Sick of spending 180 pulls in order to get the character you actually want? NTE is flipping the formula.
With competition fierce among gacha games, the upcoming GTA-style urban RPG from Perfect World is reimagining the whole business model, as it attempts to steal players away from stalwarts like Genshin Impact and Wuthering Waves.
Those of you who play these kind of games will be familiar with the tried and trusted system they practically all employ: pull on any given banner 90 times for a guaranteed S-Rank, with a 50% chance of actually unlocking the promoted character.
This system can lead to heartbreak, as you exhaust all of your in-game currency only to be disappointed at the end. To make matters worse, in HoYoverse games, there’s a 25% chance you may not get your favourite character’s signature weapon as well.
NTE is scrapping all of this. It’s created a board game-style gacha system, which will still rely on pulls but will ensure you’re 100% guaranteed to get the promoted S-Rank character within 90 attempts. Furthermore, signature weapons can be unlocked during general gameplay.
This means, while there is still a gacha system at play, a lot of the random nature of rival releases has been removed. You’ll no longer need 180 pulls to guarantee a promoted character, but just 90 instead – a very, very competitive compromise.
Writing on X (or Twitter), gaming YouTuber Meloo described this disruptive move as a “big win”, while others have suggested it’s a sign of the competitiveness between rival titles.
Gacha games are intrinsically time consuming, and with so many options available on the PS5 now, each release is looking for a competitive advantage.
Of course, it doesn’t hurt that the game looks really good: it has life sim elements – like a sandwich shop management simulation – as well as all-out character-switching combat and even arcade racing with online multiplayer support.