NTE: Steam account login arrived on August 19, and a single click can cut you off from your progress

Since yesterday, Wednesday, August 19, 2026, NTE: Neverness to Everness has accepted login via Steam account. Hotta Studio and Perfect World published a French-language FAQ that same day on the game's Steam page, detailing how it works. It contains an answer that must be read before touching anything.

Here it is summed up in one sentence: logging in directly with a Steam account automatically creates a brand new user ID, and that Steam account can then not be linked to another game account that already has progress on it. In other words, the most natural gesture in the world — launching NTE from Steam, then choosing to log in via Steam account — creates a blank account and locks your Steam account onto it.

The correct procedure comes in two steps, in this precise order: first log in to NTE with your existing game account, then go to [User Center] > [Steam] to link your Steam account. The rest of this article details what each action triggers, and which one can be undone.

The only profile for whom the Steam button poses no problem

The FAQ explicitly separates two groups. For a new player, the studio is clear: simply logging in via Steam gets you straight into the game. Nothing to prepare, nothing to weigh up. The user ID created on that occasion becomes your account, no prior progress is at stake, and the matter is closed.

The trap therefore only concerns established players. NTE launched on Steam on July 8, 2026, and its version 1.3, "Emerging from the Moonlit Mist," has been live since August 19: in between, six weeks of progress may have piled up on an account created elsewhere. Those are the accounts at risk.

A point of honesty before going further: the FAQ does not publish the exact label of the Steam login button on the home screen. We are not making it up. The only two interface labels the studio states in black and white are [User Center] and [Steam] — those are the ones we use here.

If you already have progress: the order of operations

The official sequence allows no improvisation, and it takes place entirely from the game's Steam client, for a reason explained below.

1. Launch NTE from Steam, but do not choose to log in via Steam account.
2. Log in with your existing game account, the one holding your progress.
3. Once in-game, open the [User Center], then the [Steam] section.
4. Link your Steam account from this screen.

Done in this order, the Steam account attaches to a game account that already exists. Done the other way around, it becomes the root of a new account, and the door closes. A single screen's difference separates the two outcomes.

What you do, what happens, and whether it can be undone

The table below covers each of the actions described in the FAQ, without adding anything to it.

The email address is the only link that cannot be undone

This is the second irreversible point in the FAQ, and it's stated unambiguously by the studio: third-party login accounts, "such as Facebook, Google, and Steam," can be unlinked in the User Center, but an email address cannot be unlinked. The answer ends with a one-line warning: "So please proceed with caution."

This rigidity has a very useful upside. It is precisely the email address that unlocks cross-platform play: after linking your Steam account to an email address in the User Center, you can use that address to log in on other platforms, with your progress synced. If you play on PC via Steam during the week and on your phone on weekends, it's the email address that makes the connection — not the Steam account.

So choose this address with the same seriousness you'd apply to a bank recovery address. An inbox you plan to close, a work address lost at your next job change, a shared address: none of this can be fixed after the fact.

Linking Steam can only be done from the Steam client

The third constraint is more technical, but has serious consequences for mobile players: according to the FAQ, logging in and linking a Steam account is only possible via the game's Steam client. Not from a mobile device, nor from any other client.

If your main way of playing NTE is on your phone, you'll need to set aside a session on PC to carry out the process, with your game account credentials in hand. The studio writes "for the moment," which leaves the door open to a future expansion, but no date or commitment comes with it: don't build your plans around it.

An unlinked Steam account is not a lost account

The FAQ closes the topic on a less grim note. Once unlinked, a Steam account becomes available again and can be linked to another NTE game account that isn't already tied to Steam. The procedure doesn't change: you first log in to the relevant game account, then link the Steam account.

Two situations benefit from this. That of the player who linked their Steam account to the wrong game account, when they own several. And that of the household where the same machine is used by two people: the Steam account can switch game accounts, provided a proper unlinking is carried out first.

That said, one point isn't settled by the official text, and we'd rather flag it than fill it in ourselves. The FAQ states on one hand that a Steam account used for a direct login cannot be linked to another game account that already has progress; on the other, that an unlinked Steam account becomes available again for a game account that isn't already linked to Steam. It never says whether the second rule overrides the first. Until the studio clarifies this point, treat direct login as final and don't bank on a way out.

In case of a mistake, only one address

The FAQ promises no rollback procedure, no cooling-off period, no self-service tool to undo a mistaken Steam link. The only recourse listed is customer support, at nte.contactus@perfectworld.com, for any question the six published answers don't cover.

The point is worth stressing: writing to support isn't presented as a way to recover detached progress. It's a channel for questions. The only truly reliable safeguard remains not getting the wrong screen the first time.

What to check today, Thursday, August 20

A four-point plan, whether you've been playing for a month or since yesterday.

• You have progress and haven't yet opened NTE via Steam: don't rush to the login screen. First gather your game account credentials, then follow the four steps above.
• You've already linked Steam correctly: check in the User Center that an email address is indeed attached. That's what will let you recover your progress outside of Steam.
• You're about to link an email address: read it over twice. It's the only link in the system that can't be undone.
• You mainly play on mobile: linking can't be done from your phone, it requires a session on the Steam client.

Before clicking, the question to ask ultimately comes down to one line: should this Steam account create a brand-new character, or recover the one you already have? The two answers don't go through the same screen, and only one of them can be corrected.