Why NTE will give HoYoVerse a run for its money

miHoYo it previously existed as a company Genshin Impactbut it was the game that brought the developer into the popular console gaming zeitgeist in 2020. Then they did Honkai: Star Rail and then Zenless Zone Zero. All of these games and more are part of a collective known as HoYoVerse, and when it comes to free-to-play RPGs, miHoYo as a developer is probably the biggest.

HoYoVerse has received many challengers over the years and the latest is Hotta Studio, the developer NTEor Neverness to Everness. It differs from HoYoVerse in several ways, from faster combat through urban environments to how it handles progression. Find out more details about these things and more.

A comparable fight

Switching between characters and abilities in combat is seamless

Fight in NTE is comparable to Genshin Impact and Zenless Zone Zerowhich means it's an action RPG. Like Genshin Impact, NTE allows players to customize their team of four characters to bring them into battle unlike any other Zenless Zone Zerowhich only features three playable characters in the missions. Characters will not explore a city or anomalies together to fight together, but instead can be switched on the fly like many other open world games.

Switching at the right time will trigger an effect that can stun enemies, so there's a strategy involved. Although the action is comparable to Genshin Impact and Zenless Zone Zerosomething about movement NTE it's smoother and more fluid between attacking, switching and dodging at the right time. That said, for free-to-play games, the action between all three is pretty great.

Character bonds are more complex

Adds Persona flavor to the Party

For HoYoVerse games, Zenless Zone Zero is the one with the closest mechanics resembling a Persona– as a connecting system between the characters. While building relationships with characters is all well and good, NTE takes things a step further. Once a character is unlocked for play, or even when a main character is introduced, they will be added to the game's phone system.

Players can then talk to the characters and have conversations, often given the opportunity to respond with multiple options. This can also lead to characters unlocking exclusive missions once players complete milestones. Overall, it's a good system that allows players to match their characters more compared to a lot of games and not just HoYoVerse titles.

Everything you do contributes to some leveling system

Constant rewards, no wasted time

Most free-to-play games are pretty good at getting players invested in the experience, and that includes the HoYoVerse games, between leveling up individually and powering up other aspects of the game. NTE offers just a little more carrot at the end of the club to keep players engaged. For example, characters can be upgraded at any time if players have the right materials.

In addition to upgrading characters, various items that are like gear NTE can also be improved such as Arcs and the Console system. There's a hunter level based on missions completed and secrets revealed, and there's even a way to upgrade the town with help NTE City Tycoon app. Regardless, it never feels like he's wasting time NTE because everything will go towards different progression systems.

Visually comparable, but NTE has an advantage

It also runs pretty smoothly

Genshin Impact launched in 2020, Honkai: Star Rail launched in 2023 and Zenless Zone Zero launched in 2024. These HoYoVerse games still look great on PC and newer consoles, NTE is a newer game, it has a slight advantage when it comes to visual upgrades because it is the newest game. If players were to compare shots or screenshots of individual characters between all four games, they would probably say that they all look the same, and in a way that's true, since they're all anime-inspired and have cel-shaded visuals.

he said that NTE it looks a little better and is a little easier to tell when the game is in motion, like during combat. Switching between characters, dodging and attacking with different specials always looks smooth. So, while NTE can't boast that they are clearly the prettiest free-to-play game on the market, or at least compared to the HoYoVerse titles, they can be said to be one of them.

Finally, a Free-to-play Open-World City Game

Zenless Zone Zero is defeated

NTE takes place in a town called Hethereau and is fully open. Zenless Zone Zero it's partially open in that players can explore a smaller district that acts as a HUB world between missions, but that's about it. structurally, NTE has more to do with sa Grand Theft Auto than the HoYoVerse game.

The only time the game has to load is when a location is entered or a mission is started. Most locations, such as shops or the player's bedroom, will be rendered in real time. The urban landscape has an open-world feel and is easily distinguishable from HoYoVerse games and many free-to-play games in general.

Anomalies act as a creative mission structure

Diving into the abyss

The structure of the missions and tasks of the three main HoYoVerse console games make sense of the universe, but are consistent with the tropes. Genshin Impact is a fantasy RPG, Honkai: Star Rail is a space RPG and Zenless Zone Zero takes place in a modern/futuristic city. NTE of course, it also takes place in a city, but there is a twist on the traditional norms, because as agents of the city, players are tasked with stopping the anomalies.

These anomalies come in all shapes and sizes. Some of the bigger ones early on involve painting or dealing with a photography studio that keeps changing the background to look like photographic negatives. Anomalies can also appear during exploration, such as a game with a graffiti-covered wall that has come to life, or fish-shaped wind sleeves that have become sentient. Creativity in NTE it's excellent, so it's more open than many RPGs in terms of what the mission can be.

You can drive and race in the game!

Another nod to GTA

Another feature of Hethereau v NTE is that players can drive around the city. Their first vehicle will be a scooter that they can ride freely almost anywhere, from sidewalks to highways to the park. It can be invoked at any time, and once players have purchased multiple cars from the dealer, those cars can be accessed from the radial menu.

Players can nonviolently take over someone else's car even on the road, as they are essentially a special agent in the city. So if the car looks cool, they can always take it for a test drive. Genshin Impact later they got into the game, but that was years after the launch of a Zenless Zone Zeroand Honkai: Star Rail they have nothing comparable.

Explore in first person

No FP fight yet

Like an open world RPG The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim set the gold standard in many ways and one of the nicest features was that players could switch between first and third person view. Other than manipulating the camera options in the HoYoVerse games, there is no way to play the games in first person. IN NTE, there is a way.

When driving in any type of vehicle NTEplayers can switch to first person view. If he exits the vehicle, the camera will still be in first person. If players try to get into combat, the camera will temporarily switch to third person and switch back after the combat is over. It's not a pure option, but it sets itself apart from the HoYoVerse games.