EVERSPACE™ 2

First game I've ever seen that I would honor by calling it a true heir to Freelancer. Complex and replayable, with intricate build choices and a variety of possible playstyles, and adrenaline-pumping fighter combat.

TLDR: if you liked freelancer, this is the game you should buy and the studio you should watch. I absolutely and unequivocally loved this game. The realization for the story felt wanting, I wished I had better immersion on stations and had higher budget storylines to follow, but - also it didn’t matter as I ravenously wanted to complete the next missions. A master class in 3Cs for ship handling and UX. Great systemic fights. Smart design on systems. Tons to explore, but still a curated experience. I was itching for a space sim, and went back to Elite Dangerous and No man sky. The former was too much like flight simulator and the latter was too procedural / grindy. This game was a black hole for that itch, and the first time in a while I just played a game because I was engrossed in it. Don’t let it pass you radar.

literally Galaxy on Fire 2. I liked that game years ago, and I like this one now.

In the past few months, I was bitten by the space bug. I wanted to play a space game, but I didn’t know what type of game. I looked through my Steam library - there’s 3030 Deathwar Redux, which was recommended by Brian, but the font was too small for me. Elite: Dangerous - I launched it and had already forgotten how to play, even though Steam said I had spent 131 hours on it. Homeworld Remastered Collection? Too old, and I didn’t really want to play an RTS. I started hunting for games to buy and came across Rebel Galaxy Outlaw by Travis Baldree, the creator of Fate and Torchlight, both of which I enjoyed. It had good reviews on QT3. I spent about six hours on it and ended up feeling bored. It’s supposed to be like Privateer, but it wasn’t the space game I was looking for. The gameplay mostly involved going from planet to planet making money. I even gambled in the casino to earn more. Dogfighting was fun at first, but after a while, I wasn’t sure what else there was to do. Back on Steam, I noticed that I already owned Everspace and decided to revisit it. The “pew pew” combat and roguelike elements were enjoyable enough that I bought the DLC, Encounters, which added a lot to the game. After almost 20 hours over the past few weeks and reaching Sector 4 before dying, I felt done with the roguelike loop and didn’t want to start over again. However, I liked how well the game worked with mouse and keyboard. Rebel Galaxy Outlaw and Elite were played with a controller, and I was never good with it. All of this set the stage for the realization that what I really wanted was a space opera with stats and progression. Reading that Everspace 2 was a “RPG-like” game with a narrative, character stats, inventory, crafting and progression system immediately got me onboard. Everspace 2 feels closer to something like The Division or GTA. I’m currently at level 12 (pilot level, which effectively functions as ship level, similar to Everspace 1), so it’s still early in the game. The main mission moved me from the starting galaxy, Ceto, to the next one, Union. As more missions were completed, more markers appeared on the map, waiting to be explored. Optional side missions often led to new areas and revealed even more markers nearby. These missions offered good variety: hunting down outlaws, taking down bases, delivering packages, escorting ships. After clearing an area, exploration could uncover hidden stashes. Unlike E1, where most stashes were already marked by sensors, E2 requires actually exploring the vicinity to find them. There are set items - for example, a weapon may be one of three pieces forming a set, with the others being an engine, shield, or hull plating, granting additional bonuses. Similar to The Division, it’s possible to equip two or three sets at a time. Items also come in different rarities: white, green (uncommon), blue (rare), and purple. Each item can be enhanced, provided the blueprint is available, using the corresponding catalyst. This feels similar to socketing gems in Diablo. For example, having a high-capacity blueprint allowed enhancement of a missile launcher set item to carry more missiles instead of the default 20. Another nice feature: if a favorite weapon or sensor becomes under-leveled compared to the current level, its level can be upgraded instead of grinding for a new one. Certain stats can also be re-rolled if they aren’t ideal. Pilot perks unlock at levels 5, 10, 15, up to 30. Each milestone offers three perks, but only one can be activated. At level 5, I chose Defensive Massacre, where killing an enemy instantly triggers shield recharge. At level 10, I picked Percussive Maintenance, where incoming direct armor hits have a 10% chance to reduce a random device cooldown. Devices are equippable ship abilities. My ship have two slots available. I started with Energize Boost, which allows boosting away from intense combat, and EMP Generator, which temporarily disables enemies within a 580-meter radius for eight seconds. Each device has a cooldown of about 25 seconds. Additional devices can be found through missions, exploration, or shops. My current favorite is Teleporter, which has three charges and allows a 600-meter jump forward. I pump points to upgrade devices. After mastering Teleporter device, three alternate modes became available. One leaves a mine behind after teleporting. Another teleports forward and immediately faces the opposite direction - easily my favorite. On top of that, each ship comes with an Ultimate ability. I’m using an Interceptor, which has Weapon Overdrive, boosting damage and firing rate. Different ships offer different Ultimates and passives. Companions return from the E1 DLC. The story involves meeting them again and eventually having them join your team. Each companion provides unique capabilities. Ben improves the tractor beam, which itself has four upgrade levels requiring components and ores. Level 2 pulls items from 800 meters away. Level 3 allows pulling multiple items at once. Elek can randomly appear during battles to assist. At battle-assist level 2, he brings an “Equalizer” weapon to help, though I haven’t found the required weapon to upgrade that ability yet. Delia reduces hull damage and enhances nanobot repairs. Because resources are limited, only certain companion skills can be prioritized. There’s a lot of room for experimentation. Amidst all of this, there’s the story. It drives exploration and the hunt for better components, raw materials, and money to upgrade the ship. Like GTA or The Division, there are plenty of distractions and side missions that help build strength before tackling main missions. Saving is available almost anywhere, except during combat. Quality-of-life features stand out as well - when switching ships, the current one can be traded in by paying the difference. Items also exist to refund device points and respec them elsewhere. There’s still much left to explore. No purple items have dropped yet for me. From what I read, reaching level 30 or 40 opens up even more, similar to The Division. Two additional DLCs are still untouched. I am glad I discovered this game now, even if it was two years late.

这其实是个太空解谜游戏，后面全是解谜，把飞船换成人，地图换成建筑内没有任何问题 后面有个特长说是解锁了可以直接去任意星系，然后任务让我过去用，我寻思怎么不选目的地就直接用呢，结果出问题困到一个地方出不去，原来是让我解谜啊 而且对话时无法停靠，无法跃迁， 每次任务目标完成了我要跃迁飞走，然后主角和哪个AI就开始说话我就只能硬等，你就不能边飞边说，把你手捆住了？

The early game balance in this game is absolutely horrible. Which is to say, it is non-existent. You cannot buy, nor can you craft, healing items. For an ARPG that is supposedly built around combat, this is a terrible and baffling choice. The devs don't like you. I do not recommend you give them a dime of your money or a minute of your time.

Hier schrieb einer etwas von "der wahre Nachfolger von Freelancer". Für alle die das dachten und sich daraufhin auf einen Kauf eingelassen haben, Nein, ist es nicht. Die verzweifelte Story und der Kampf ums überleben, den es bei Freelancer gab, kommen hier nicht mal ansatzweise durch. Es ist ein Shooter mit Skilltree und Co. mit Setting: Weltall. Dafür macht es sein Sache ganz okay. Grafisch setzt es für die Zeit jetzt aber auch keine Meilensteine. Die Story hat mich nach 24 Stunden noch nicht gepackt und somit ist es nur ein einziges Flieg hierhin, erfülle die Mission, die alle bis jetzt ähnlich sind und kehre zum Auftraggeber zurück. Die Geschichte um den Character ist löchrig, wie ein Schweizer Käse und die Zwischensequenzen für diese Zeit einfach lächerlich schlecht. Kauft es m.M.n im Angebot, wenn ihr ein wenig im Weltraum herum ballern wollt, bunte Expolosionen und wenig innovatives Gameplay, aber erwartet nicht, dass ihr etwas mitreißendes bekommt, wo ihr im Vorstandsmeeting sitzt und nur darauf wartet wieder eintauchen zu können.

Space games usually don't have very deep combat mechanics due to the nature of space itself: Big and empty. Even some popular games have combat no more complex than who has bigger guns and can spin in faster circles. Everspace 2 does a great job of surpassing this limitation by adding lots of cover, loot, and interior spaces to each combat area. Weapons act differently and are highly skill based to aim. I like how trading is present, but can be done alongside missions and combat to supplement your income. In most games it's just a boring grind that takes all your inventory space, but here trading doesn't take that much space and you are told directly what is and what is not a good deal. Lastly, this game has the best control mapping implementation I've ever seen. Great for joystick users, which you'll want to use for the best experience.

Freelancer is my favorite game of all time and probably the game I've put the most total hours into. I would absolutely love a modern reimagining of it, and this game looked close enough to convince me to grab it on sale. It provided a few hours of fun but ultimately did not grab me and I don't think I'll bother revisiting it. But it's an interesting comparison to Freelancer. First the good. The graphics are beautiful and the combat is pretty fun. These parts definitely feel like a clear evolution of Freelancer - there's more impactful gear to chase, more to do and think about in combat, and it's still got that arcade-y approachable feel. But then you get a little more into the game and start seeing the cracks. Despite there being a very big-feeling universe at first, it's largely an illusion. You speed through large sections of space in a thinly disguised "overworld" of 'supercruise engines' and drop into encounter maps where you actually have the enemies and things to do. The story serves mainly to lead you from one of these maps to another, where you will do some combat, do some puzzles to find loot, and potentially throw in shooting some emplaced turrets or something. Repeat, repeat, repeat - interspersed with occasional runs to a friendly station to sell off the massive amount of useless loot you will accumulate. The story, while not terrible, is definitely not good enough to make up for this repetitive loop. But the thing that really kills me is the lack of interesting lore and aggressive area-gating. The lore is, next to Freelancer, the biggest weakness by far. Freelancer gave you this rich universe full of something like 60 factions all traveling around and fighting each other. Everspace 2 clearly tries to replicate this, but after 10 hours in the game I had run into four factions I could remember - a corporation, some pirates (bad guys!), a government organization of some kind, and a slightly different flavor of pirates. And the worldbuilding around them seemed fairly minimal, even as presented through the story. That's made worse by how you're gated into just one system for a large section of the first 10 hours or so of the game, and entering the second system I didn't see enough to really draw me in so I didn't continue much past that. Despite this, it's the kind of game that could be fun on a server with fr- oh, no multiplayer? Okay well it's the type of game that gets really improved by mod- oh, no modding either? Two more huge points in Freelancer's favor.

I got this game in early release and so far, the only change from that is they removed the "This is only a placeholder" message on the story board that was a stand in for the cut scene that was supposed to be in place for launch... they can't even do it in the tutorial. The controls, the UI, and the engine itself are far more of a challenge than anything they programmed intentionally.