A space simulation with extensive fights in weightlessness? Think Freelancer, which was released in 2003 and was milestones ahead of most of its kind when it comes to 3D battles in the depths of space. Reminiscent of the latter, Everspace 2 features a coherent world, a dedicated character, and offers more variety than ever before. The game is the successor to the well-known classic Everspace, released in 2017. This time around, however, the developer studio Rockfish Games from Hamburg plans to release you into an open game world full of secrets and dangers, following the roguelike approach of the first game.

Open world

Several star systems connected by portals are ready to be explored and contain all kinds of artefacts, weapons, and hostile vermin. Discover over 100 locations with different contents: Bases, meteorite collections, shipwrecks, and puzzles await. As before, the star of the game is your own ship, which can be upgraded at will. You can choose from a large fleet and each cruiser offers extensive individualization options. You can not only adapt its decorative patterns and colors, but dozens of features - a lame transporter ship can be turned into a weapon-stuffed destroyer. In addition to the primary, secondary, and tertiary colors, as well as the national emblem, various ship hulls, wings, drives, and expansions can be freely selected from a certain player progress onwards. As in the predecessor, all weapons have a nice massive sound to them and feel very powerful.

Extensive story

The final goal of the game will be to disappear from the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ). According to current projections, Everspace 2 will include a campaign of about 20 hours. Anyone who diligently wants to destroy every heavily guarded base, blow up fusion reactors inside gigantic battleships, or engage in lucrative trades, will certainly be busy for twice as long. If you have an eye on the course of certain resources, you can increase your profits many times over. Some materials on planet A earn more money than on planet B. A conscientiously maintained launch list and completed missions will drop experience points, in addition to money. These can be spent on perks which do not improve the ship, but yourself and provide you with new abilities.

Inspired by sci-fi film classics such as Blade Runner, The Sixth Day, and video games like Detroit: Become Human, the hero's motivation is not to save the entire galaxy, but to search for the meaning of life and his place in society and what it means to be human. The characters, therefore, gain more emotional depth and are run by multi-faceted motivations.

When will Everspace 2 release?

Everspace 2 will be released with Steam's early access program in September 2020. Further milestones include the closed alpha and beta in April and July 2020. If everything runs as planned, the studio expects the game to release in the third quarter of 2021.

The game already seems to press the right buttons. Even though its predecessor felt quite repetitive, it was enjoyable. In addition to the more extensive story in an open world, the role-playing elements and loot systems, one of the most anticipated features is the modular system for almost infinitely different spaceship variations - that don't look arbitrary and offer various playing styles and extensive customization options. The new features and functions of part 2, thus seem like the next logical step.