EVERSPACE™

Let me start by saying that I HATE this current 'rougelike' craze, I really just want to sit down and enjoy another RPG like the Witcher or Skyrim, but I loved Freelancer so I thought I'd give this a go. Combat mechanics are great, VERY similar to Freelancer which couldn't be better, for an arcade/sim hybrid it really allows you to just enjoy the dog-fights instead of stuggling to remember and find which buttons to push. Very simple aiming with the mouse and standard WASD (and Q/E for roll). The graphics are reasonable, the textures and a little dodgy once you get up real close to something like a ship wreck, but other than that they're fine, the game also runs flawlesly at the maximum possible settings for 1080p, I'll add some basic PC specs bellow. The story feels a little like an after-thought, but I've never really payed attention to the story in a space sim, I certainly couldn't tell you what the X series was about or even Freelancer, I just did missions and followed my nose. Resource gethering is a little tedious if I'm honest, but the crafting is easy and didn't take me long at all to figure it out on my own, the game doesn't really explain it. The 'rougelike' element doesn't feel as painful as other games like FTL, the ability to use credits to upgrade your ship or purchase a new one from a limited selection is nice, altrhough there only seems to be 3 that I'm aware of, maybe more that are unloackable but I've seen nothing to indicate that being the case so far. The weapons are interesting, everytime I think I'v tried them all I'll find a new one or an advanced/altered version of once that I've already used changing it enough to make it feel new. I would normally give this a 4/5 but the devs really seem to care for this game and from what I could tell they're very active in the community, these are the sort of devs we need in an age of EAs, Konamis and Ubisofts, so I'll happily chuck on another star simply because I'm sure the devs will improve the game somehow in the future.

I'm not the biggest fan of roguelikes, but I figured I'd give it a shot since it's a space shooter and how can you mess that up? Well the easiest way is to take out all the fun parts of being in a space ship. There are no maneuvers. You can't barrel roll, bank, performs 180, etc. Most of the time I was standing still or moving slowly to fire on enemies or hiding behind asteroids using them as cover. Another way is to add a stamina bar (energy bar) that drains when you boost, fire primary and secondary weapons, use abilities and is permanently reduced when equipping sub systems. It drains so fast and fills so slow that running out is a death sentence as once you run out you can't boost to safety. The game's difficulty is on par with other roguelikes. The dull movement and stamina bar not withstanding the enemies deal tons of damage and always come in squads. I read the RNG isn't as bad in this game, but it's still quite brutal. I entered a new sector and immediatelly flew into a mine which drained all my shields only to find I was also in a electronic storm that drained all my shields and the warp suppressor was on an enemy corvette (bassically a battleship). There are very few traders and they seldom have anything worthwile. The permanent upgrades are locked behind other upgrades that end up creating another roguelike grind. On the other hand, the visuals are gorgeous and the voice acting is pretty solid. I enjoyed the conversations betwen the pilot and computer and the way the lore trickled in was just right. Not too quickly, but enough at the right moments to keep me invested. In the end I just couldn't find myself commited to the RNG and grind.

Short first impression after about 2h of playing. The game isn't a freeroaming space sim, instead it plays level-wise from jumpgate to jumpgate where you can select to which point you want to go. This part is similiar to for example FTL. For me, they nailed the controls perfectly. It feels great stearing the ship. Goal seems to be reaching the end point like in FTL. I now had four runs lasting about 30min each, then I got blasted into spacedust by some outlaws. There seems to be some lore here and there, but I'm not sure what the story is by now. Every now and then you'll find asteroids to mine or loot with ship upgrades. Outlaws also drop some loot now and then. There are some trade ships, where you can buy new ship upgrades, weapons or whatever else they have in stock at this very moment. After you died, you keep the money and are able to invest it in percs in the hangar and with that make your ship more powerfull. In my eyes, the visuals are quite stunning. Really like the looks, the feel and the atmosphere of it. Also the controls are perfect for me. I'm playiyng in first person and I got dragged into the game perfectly. So with this, I recommend it thusfar. Will update the review once I played some more.

For a game that was released many years ago, this is still a very pretty space shooter. Also, playing FTL prepared me for the frequent deaths/rebirths. I bought an X52 flight stick to use with this...honestly, my Xbox 360 controller is a better fit. I like the loose story line that progresses with each sector you can clear, giving me something to look forward to besides just finishing. On one run, I actually survived the Okkar corvettes arriving and then died when the human ships arrived...maybe one could live long enough to watch a battle? To prime you for this game outside the tutorial: - you will die many times, the ships "AI" companion loves to roast you - money is kept after death to purchase your perks or new ships, money is reset on each new run - some perks are specific to the ship - hardware found on each run is lost at death, as well as resources collected - there is a crafting system - damage is fairly realistic and gradual, with subsystems that can leave you crippled in various ways - there is a hardcore mode Running on Windows 10, AMD Ryzen 5, 12GB RAM, and Radeon RX570. All visuals are set to "Epic."

I tried this on a friend's computer. After making 30 or so runs, the difficulty curve far surpasses the ship's improvement. For example, as soon as you get close to having $5000 credits or get into sector 4, the game starts sending in interceptors and capital ships. Needless to say, you're wiped out in a few seconds and have to start over again. This is a constant, so there is no point in trying to play anymore. I'm glad i got to try the game on a friend's computer first, as I will definitely NOT buy this one.