Everspace 2 review

Space shooters are not a new genre, but such games are rarely developed lately, especially when it comes to high-quality titles with a good budget. Therefore, almost every game in this direction, at least, looks exciting. Trust me, you'll hear it everywhere: Combining Diablo-esque hack-and-slash mechanics, a looter shooter with aerial combat and space exploration, Everspace 2 pushes the boundaries of the genre. Let's see how well ROCKFISH Games managed to bring such an unusual concept to life.

Diablo in space

Everyone is familiar with hack and slash esons based on dungeon crawling. The cycle of research, battles and loot is addictive, and brings a certain satisfaction from the work done. Add to this equipment upgrades, crafting and a skill tree for character development, and here they are - the foundations of the genre. Everspace 2 takes this revered, familiar mechanic and brings it to a vibrant interplanetary setting. Instead of a melee weapon and a bottomless backpack full of equipment, the player gets their hands on a highly customizable spaceship that takes part in battles in the orbit of different planets or among the stars of outer space.

The original Everspace was a roguelike with a fair amount of procedural generation, but the sequel is a concrete experience. However, a common connection between both parts is observed in their narrative. Everspace 2 continues the story of clone pilot Adam Roslin, who, unlike other clones, not only acquired the skills and experience of piloting a ship, but also the memories of the "source material". The hero is trying to escape from the DMZ of Cluster 34, evade the colonial forces pursuing him and get to the new world, Eden-12.

Aside from the near-constant radio conversations between Adam, his new ally Dax, a host of enemies and NPCs, the story is told through animated illustrations. The history is quite complex and branched. She sends Adam through star systems, planets and countless space stations. Everspace 2 is a kind of ecological puzzle game. Adam uses his spaceship and piloting skills to reach hard to reach places, open passages and collect key items.

space operetta

The Everspace 2 campaign is long and exciting. You will find a huge number of hours allocated for side missions and grind. The voice acting is well developed, and there is a surprising amount of it. As the story campaign progresses, more and more interesting NPCs appear.

As for the plot, I still have a few minor remarks. First, the protagonist's arc looks dramatic, but feels very familiar and, well, standard. Second, Everspace 2 is an RPG at its core, and the lack of character customization is seriously disappointing. Thirdly, while the script is generally good, it sometimes feels fake and unconvincing.

Many people play role-playing games for the sake of combat, and they don't care about the story. For those who still pay attention to it, to summarize: the storyline of Everspace 2 is better than average. The impatient can skip dialogues and cutscenes to jump straight into space exploration and gunfights.

Space battles

Like most RPGs, Everspace 2 is at its best through the combat system. Flying through asteroid fields, over vast space fortresses, is the dream of most Luke Skywalker fans. Some air combat games in space emphasize complex controls and deep simulation. Everspace 2 eschews these complex mechanics in favor of an arcade style with relatively simple - but not necessarily fast-learning - controls. You can just hover in place and shoot.

Combat maneuvers such as attacks and dodges are a lot of fun. Traveling around and gathering materials for crafting, exploring derelict ships and occasionally fighting colonial fighters are easy and effortless. You have access to a wide range of weapons and protective equipment. At first, several basic types of weapons, homing missiles and EMP are available. As with most RPGs, you'll find, craft, and upgrade more weapons as you progress, and gain new unique abilities and defenses for your ship.

The ship is your main ally. He is both armor and weapon for the protagonist of any RPG. Each unlocked ship has unique visual characteristics. But the real difference lies in the built-in abilities, weapons or mechanics. Some ships will have incredible defenses or extra weapon slots. In addition, ships can be customized. For example, change the shape of the wings, engines and much more.

Loot, shoot, craft

There are many things scattered in space - abandoned ships that can be looted, and minerals that need to be mined. The mining system of Everspace 2 is not very complicated, but it plays its role well. Icons pointing to resources in space make them easy to identify, and collection is done with the click of a button. As for the input data, perhaps many will start arguing about the fact that in such a game the controller is better than a mouse with a keyboard. There are many functions involved in the game, and there are simply more of these keys / buttons on the keyboard. On the other hand, I noticed that the control of the ship feels much more fluid and pleasant on the controller. In general, try both options. Console gamers won't have any trouble when the game launches on modern consoles this summer.

Overall, Everspace 2 looks great, and I was impressed by the unexpected variety of locations available to explore. While most of the game takes place in the not-so-empty space between stars and planets, the story and combat will take you to the surface of planets or deep underground, through complex space structures and deadly asteroid belts. Explosions, flashes and other effects look no less impressive!

On PC, Everspace 2 has a decent range of graphical settings, an option for audio, and accessibility options. I experienced some framerate drops, but nothing broke the game. The long time that the game spent in Early Access helped iron out many of the technical issues, so it came out in decent condition.