EVERSPACE™ 2

Honestly I didn't know what to expect coming from Everspace 2 into this game. The screen shots simply don't do it justice. It's an entirely different game. It's a AAA game from a very small studio. They've definitely punched upwards and it shows. No Micro Transactions, everything earnable in game... good story lines and good fun play loops will keep you busy for hours on end. This is what EVE Online should have been...

A greeat space looter-shooter. Reminds me of Free Lancer, or a better combat version of Rebel Galaxy (thought the trade system is better in RG). Tight flight mechanics, upgrade systems, enough lore to keep it grounded without being overbearing, and a story that, refreshlngly, doesn't involve saving the galaxy. Just you getting out of dodge, just like in the first game. The ability to customize ships is also great - the No Man's Sky I wish I had earlier. You don't need to play the first one, but I picked it up on GOG for cheap and it was worth it to get the backstory. This game has evolved in complexity though, so don't do ES 2 then ES1... (Would be cool to have a Mass Effect tie-in as well, would pay $ for an N7 colour scheme...)

While I loved the first Everspace with it's rogue-like gameplay loop and smooth, intense space dogfights, I always felt like I didn't make enough progress for the session length I'd put in. With this second installment, Rockfish went with a spaghetti-western feeling story and an emmensely larger prize pool of stuff to find or unlock. Plenty of side missions, destroyed ship detritus to loot through and a story that (so far I've yet to finish the damn thing) doesn't mind blind-siding you with twists and all manner of crazy stuff going on. If you like space combat with a whole lot of "dress-up" for your ships, don't miss this one! Highly Recommended!

I tried playing it twice, since I did pay for it and didn't want my money to go to waste. But after a total of about 15 hours, I just couldn't get into it. Some games make the grind work, but this isn't one of them because the world feels empty and boring. The combat is also uninteresting. I loved other space games, e.g. Freelancer and Rebel Galaxy Outlaws. They were much more fun and I'll play those again instead.

I played the first game with all it's DLC, moment-to-moment gameplay is just as good but everything outside of that feels somewhat shallow. For example, there's a superficial 'economy' system where you buy things in one system and sell them in another, but unlike an ACTUAL economy system supply/demand doesn't really fluctuate at all as you do business so there isn't a reason to change up who you buy/sell to. System nodes each have a checklist of busywork to fill out, after you do that there's no reason to go back to them. They'll repopulate but the combat encounters don't significantly change outside of general system level-ups as you level-up yourself. You don't get jumped by the Okkar anymore either, so the tension and urgency from the first game is pretty much gone. The radiant quest system is a welcome addition, but questgivers are restricted to three systems so you have to "make your own fun", so to speak, in half the systems after you fill the node checkboxes in them. There are NPC stations in each of the systems too that'd make sense to have quest boards, why they didn't just do that I have no idea. The biggest systems are the first two, and the new systems gradually get smaller as you progress through the game. They all have their own gimmicks and enemy factions, save one which feels like an afterthought. There's an entire system listed on the map you can't even explore, I think it was a bad idea to leave it on the map since it leaves a feeling of unfinished business after completing the game. The story starts out nice and pulpy, but as actually interesting characters leave your 'party' it gets campier and campier until it culminates in a 'power of friendship!'-style cornball climax that I didn't HATE, but was a far cry from the first subplot. All the interesting flawed characters get replaced by sappy flawless do-gooders, it feels like. TL;DR - It's a fine arcadey space shooter and feels worth the price, but it loses a lot of the tone and atmosphere.