Etheria Restart
Release Date	Gameplay & Story	Preregister & Preorder	Review

Etheria: Restart is an upcoming turn-based strategy RPG with a heavy focus on PvP. Read on to learn everything we know, our review of the playtest, and more.

Everything We Know About Etheria: Restart

Etheria: Restart Plot

As the real world faced ruin under an endless snowstorm, humanity created Etheria, a digital refuge where consciousness could live on. In this virtual world, humans and powerful beings called Animus once coexisted peacefully—until a catastrophe known as Genesis corrupted the Animus, driving them into a violent frenzy.

Etheria: Restart Gameplay

Etheria Restart is a turn-based RPG with optional real-time combat, where players command characters called Animus in strategic battles. Each Animus features a customizable Prowess system that allows players to shape their growth and skills. While it includes PvE quests and raids, the core focus is on competitive PvP Arena matches, where players battle to prove who’s the strongest Hyperlinker.

Etheria: Restart Release Date

Etheria Restart has officially announced that it will release June 5 2025 for the PC via Steam, and mobile iOS and Android devices.

Etheria: Restart Review (Final Test)

Promise at a Precipice

Etheria: Restart was a game I was eagerly looking forward to back when the first promotional videos were released a couple of years ago. Visual appeal is often the first thing mobile games lean on to gain their initial batch of followers, after all, especially if it’s from a relatively new studio.

In this case, though, that’s not entirely true. XD, its developers, may be new to the gacha scene as far as I can tell, but they already have a formidable catalog of titles under their belt as a publisher. Most notably, they published ICEY—a very solid hack-and-slash platformer and one of my favorite paid mobile games of all time—as well as Reverse Collapse: Code Name Bakery, the distant sequel to both Girls’ Frontline and Girls’ Frontline 2: Exilium.

So, what is Etheria: Restart all about? In a nutshell, it’s a turn-based strategy RPG where players field four to five “Animus,” a race of powerful digital beings that can only exist within its fictional world of Etheria, to outsmart and overpower whatever the plot deems necessary to beat up. In many ways, it’s not much different from HoYoverse’s Honkai: Star Rail, aside from the lack of a trash can-obsessed protagonist.

But unlike the aforementioned point of comparison, Etheria: Restart heavily emphasizes its PvP elements. In many ways, that actually makes it more similar to games such as Epic Seven and Seven Knights, where the real endgame lies in their Arena modes. That is a very delicate field to operate in because of how harshly PvP metas can drive FOMO (fear of missing out) compared to PvE, as well as the accompanying headaches with balancing.

So, how does the game fare in terms of what it offers to players, anyway?

Mechanics Run Very Deep

It doesn’t take ten minutes of blindly playing through the tutorial to realize that almost every character in Etheria: Restart is designed, in some way, with PvP in mind. That’s because in PvE-focused titles, lineups are generally built around two things: dealing damage and surviving it. While there are different ways to achieve those goals, the mechanics tend to be fairly one-dimensional in terms of what they’re trying to accomplish.

Etheria: Restart, though, plays by a different rulebook. Sure, you still have skills that revolve around damage and durability—but the push-and-pull nature of PvP gives the combat way more personality and dynamism.

This usually shows in the form of skills that serve as direct counterplay to very specific strategies. For example, if your team revolves around applying debuffs, someone like Freya will shut that down entirely by shielding her allies from them. Teams that rely on careful timing can be derailed by units like Tiamat, who can force enemies to target her for one turn, or Lily, who can extend opponents’ skill cooldowns.

The opposite is also true, of course. Counterplay in this game can also have counterplay. Freya can be stunned to prevent her from activating her shield or simply overwhelmed with debuffs, and Tiamat’s taunt can be outpaced by absurdly fast teams built around characters like Tsukiyo. It’s dynamic, reactive, and constantly keeps you on your tippie toes.

What you’re left with is a competitive space that supports a remarkable degree of variety. If the developers can maintain solid balance across different strategies, Etheria: Restart has the potential to be one of the most engaging PvP mobile RPGs of the year.

But can it stand shoulder to shoulder with Epic Seven or—dare I say—Summoners War? Well...

This Will Require a Monumental Balancing Act

Balancing PvP-focused games is, quite obviously, much harder than balancing those centered around a PvE experience. Aside from what that implies about certain PvE titles that have already fumbled this, the developers’ ability to manage a progressively-evolving meta will ultimately decide whether Etheria: Restart thrives—or crashes under the weight of its own ambition.

As things stand now, though… I’m not exactly optimistic. See, the game has a special class of characters under entirely separate elements (or affinities): Disorder and Constant. These don’t interact with the more common affinities (Reason, Hollow, Odd), and yet their kits often blow those out of the water in terms of power. Think Epic Seven’s Light and Dark characters, and you’re basically already there.

Take Messiah, the rate-up Animus from the Final Test banner and a Constant-affinity unit. His role is simple: deal a frankly ridiculous amount of damage while being almost impossible to kill.

Now, there are characters that attempt to do something similar. For example, Tiamat, an Odd-affinity SSR, can repeatedly nuke enemies with skills that scale off her HP—letting her stack defense and offense in one go. But let’s be real: having massive HP doesn’t quite compare to Messiah’s gimmick of just being invulnerable for most of the match, although having more HP is more reliable.

And the imbalance doesn’t stop there. Disorder and Constant characters aren’t just strong—they’re also locked behind absurdly steep acquisition methods. That is, they either cost three times the usual currency per pull or require a completely separate summoning resource. While their drop rates are technically similar to those of standard SSRs, the actual cost per attempt makes them effectively three times harder to get.

Honestly, it’s reminiscent of Soccer Spirits’ legendary players—units that started out as novel and exciting but eventually overtook the meta entirely. The devs didn’t plan for what would happen when more were released, and soon, the top teams in every tournament were made up entirely of legendaries. Hopefully, though, Etheria: Restart wouldn’t head down the same path.

Gacha Prices Are Excellent (In a Vacuum)

On the other hand, credit where it’s due—Etheria: Restart has one of the cheapest gacha systems around, at least when you're not aiming for Disorder or Constant Animus. In terms of pull-to-dollar value, the game offers a very appealing rate: 10 pulls for around $15 USD—double that if you’re buying the item for the first time. Even without the first-time bonus, that’s still nearly $5-$10 cheaper than what most mobile titles ask for. And unlike many of its peers, characters come fully unlocked; duplicates only provide stat boosts, not essential upgrades.

In fact, earning enough to do a 10-pull (1,000 Hydra Crystals) on the non-Disorder or Constant banners is surprisingly easy thanks to the game’s relatively generous economy. For reference, first-time stage clears award 50 crystals, achievement milestones offer either 100 crystals or a pull ticket, and daily/weekly tasks give consistent returns.

The pull rates are also a bit more forgiving. Not dramatically so—Etheria: Restart’s 1% SSR rate is still low—but it’s slightly less punishing than the sub-1% “norm” used by many other titles. Oh, and there’s no weapon gacha. That alone earns serious points in my book.

A Tit for a Tat

Unfortunately, that’s basically where the compliments about its monetization end. Everything else is just as atrocious—if not worse—than what we’ve come to expect from other gacha games in the same space.

Talking purely about the gacha experience, its Limited banners have a 100-pull pity—10 to 30 pulls more than peers like Honkai: Star Rail and Reverse: 1999. On the flip side, it does have a better guarantee system than, say, Epic Seven. Of the three, Honkai: Star Rail arguably offers the worst value on standard-priced banners, sure, but:

In terms of average pulls per SSR, there’s really no meaningful difference between the two, because Etheria: Restart’s Limited gacha doesn’t seem to implement a soft pity system. That means your chance of pulling the limited character stays fixed at 1% per attempt until you hit the 100-pull pity. The math evens out even more when comparing total SSR rates—Etheria: Restart’s 1.8% combined drop rate only amounts to one extra SSR per 500 pulls compared to Honkai: Star Rail’s.

The only real upside? Etheria: Restart guarantees that every SSR pulled from the Limited banner will be the rate-up character—similar to Punishing: Gray Raven. That’s genuinely nice.

Yes, the pulls are still cheap… until you set your eyes on the coveted Disorder/Constant Animus banners. Here, everything changes: the price per 10-pull triples, setting you back around $45–50 USD per set. That’s insane. Worse, these banners still have a 100-pull pity, so if your luck is as cursed as mine (I, for one, have not won a single one of Zenless Zone Zero’s 50/50s), you're looking at an eye-watering, jaw-dropping $450–500 USD just to get one copy.

Sure, Etheria: Restart doesn’t rely on dupes like some of its peers, but most players don’t aim for those in the first place. The price tag and exclusivity of the Disorder/Constant Animus banners make them wildly inaccessible for anyone not spending beyond a monthly sub or battle pass. Hopefully, though, the devs don’t let the power levels of these units spiral too far out of control.

And I haven't even mentioned anything about what's being sold in the shop.

Still, despite the risks, I’m genuinely looking forward to Etheria: Restart’s full release. As someone who’s competitive (even if I’m bad at it), I’m really enjoying its deep mechanics and the satisfying teambuilding it currently supports.

It’s definitely not perfect. Beyond monetization, there are other rough edges—like the stealth and grappling systems feeling like afterthoughts, or how most of the sound effects lack any punch. But these are minor complaints in the grand scheme of things. It’s clear the devs poured their focus into the combat, not immersion.

And it works. The competitive depth here is strong, especially with the Arena system's PvP vs AI and a live draft mode. I like it. I just hope, more than anything, that balancing doesn’t kill the long-term potential.

You may also like...

	Honkai: Star Rail Review | An Epic Trailblazing Journey
	Reverse: 1999 Review | Ahead Of Its Time
	Chasing Kaleidorider RPG, Anime, Gacha
	Girls' Frontline 2: Exilium Strategy, RPG

Etheria: Restart Product Information

Title	ETHERIA: RESTART
Release Date	June 5, 2025
Developer	XD
Publisher	XD
Supported Platforms	PC, Mobile
Genre	Action, RPG, Strategy, Anime
Number of Players	1
ESRB Rating	TBA
Official Website	Etheria: Restart Official Website