Review

Everspace 2: too much grunt work, not enough wow

4.4.2023

Translation: Katherine Martin

This open-world game is definitely fun. But living the life of a space mercenary in «Everspace 2» involves too much hard work for too little reward.

I’ve been waiting for a space simulation game to truly enthrall me again ever since Freelancer came out. And since then, 23 years have gone by. Rebel Galaxy Outlaw came close, but it soon got repetitive. That’s why my hopes were up for «Everspace 2». I’d really enjoyed the first instalment. Apart from the roguelike element of having to start from the beginning over and over again. But that’s exactly what «Everspace 2» has replaced with an open game world with a classic progression system. Sounds perfect, right? Well, not quite.

Fly, spaceship, fly!

In part one of Everspace, you work your way from galaxy to galaxy, trying to stay alive for as long as possible. If you die, you start all over again. The only things that make the game a little easier are small improvements and new ships you can buy after an eternity. Part two has kept this slow progression, but other than that, not much is the same.

Let the adventure begin.
Source: Philipp Rüegg

Six huge stellar systems with over 100 hand-designed areas are waiting to be explored. My curiosity is piqued beyond words. During the first hours of play, blocked star portals prevent me from travelling to the other systems. Later on, I’m able to explore every corner of the galaxy and get blown to a thousand pieces by overly powerful enemies within seconds. Not that that’s a problem, as I’m able to continue from either the last check point or from where I last saved.

Hardly any story and too much grunt work

The first Everspace also has a story. I’ve forgotten it all – and that’s probably what will happen to me during part two. After more than 15 hours, I haven’t made all that much progress. But still, nothing exciting has happened yet.

The story revolves around clone pilot Adam Roslin (I had to look up his name) and his growing crew. He’s on the run from some kind of bad guys, and in the meantime, forms alliances with the local factions to plan an epic heist. This usually results in me flying from A to B and doing the bidding of local cartel bosses or other bigwigs until they give me what I came for. What, exactly? No idea.

Adam (right) remains just as drab as his digital image.
Source: Philipp Rüegg

The story is mainly told through dialogues dubbed over the missions. When this is happening, I see a small picture of the person who’s speaking. Every now and then, there are cutscenes containing semi-static images – a surefire sign of a limited budget.

My crew members remain as drab as their interchangeable profile pictures. Not only that, but like many of the supporting characters, they’re voiced with zero emotion. In one scene, my comrade’s ship is crippled by an ambush right before its life-saving leap through the portal. The character’s reaction of, «Oh damn, now I can’t move» sounds as if the voice actor is reading the newspaper on the side. The only voice providing a bit of oomph is that of the David Attenborough-like spaceship computer.

A slow start

But I’m not playing Everspace 2 for the story. I want to discover new galaxies, find better weapons, complete missions and use the rewards to buy powerful ships. I want to hunt down dastardly pirates and duel them until I break out in a sweat. And Everspace 2 gives me the opportunity to do just that when the interface fills with red warning arrows pointing to enemies in all directions. With drones hot on my tail, a mighty battleship fires a broadside of missiles at me. In the background, a planet bathed in a glistening blue by the sun’s rays becomes a silent witness to this epic battle. During these moments, my heart races and my mouth is pulled into a grim smile of determination.

The upgrade system is very comprehensive.
Source: Philipp Rüegg

Let’s stick to the positive stuff for now. In Everspace 2, you can customise your ship in whatever way you please. There are numerous weapons, shields, generators and gadgets that enable individual play styles. I can build a sluggish, flying tank or a nimble wasp that, though unable to take fire, can dish it out tremendously. Almost all the equipment can be improved with collected resources and equipped with special abilities. In addition, there are upgrades for Adam and his crew, such as faster repair by the nanobots or bonus damage when changing weapons.

There are also more than enough ships to choose from, with nine models, each with four subclasses. It’s just a shame that it takes far too long for the game to get going. It wasn’t until 15 hours in that I could finally buy my first new ship – a Liberator-B3. The ship can be equipped with three weapons, making battles a lot more fun than when flying some rickety old barge. Having an additional slot means a weapon is practically always ready for use. With two of them, I have to keep retreating until they’re ready to fire again.

Every now and then, I get to explore buildings. In doing so, I have to avoid their defences.
Source: Philipp Rüegg

Until now, I’ve almost always played using the same old combination of pew-pew laser and futuristic minigun. This is boring in the long run. For me, a game like Everspace 2 comes alive either through a motivating upgrade loop, exciting worlds that I can discover or challenging duels. So far, the game hasn’t quite been able to win me over in any of these areas.

Highlights are hard to come by

Everspace 2 is an expansive game. According to the manufacturer, it takes over 30 hours to play the main story and a few side quests. Numerous additional missions apparently add another 60 hours to that. A typical mission involves flying to a certain stellar system and bailing out a trader by turning a bunch of space pirates into scrap metal.

Or securing a package behind a locked door in an automated trading station. I get these doors open by placing an energy core inside the corresponding door mechanism. There are plenty of these «puzzles». Most of the time, the main issue is finding the right switch or item to be interacted with.

Considering the price, there’s not much to complain about.
Source: Philipp Rüegg

Unfortunately, these searches often drag on for several minutes. During my last mission, I once again had to bypass a laser barrier. I spent more than 15 minutes scouring the level for clues. Just before I was about to give up, I noticed that there were two terminals on the back of the barrier. Because I didn’t fly by them close enough, they didn’t show up on my radar. Sighing, I shoot them, causing the barrier to disappear. Moments like these rob me of the desire to go on playing.

On the other hand, boss fights, such as the one against an outlaw Bloodstar pirate, show it doesn’t have to be this way. The pirate’s ship has an additional shield that even my strongest energy weapons can’t penetrate. Then I notice all the scrap metal floating suspiciously around me. By pulling it in with my tractor beam and hurling it at the enemy spaceship, I can temporarily disable the shield. After that, I have a few seconds to blast away with everything I’ve got until the shield is full again and more drones come at me. For once, I’ve got to think twice about what I’m doing – and that switches things up a bit.

Not all the missions take place in space.
Source: Philipp Rüegg

My eyes welcome the chance to leave space and rove around on a planet. Battles taking place near the ground are closer, with fewer fallback options. Some missions even take me into mines. It’s here that I meet an old friend of Adam’s. He’d been lured into the trap by a common adversary and taken prisoner by giant spiders. The critters are keen to turn me into their own personal sticky ceiling lamp too. Unwilling to go along with this, my pulse laser plasters the cave walls with green slime.

Rockfish seems to be striving to create a sense of variety, but in my opinion, Everspace 2 still involves too much grunt work. The game is slow to get going and exceptional moments are few and far between.

Wallpaper generator

Everspace 2 is a bloody gorgeous game. You could certainly say the same about the first instalment. Making the infinite expanses of outer space look pretty is no easy feat. Rockfish, however, manages it with a mixture of band-designed levels and clever use of lighting. Sometimes it’s the blue glow of an aetheum crystal mine, while sometimes it’s the blaze of a split planet in the background or an orange mist lying over the level like an eerie curtain. By pressing H, I can deactivate the HUD (the interface) and take perfect screenshots. Alternatively, there’s also a photo mode. Everspace 2 truly is a wallpaper generator. You can create a new, beautiful background image from almost any scene. If Rockfish ever manages to get the HDR mode (currently unusable in its experimental phase) right, the game will really knock my socks off.

Not lacking much, and there’s potential for greatness

I’m a tad disappointed. I thought Everspace 2 would be the perfect game for me. A game world free to be travelled, an extensive weapon and upgrade system, unlockable spaceships and exciting missions were supposed to provide the perfect game loop. Unfortunately, Everspace 2 falls short when it comes to that last point especially. Although there are really interesting missions, I’m forced to complete numerous boring collection tasks in between them. So far, the story has been inconsequential, and the bored narrators don’t help matters.

With 15 hours of gameplay under my belt, there’s still plenty in store for me. But it’s hard going. Before finally buying my first new spaceship, I almost quit several times. But because I wanted to write this review, I kept at it. And usually, a new weapon or an exciting mission came along to remotivate me.

Everspace 2 gets a lot of things right. The battles are challenging, different play styles provide variety, and outer space has rarely been more beautifully depicted. Even the James Webb telescope couldn’t do much better. If less time elapsed between these highlights, and the game wasn’t so stingy with its better equipment, I’d devour it.

I’ve now progressed far enough to say I’ll definitely continue playing. However, I doubt that I’ll do so until the credits roll. That said, a good open-world game is a rare beast, so it’s absolutely worth getting more familiar with Everspace 2.

Everspace 2 is available for PC. My copy was provided to me by Rockfish.

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Philipp Rüegg

Senior Editor

Philipp.Rueegg@digitecgalaxus.ch

As a child, I wasn't allowed to have any consoles. It was only with the arrival of the family's 486 PC that the magical world of gaming opened up to me. Today, I'm overcompensating accordingly. Only a lack of time and money prevents me from trying out every game there is and decorating my shelf with rare retro consoles.

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