Everspace 2 follows on from what Rockfish/Fishlab GmbH have mastered over the years- a well-refined looter-shooter with some crafting mechanics, experience bars and shopping lists to give it a sense of progression. I preferred the first Everspace, and while most of that is still here with extra stuff attached, it's just delivered in a different format, and doesn't run as well on my potato computer. This time when you die, you'll be reloading to the start of the same encounter that killed you/ reverting to an earlier save; you're no longer pitching yourself against a boiled down escalation-curve of a space-sim in roguelite fashion. I feel this subtly detracts from the core of Everspace 1's format; you're no longer drafting a loadout from a a limited scope of equipment options, but taking the most appealing option from the entire scope of options presntly available at a given point in the campaign. Due to the long-form progression, there's a much broader, diluted gamut of stat-growth, and preferred equipment can typically be recrafted at your current level from the piles of materials you've accrued across the length of the campaign- so diversity in your loadout is not really enforced, and often not adventageous. While this isn't a game that's trying to sell itself on white-knuckle tension or deeply nuanced systems of interaction, it IS a lengthy narrative campaign with flexible RPG elements; for all the extra content and encounters they've included, it doesn't actually change the way you engage with the Everspace 2 as a 'numbers game' which IS what the lengthy meta progerssion hinges on, and not the reason I continue to play the game. You need to find your own fun and enforce your own restrictions if you're going to benefit from the novelty the added content would otherwise hope to provide, which I imagine is achievable for most.
