We’re blasting off again, and it’s so much better.
Before I go into my impressions of Everspace 2’s early access, I want to thank Rockfish Games for providing us with early access. For everyone else, the title will be available on Jan. 18th, 2021, for both Steam and GOG, priced at $39.99. There’s a demo available on Steam if you don’t feel like dropping the cash. However, it’s from a different build of the game and is lacking.
The first Everspace game was a roguelike that eventually led to a short story. Everspace 2 drops the roguelike elements and expands focuses on the story from the game’s start. It’s a change I was happy to see as the first game didn’t hold my interest. With Everspace 2, I enjoyed the story from the start and appreciated the number of missions and side quests that would pop-up when I was exploring. I also didn’t miss the roguelike elements; I’m glad it’s gone as it makes the game more enjoyable. When you die, you’ll start back at the last autosave point, or if you checked a manual save. There’s no more starting over, which was something that really put me off with the original game. Especially still, there times when you can bite off more than you should have, resulting in a swift death. Or accidentally running into an asteroid or ship because you weren’t paying attention. But it’s nice to know that I wouldn’t lose all of my progression in any event. It’s very similar to an RPG this time.
Another big difference is that the entire game is voiced, not just chatter over the comms during combat. The cutscenes that narrate the story are also voiced. If you played the prior demo, it is completely different as that had robotic placeholders. Now the voiceovers are much better, with actual human voices, and I feel that it does a respectable job.
There’s plenty to do this time around as well. While there are the story missions that progress the game, there are also side quests that pop-up, or events that you’ll stumble into. I also found quite a bit of massive wrecked ships and space stations that begged to be explored. Many of which provided me with a reward for doing so. Some jobs can be picked to make some extra money and challenges. Unlike the first game, where the only companion you had was a quirky AI, you’ll encounter other NPCs and even partner up with many of them. I haven’t finished up the story in the early access version, and I also don’t want to spoil what’s to come, so I’ll stop there. Needless to say, if you were disappointed with the story of missions in the original game, you’re going to like what’s being done this time around. With these changes, the game is similar to that of StarLancer, Freelancer, or the Wing Commander titles from the past.
Ship customization is also back, and you’re able to change your ship’s color, assuming you can find the paints needed, which are scattered throughout the universe. I found a few of them that were floating around in space. Weapons and other helpful gear can be swapped, and you’re able to compare them to find out which piece is beneficial to you. There’s also an experience system that you’ll fix by completing objectives and defeating enemies. As do, you’ll level up and be awarded stats upgrades and a personal perk every five levels. You’re still able to purchase ships, but now you can trade-in your existing ship if you’re short on money.
The combat also feels more refined; it’s definitely faster and, thankfully, enjoyable. Even with a gamepad, I could easily navigate or handle myself during a space battle. There have been tweaks to the gameplay and have addressed the complaint of constantly needed to boost to get a sensation of movement by adding cruise control, which can be used when you’re not in combat. The perk system has also been overhauled, while UI has been streamlined. There’s still the same amount of info on display, perhaps more, but the way it’s been presented is visually appealing.
Update – I didn’t originally include this, but I didn’t have any performance issues while playing the early access build since it was asked. However, I didn’t include this as the PCs I used for this piece were both mid to high-end builds and not representative of what everyone has access to. That said, I played this build on both a PC with a Ryzen 7 with an RTX 2080 Ti and 32GB of RAM and another with a Ryzen 9 3900x with an RTX 3090 and 32GB of RAM. As you can see, both can run most PC games without much of an issue. With the build, I was able to play with the highest settings (EPIC) at both 1440p and 4K with no problem. Your experience will vary depending on what PC you run the game with.
I played with both the keyboard and mouse and a gamepad during my time, and I felt that both worked out well. I was more impressed with the gamepad and how it was handled. Sure, I had better movement with the keyboard and mouse, yet the gamepad wasn’t awkward, outside of having some trouble being able to roll in the middle of combat. Seriously, the gamepad feels o much better than the original game – give it a try.
Sadly, I don’t have access to a HOTA flight stick. However, a limited few Logitech and Thrustmaster HOTAs are supported. The follow-up also doesn’t include any VR, or at least for the moment, it doesn’t. I’m not sure if adding VR is in the roadmap or not, but we still have another year before the game is officially released.
Being an early access game and all, I experienced a few issues. One in particular involved when jumping to new locations, and once I was there, the system would not disengage. Instead, it kept telling me an obstacle was in my way, and I remained stuck until I jumped to a different location. Another minor bug would fire my primary weapons whenever I activated my cruise control. Again, I expect bugs and things not working correctly in an early access title. As such, I submitted an email detailing the issues and went on about my way.
Overall, despite this being an early access title, Rockfish Games has made huge strides to the series. While the first game was a so-so title for me, I’ve been firing up the game every free moment I have with the follow-up. Everything I’ve mentioned is just a start of what Rockfish Games has envisioned and has planned. There’s plenty more that I can’t talk about yet, but it’s all exciting, that’s for sure. If you’re someone who enjoyed the original game but wanted more, then Everspace 2 has that more that you’ve been looking for.
Everspace 2 is set to be released in early 2022, with only the PC version being planned so far.
