Everspace 2 was released on 6th of April just some days ago by Rockfish Games, an independent gaming studio. We tried the Demo Version of the game to tell you if it’s any good. Trying out the free content took around 45min and took me trough 2 small story mission and cutscenes. So be aware there might be some small spoilers to the beginning of the story. I noticed this game as steam recommend it because of the similarity to No Man’s Sky but I’ll talk about that later.
Exploring the DMZ – Some impressions
What do you do in Everspace 2?
Everspace 2 is described by the Publisher as a single-player space shooter with loot- ,crafting- , mining- and rpg-elements. You travel through space in a spaceship and fight outlaws. Collect loot and materials from chest or from mining them. There are ways to increase your efficiency in battle through upgrades. You have story related missions or side missions to complete and meet new people on your way.
Things I like
The graphics look really good and I was able to run them smoothly on the maximum “Epic” preset without too much struggle (playing on Laptop RTX 3060, Ryzen 9 5900HX). I also really enjoyed the lighting effects and the environmental design. The missions I played had some challenges to complete like turning your ship sideways to fit through a crack in a wall or fighting off enemies to protect other ships. Sound-wise the character voices feel nice to hear. The other sound effects like the ships boosting noise feel well done.
The beginning of the story I experienced was really pulling me in and I wanted to play more when I got to the end of the Demo. The cut-scenes are animated in a illustrated way which I really enjoyed.
I didn’t experience any bugs during my time playing.
Also as I mentioned in the beginning this game feels similar to No Man’s Sky in how the game overlay is constructed or some mechanics that are the same but in my opinion the space dog-fights are easier to control than in No Man’s Sky even without locking onto the enemy ships.
There are 38 steam-achievement and also an ingame collecting system where are all of your found information is saved so there are quite a few things to “grind” for all the 100% enjoyers.
Content-wise there is a whole crafting system, an upgrade system for your ship and perks that can be unlocked to increase efficiency in battle. You can also find a quest system and quite big map to explore. As I said in the introduction: I have only played a bit of the game so I can’t tell you how the rest of the experience feels.
Things I didn’t enjoy
In general there isn’t much to criticize as the game is well made but I found some minor issues I had:
The first thing I noticed was the snappy handling while controlling your ship with a mouse. This is easily fixable by either just moving your mouse in small movements or turning down the sensitivity ingame.
I know that this is just a demo but I missed some parts of the “normal” gameplay like being able to craft or trying out some of the upgradable features.
One feature I would love to see is a way to play this game with or against your friends. If you’re looking for multiplayer games check out some of the other articles we wrote about them
Conclusion
Everspace 2 (Demo): I really enjoyed playing Everspace 2 as it feels way more polished than some of the triple A games released at the moment. The story is interesting, the fighting system feels good and the general vibe of the game is really enjoyable. – GLPC: emk
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