You Take The Train, I'll Take The Bus This Time: Transport Options In Neverness To Everness

Hethereau is without doubt the biggest video-game city I've ever visited. I've seen it compared to Grand Theft Auto's Los Santos but since I've never played GTA5, I can't say if there's any validity in the comparison or, if there is, which might be the larger.

It certainly feels a lot bigger than Genshin Impact's Mondstadt  or Liyue or Wuthering Waves' Jinzhou, anyway. And it also feels a lot more like a real city, by which I guess I mean a city you might find in the world in which we all live, something that makes it feel almost disturbingly convincing at times. 

I keep getting the feeling it's somewhere I might have been, once. Even though much of the architecture has a South-East Asian look to it, there are streets and plazas that remind me quite strongly of some Spanish cities I've visited.

With a city this big, there needs to be some way to get around. I haven't been playing remotely long enough to produce any kind of Travel Guide To Hethereau but I can offer a few anecdotal experiences. 

Walking, Running and Sprinting: 

The obvious way to start exploring any city is on foot. In the real world, that almost always means walking but in game-cities the default pace is usually a steady lope or a gentle jog. No-one walks when they can run.

In Neverness To Everness, you run unless the game decides you ought to walk. I was surprised, several times, to find my pace dropping to a stately stroll when I entered certain buildings, vehicles or specific outdoor areas. If there's an option to walk voluntarily, I haven't found it yet but I imagine there must be, assuming they have role-players in Hethereau.

Sprinting definitely does come under the direct control of the player. Just hold down Shift. As you'd imagine, it requires stamina, the amount of which you have left is shown in a tiny, unobtrusive, diminishing arc next to your character. So far I haven't run out of stamina before I chose to stop sprinting so it's a generous allocation compared to too many games, where you run out of puff before you reach the end of your front path.

Climbing: 

You can climb just about anything. Buildings, fences, vehicles, you name it. If it goes up, you can climb it like Spider-Man. This also use stamina but once again it seems unlikely you'll run out before you reach the top or at least some intermediary flat space, where you can rest a moment and refill your stamina bar.

Swimming:  

Also an option although the only time I've had to use it was when I fell off a parapet trying to snatch an Oracle Stone from a raven. (It's a thing. Don't ask. We'll get to it here, some day, I'm sure.) Swimming uses stamina too and again it gets you a lot further than it would in many other games I've played.

In other water-related travel news, there are boats in the harbor but whether or not sailing is going to be an option I couldn't say. We can but hope!

Gliding: 

Gliding is available almost from the start. There's a very brief moment where a tip pops up to tell you all you need to do is hold RMB but it passes so quickly you might miss it altogether. In fact, I might have imagined it. 

I think I discovered I could glide when I jumped off a roof and tried to turn in mid-air and found I was hanging from an anomaly that appeared to be keeping us both in the air by flapping its ears. I also think I'm meant to know who or what the anomaly is. I'm pretty sure we were introduced at one point. You can get different glider skins but the default is this little fellow and he's fine. 

Unlike sprinting, climbing and swimming, gliding doesn't use stamina so you can stay aloft as long as you can find more air below you. There's also no falling damage so it's 100% safe as far as I can tell. Don't sue me if it's not!

Driving:  

This is supposedly a big part of the game but after about three or four hours play the only motorized transport I've got is a scooter. It's a really smart, red one, though. Looks like a classic 1960s Lambretta to me. 

I'd love to tell you how I got it but I have absolutely no idea. I was just jogging through the city last night when I noticed an option of some sort had popped up. I didn't read it very carefully and I can't remember what it said but I do know that after I clicked it, I had a scooter and I still do.

Maybe it pops up the first time you go near enough to one. There are plenty parked on street corners around the city. Or maybe it comes after you've done some quest or entered some area or spoken to some NPC. It'd be lovely to explain how it happened but I can't. I guess I could look it up... ah, yes, it's part of the Prologue questline, apparently. 

The scooter is pretty easy to ride although cornering is... interesting. I found out about the prison system in NTE by crashing my bike into something when I missed a turn. The bike was fine but I picked up some Warrant points for damaging public property. Get enough of those and it's a spell in the pokey for you. Or, more importantly, for me!

Traveling By Train: 

In common with quite a few games I've enjoyed, Neverness To Everness lets you get around by train. Unlike almost every one I can think of, though, that doesn't mean clicking on something that looks like a train or a train station and being teleported to the next stop. 

It doesn't even mean entering a train, sitting down and being treated to a cut-scene of your journey. In NTE it really does mean getting on a train and sitting down (Or standing up, if you prefer.) while the train rattles along the tracks in real time.

I have played other games where that happens but the difference here is that the train is an actual, physical object in terms of the gameworld. You can climb up on top of the carriage and ride outside for the whole journey. I've done it. You can jump off anywhere along the way, too. And that!

The train comes complete with other passengers, opening and closing doors, realistically lengthy stops at every station and not at all helpful announcements. Just like the real thing except you don't have to pay and no-one asks to see your ticket. Well, if you don't have to pay, I guess you wouldn't need a ticket... 

Taking The Bus: 

This is the one that floored me. As you jog around the city, you'll see lots of bus stops, often with people waiting for a bus. Sometimes you'll hear an NPC complaining the bus is late or they've missed it. I thought this was flavor and it is but that doesn't mean there isn't a real bus service.

I only found out because I decided to sit down at a bus stop and take a screenshot. I thought it would look cool. As I was framing the shot, a bus pulled up at the stop. I looked at it, expecting it to pause and then move on. Maybe an NPC might even get off. But no, the doors opened and the bus stayed there.

So I got on. I mean, why wouldn't I? The bus, unlike the train carriage, is a bit of a tight fit. The camera didn't like me swinging it about so it was hard to get a decent angle but I was able to sit down inside and get a shot of me through the window, riding the bus. 

I think this is a first. I can't remember any game I've ever played, on or offline, single or multiplayer, that let me ride in a bus. Not that it's been my great ambition but still...

The bus isn't quite as realistic as the train. You can't get up and walk out the door when it stops or I couldn't, anyway, although that might have been the camera. Maybe it is possible and I just couldn't manage it. What I had to do instead was press "F", which deposits you on the sidewalk, just like it does when you want to get off your bike. 

I don't know if you can jump on top of the bus like you can the train and street-surf through town. I haven't tried it. Yet. I can't see why not, though.

Boothing It: 

And finally there's the Booth network, NTE's form of instant travel. Dotted all over the city are structures that look almost identical to the classic red K6 telephone box, as found all over Britain until mobile telephony rendered public telephones irrelevant. You have to visit these and activate them, after which you can 'port from one to another. 

Or so the game tells you. I've activated a few but I haven't used any yet. I'm having far too much fun exploring on foot, by bike, on the train and by bus. Why would I want to miss out on all of that, just to save a few minutes?

At the moment, in fact, I'm not even particularly interested in following the plot or developing my character. I just want to explore this fascinating city for myself, without any agenda or purpose other than the fun of seeing something new. Plenty of time to get on with the plot when it all starts to feel a bit too familiar.

That might take a while...