Sunward Island is the new exploration zone added in Neverness to Everness Version 1.1 "Dreamwalk Corridor," and its Strange Tales are tied to the island's hidden corners, anomalies, and small story moments scattered around the coast. If you are chasing a message-in-a-bottle secret or any other Sunward Island Strange Tale, the first thing that matters is access. You cannot interact with any of these tales until the island itself is unlocked through the main story.
How to unlock Sunward Island in NTE 1.1
Sunward Island is reached through the new main story episode, not by free-roaming the map. The episode "Dreamwalk Corridor" carries you to the island the first time, so you need to clear the story gate before any Strange Tales there will appear.
Step 1: Update your client to Version 1.1. The "Dreamwalk Corridor" patch went live after maintenance on June 3, 2026, and you must restart the game to install it.
Step 2: Complete the main story quest "A Research in Scarlet." This is the unlock requirement for the "Dreamwalk Corridor" episode, so the new content stays locked until it is done.
Step 3: Play through "Dreamwalk Corridor." The episode takes you to Sunward Island, after which you can return freely and begin working through its Strange Tales.
The island was built around the anomaly charity house, so it is not a standard tourist spot. It includes beaches, coastal towns, forests, cliffs, a harbor, sunflower fields, a distant lighthouse, and a wrecked-ship area that hides several of the island's secrets.
Sunward Travelogue event and Strange Tales rewards
The "Sunward Travelogue" event is the reward track for Sunward Island Strange Tales. As you make progress in Strange Tales - Sunward Island, the event pays out materials, so completing the island's hidden tales counts toward it directly.
| Detail | Information |
|---|---|
| Event name | Sunward Travelogue |
| Linked content | Strange Tales - Sunward Island |
| Duration | June 3 (after update) – July 8, 05:59 (UTC+8) |
| Rewards | Annulith, Elite Hunter Guides, Chaotic Dye, Expansion Cores |
| Access requirement | Reach Sunward Island via the "Dreamwalk Corridor" main story |
Finding message-in-a-bottle and other Sunward Island secrets
Many of Sunward Island's tales sit along the shoreline and the wrecked-ship area, which is the kind of place where washed-up items and small written clues tend to appear. Treat the harbor edges, the beaches, and the abandoned ship zone as priority search areas when you are hunting a specific secret.
The island also introduces a new Location Anomaly, the Corridor of Echoes, set in a foggy, purple-tinted stretch of ocean dotted with wrecked ships and large statues. Anomaly encounters and hidden tales overlap in these areas, so explore them carefully rather than rushing past.
You will know a tale is complete when the in-game prompt confirms the objective and the associated reward arrives, with the Sunward Travelogue track updating to reflect your progress. If an NPC or interaction point is missing, advance the in-game time, check the weather, or relog before searching further, since the issue is usually a spawn condition rather than a missing location.
With the island unlocked and the Sunward Travelogue event live, the most efficient approach is to clear "Dreamwalk Corridor," sweep the coastline and wrecked-ship zone for hidden tales, and bank the rewards before the July 8 cutoff.