The sequel to Everspace, a thrilling roguelike space combat game, has finally been released this week after about five years in development. Everspace 2 spent most of that time in Early Access, so developers implemented many of the features and improvements requested by early adopters.
Although some of the random aspects that made the original Everspace a roguelike space combat are present in the sequel, Everspace 2 is more of an exploration experience with tons of loot to grab, RPG elements, trading, mining, crafting, and, of course, space shooting.
More importantly, Everspace 2 offers an open-world experience, which means you can go just about anywhere you want on the huge map. Thanks to the new formula, Everspace 2 is closer than ever to games like Elite: Dangerous and Freelancer. However, what ROCKFISH Games’ does differently is the deep itemization, modular playership design, and modern RPG elements, which are heavily inspired by games like Diablo.
That being said, Everspace 2 has an interesting story to follow if you want to learn more about the universe you’re exploring. Step into the role of a clone pilot, a reminiscence of a shameful war that humanity wants to forget. As Adam Roslin, you’ll meet a bunch of interesting characters while exploring the galaxies, and while some will become your companions, most of them will be either enemies or allies that you’ll be able to interact with via missions.
Photo: autoevolution
You absolutely don’t have to play the first game to understand what’s happening in the sequel, but some references are included in Everspace 2. The follow-up to Everspace picks up several years after the events of the original game, as tensions between mankind and a race called Okkar start to rise.
As Adam Roslin, you must keep your identity hidden because clones aren’t allowed to move freely, so you’ll have to stay under the Colonial fleet’s radar. However, a chance encounter with a band of outlaws sends the protagonist on a path to adventure that could lead to either redemption or complete annihilation.
While following the story, you’ll meet many faces that will become companions. They are more than just NPCs with which to hang out at your home base, as some of them will even join the fray and help you during dangerous fights. Others will simply provide you with upgradable passive perks related to their expertise.
All in all, Everspace 2 is all about space combat. Now, this isn’t your space combat simulator, but a pure arcade sim that with very tight controls and tons of customization options. In Everspace 2, you can pilot any of the nine player ship subclasses featuring four tiers, each class with its own perks and ultimate abilities.
Photo: autoevolution
Each of these ships is tailored for a specific playstyle, but they can also be used for different missions. You can have more than one ship parked in your hangar, but before you can get your second ship, you’ll have to do some trading or bounty hunting because these space vessels are expensive.
Well, not really. It’s just that you’re broke at the beginning of the game. Everspace 2 has literally hundreds of side-missions that award credits that you can use toward purchasing new ships. It will take some time to gather the necessary amount, but there’s no end to these side-quests, and the combat is extremely fun.
Ships come with a different number of hardpoints and can be outfitted with various weapons, as well as offensive and defensive components. You can even craft your own items using components gained after dismantling the loot that you don’t need. You just have to find the blueprints for the item before crafting them.
There are many factions in Everspace 2, each with its own ships and defensive unit types, so you might have to prepare differently when you know you’ll face a certain faction. Speaking of which, there are a total of six stars systems available in the game and more than 100 unique hand-crafted areas to explore.
That translates into about 90 hours of exploration, including side missions, secrets, and location challenges. If you’re not a completionist and just want to see the end of the story, Everspace 2 can be finished in a bit more than 30 hours, which is still quite a lot of content.
Photo: autoevolution
Conclusion
Everspace 2 improves on every aspect of the original game and brings a completely new formula that works better for the series. Switching from roguelike combat to an open-world space looter-shooter with RPG elements was the best decision developers could make.
Although the first game had a pretty generic story, Everspace 2 has pretty interesting dialogues and a compelling story overall. I have enjoyed following Adam’s adventures throughout my playthrough, and I think I’ll continue to play after finishing the story because there are some areas that I haven’t unlocked yet.
Without a doubt, Everspace 2 is one of the best space combat game I played in a long while. It puts some similar games with bigger budgets to shame to become the ultimate looter-shooter for space jockeys.
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