and the Steam store page in November 2026.

What Kind of Game NTE Is

NTE is a free-to-play supernatural open-world RPG from Hotta Studio. The official Steam description sets it in the city of Hethereau, where you play as its first "unlicensed" Anomaly Hunter and join the crew of Eibon, a rundown antique shop that pays its bills by taking Anomaly commissions. Anomalies range from cute creatures to genuinely unsettling ones, and they live alongside ordinary people in a city full of shops, races, heists and mahjong tables.

You play as the protagonist, called Zero, Esper Zero or the Appraiser. Icy Veins notes you pick a gender at the start and can swap it later from the menu with a 24-hour cooldown. Zero is an S-class Cosmos character and stays useful all game.

The game has two halves that feed each other:

• Combat and story: a four-character party, fast action with dodges and parries, character swaps, and elemental combos called Esper Cycles.
• City Tycoon: the slice-of-life side, with businesses like a coffee shop, a garage for your cars and bikes, races, and homes you can buy and furnish. Almost all of it pays out Fons, the city currency.

The city also behaves like a sandbox. RPG Site's launch coverage describes a wanted system where committing crimes raises your wanted level and can bring police pursuits, with a detention center where you either work off the debt or try to break out. Cars, muscle cars, supercars and motorbikes take physics-based damage, and rain or snow makes drifting riskier. None of that is required for progress, but it explains why so many players spend their first evening just driving.

New players often ignore the second half and regret it later, because City Tycoon levels unlock homes, the free S-class character Chiz, and reward tracks with selection boxes.

Your First Hours, in Order

The opening is generous if you know what comes when. A sensible order:

1. Play through the prologue. Mint, an A-class Anima DPS, joins right after it.
2. Reach the Eibon Antique Shop. Icy Veins says Adler, an Incantation DPS with a strong shield, joins about 30 minutes into the story.
3. Unlock the gacha. Haniel, an A-class ATK buffer, comes automatically from the tutorial pull.
4. Collect your free pulls. Game8 says up to 40 free pulls are available after the prologue, which is why some players reroll at this point for a strong S-class start.
5. Clear Prologue II: Good Business, Better Treasure. GameWith lists this chapter as the multiplayer unlock.
6. Follow the City Tycoon tutorials to Level 5. That unlocks property, starting with Wiener Apartments at 200,000 Fons.

While you explore, find the ReroRero Phone Booths and other fast travel points, and climb the Wertheimer Tower in each region to reveal its map, as Game8's beginner guide recommends. Main Episodes and Spinoffs are your biggest early source of Annulith, Beetle Coins and Hunter EXP, so keep the story moving rather than clearing every side activity first.

One shortcut worth knowing: Game8 also suggests prioritizing world bosses and the Anomaly Commissions that reward S-class Arcs, since those weapons are free and save you Tri-Keys on the weapon board.

Two Stamina Bars and How to Spend Them

NTE has two separate stamina systems, and wasting either one is the most common beginner mistake.

• Character Pixels are your regular stamina. They recharge over time and are spent on Anomaly Zone rewards, mostly character and Arc development materials. A Rabbit Hole run, where Cartridges and module currency come from, costs 40 of them.
• City Stamina powers City Tycoon activities. Icy Veins notes it resets once a week, and Game8 puts that reset at 5:00 a.m. server time. Once it runs out, many activities stop paying Fons, though you can still play them for fun.

The rule is simple: never let Character Pixels sit at the cap, and never let a week of City Stamina reset unspent. Version 1.5 softens the penalty slightly by adding overflow storage for both, but spending them is still better than storing them.

Homes help here too. Game8 points to the Dream Weaver's Knot in Eden Apartments for bonus Character Pixels, and several properties raise your Character Pixel cap. Our guide to every NTE house covers which ones, and the modules guide explains how to turn Character Pixels into gear without waste.

Combat Basics That Matter Early

Combat will feel familiar if you have played similar action RPGs, but Esper Cycles are what separate an average team from a strong one. Each character belongs to one of six Espers, and swapping between compatible partners triggers reactions. Your starting characters already form two:

• Blossom from Zero (Cosmos) and Mint (Anima), which spawns a turret that shoots enemies.
• Hexed from Mint (Anima) and Adler (Incantation), a damage burst based on recent Anima and Incantation damage.

To trigger them you need a full Esper Meter. Icy Veins explains three ways to fill it: skills recharge it based on the Cycle Rate stat, basic attacking on the field fills it gradually, and a parry fills it completely. When the meter is full, the portraits of partners who can react with that character start to glow, which tells you to swap.

That makes parrying the most important skill to learn early. Game8's list of combat basics covers dodging, filling Cycle Rate, triggering Esper Cycles, reducing an enemy's Break Meter and parrying, and Icy Veins recommends using parries on your slowest-charging character so the whole rotation keeps flowing.

Build one team, not three. One of Game8's core tips is to put your resources into a single strong team rather than spreading materials thin, and the free four of Zero, Mint, Adler and Haniel are good enough for the early story.

Spending Your Pulls Wisely

The gacha, called Scarborough Fair, is friendlier than most, but a few rules still decide how far your Annulith goes:

• Finish the discounted standard pulls. Your first 50 pulls on the standard board cost 20% less, and completing them unlocks a free selector for one of six standard S-class characters.
• Hold the selector. It never expires, so open it after the board shows you what it will give, and fill the gap.
• Target one limited character. Limited boards have no 50/50 and pity carries between them, so saved pulls are never wasted.
• Do not ignore Chiz. She is a free S-class DPS from City Tycoon, and Icy Veins notes all six of her Awakening shards and five copies of her signature Arc are free too.

Our gacha system explainer covers pity, dice types and the Arc board in detail, and the tier list comparison shows which characters are worth your first limited pull. As of November 2026, Akane Rin is on the board until November 11, followed by Elyms with a Shinku rerun.

A Daily and Weekly Checklist

Once the opening is behind you, a short routine keeps an account growing. Based on Game8's beginner guide and the systems above:

• Daily: spend Character Pixels, ideally on the Rabbit Hole or the materials your main team needs.
• Daily: visit the Witch's House for one of three rewards: the Lost Tales side quest, a Bless buff, or a Treasure Hunt that reveals an Oracle Stone's location. Oracle Stones can be turned in to Blackbird at the Witch's House.
• Daily: pick up Oracle Stones and Gifts From 21 as you travel around Hethereau.
• Weekly: use all City Stamina on City Tycoon activities before the 5:00 a.m. reset.
• Weekly: clear the weekly bosses; in Version 1.5 the Amber Broodmother returns as an Anomalous Pilgrimage boss with materials for the new characters.

Keep an eye on two levels as you go. Hunter Level unlocks more Episodes and Spinoffs, while Appraisal Level raises enemy strength along with the rewards they drop, which Game8 says grow enough to make the harder fights worth it. Events add more on top: Version 1.5's Circle Gifts pays 10 Solid Dice for seven days of logins between November 11 and December 23.

Want a Head Start?

Everything above works on a brand new account, but catching up on months of limited banners takes time. Some players prefer to start with characters already unlocked, and the store's Neverness to Everness page lists starter and progressed accounts from independent sellers, normally labeled with server region and the characters included. Listings change daily, so check the region against the server your friends use.

Know before you decide that the game's Terms of Service do not allow players to sell, transfer, lend, give away or share an account. A fresh start with Zero, Chiz and the free selector is a perfectly strong way into Hethereau.

Frequently Asked Questions