Everspace 2

[gurugeorge]

Graphics look bloody amazing.

I never played Everspace - was it supposed to be like a spiritual successor to Freespace or something? That's the space game that really got to me, mainly because of the excellent lore, which knit together a real sense of inhabited space, its boundaries, and beyond those boundaries.

What's the Everspace lore like, can anyone give a quick potted summary? I always feel that the lore is more important with space games than with any other genre. After all, there's not much going on in space, so the background sense of what's going on politically and economically has to be pretty good to compensate.

 

[Blutwurstritter]

Graphics look bloody amazing.

I never played Everspace - was it supposed to be like a spiritual successor to Freespace or something? That's the space game that really got to me, mainly because of the excellent lore, which knit together a real sense of inhabited space, its boundaries, and beyond those boundaries.

What's the Everspace lore like, can anyone give a quick potted summary? I always feel that the lore is more important with space games than with any other genre. After all, there's not much going on in space, so the background sense of what's going on politically and economically has to be pretty good to compensate.

Everspace is a fairly linear game with some roguelike elements and doesn't resemble Freespace, so I doubt that its supposed to be a spiritual successor. I am not a big fan of the roguelike aspects but the gameplay and visuals are good enough to make up for it. The lore and story take a back seat but I'd put it overall on the slightly positive side. It doesn't stand out as a negative. The setting is a demilitarized zone after a truce between waring humans and aliens, the Okkar. And there are often derelict wrecks and destroyed ships in the levels fitting the lore. The Okkar keep the peace in the zone and make up one hostile faction, since you're not supposed to be in the zone. Other enemies are mostly raiders and bandits which are also hostile to the Okkar. There are also a few stations and ships of a company that has concessions to mine in the DMZ. Your goal is to reach a lab to find out what is going on with yourself(amnesia with an unsurprising twist). To get there you have to jump from sector to sector where each sector contains a gate that allows you to jump to the next one; you have to progress and cannot return to former sectors during a run. There isn't one large map. If you stay to long in a given sector a large Okkar fleet will jump in and attack you for reasons that you learn when you progress the story. This forces you to push forward and prevents you from lingering/exploring to long in a single sector. The story also explains why you can restart/continue after dying.

You can unlock upgrades that disables the Okkar fleet attack but it can take a while to get that upgrade since its tied to a random chance of finding it. My enjoyment of the game improved a lot with it. I'd say that the game gets more enjoyable as you progress. The first few runs are the least fun parts of the game. It's not a game to play for the story or setting in my opinion, but the story/setting aren't actively bad. Its a good game if you want "arcadey" shoot'em up action in a gorgeous space setting.

 

[ArchAngel]

Graphics look bloody amazing.

I never played Everspace - was it supposed to be like a spiritual successor to Freespace or something? That's the space game that really got to me, mainly because of the excellent lore, which knit together a real sense of inhabited space, its boundaries, and beyond those boundaries.

What's the Everspace lore like, can anyone give a quick potted summary? I always feel that the lore is more important with space games than with any other genre. After all, there's not much going on in space, so the background sense of what's going on politically and economically has to be pretty good to compensate.

Everspace is a fairly linear game with some roguelike elements and doesn't resemble Freespace, so I doubt that its supposed to be a spiritual successor. I am not a big fan of the roguelike aspects but the gameplay and visuals are good enough to make up for it. The lore and story take a back seat but I'd put it overall on the slightly positive side. It doesn't stand out as a negative. The setting is a demilitarized zone after a truce between waring humans and aliens, the Okkar. And there are often derelict wrecks and destroyed ships in the levels fitting the lore. The Okkar keep the peace in the zone and make up one hostile faction, since you're not supposed to be in the zone. Other enemies are mostly raiders and bandits which are also hostile to the Okkar. There are also a few stations and ships of a company that has concessions to mine in the DMZ. Your goal is to reach a lab to find out what is going on with yourself(amnesia with an unsurprising twist). To get there you have to jump from sector to sector where each sector contains a gate that allows you to jump to the next one; you have to progress and cannot return to former sectors during a run. There isn't one large map. If you stay to long in a given sector a large Okkar fleet will jump in and attack you for reasons that you learn when you progress the story. This forces you to push forward and prevents you from lingering/exploring to long in a single sector. The story also explains why you can restart/continue after dying.

You can unlock upgrades that disables the Okkar fleet attack but it can take a while to get that upgrade since its tied to a random chance of finding it. My enjoyment of the game improved a lot with it. I'd say that the game gets more enjoyable as you progress. The first few runs are the least fun parts of the game. It's not a game to play for the story or setting in my opinion, but the story/setting aren't actively bad. Its a good game if you want "arcadey" shoot'em up action in a gorgeous space setting.

I played it a while ago so I don't remember the details but there was some serious penalty if you disable that fleet and I remember I didn't disable them.

 

[Blutwurstritter]

Graphics look bloody amazing.

I never played Everspace - was it supposed to be like a spiritual successor to Freespace or something? That's the space game that really got to me, mainly because of the excellent lore, which knit together a real sense of inhabited space, its boundaries, and beyond those boundaries.

What's the Everspace lore like, can anyone give a quick potted summary? I always feel that the lore is more important with space games than with any other genre. After all, there's not much going on in space, so the background sense of what's going on politically and economically has to be pretty good to compensate.

Everspace is a fairly linear game with some roguelike elements and doesn't resemble Freespace, so I doubt that its supposed to be a spiritual successor. I am not a big fan of the roguelike aspects but the gameplay and visuals are good enough to make up for it. The lore and story take a back seat but I'd put it overall on the slightly positive side. It doesn't stand out as a negative. The setting is a demilitarized zone after a truce between waring humans and aliens, the Okkar. And there are often derelict wrecks and destroyed ships in the levels fitting the lore. The Okkar keep the peace in the zone and make up one hostile faction, since you're not supposed to be in the zone. Other enemies are mostly raiders and bandits which are also hostile to the Okkar. There are also a few stations and ships of a company that has concessions to mine in the DMZ. Your goal is to reach a lab to find out what is going on with yourself(amnesia with an unsurprising twist). To get there you have to jump from sector to sector where each sector contains a gate that allows you to jump to the next one; you have to progress and cannot return to former sectors during a run. There isn't one large map. If you stay to long in a given sector a large Okkar fleet will jump in and attack you for reasons that you learn when you progress the story. This forces you to push forward and prevents you from lingering/exploring to long in a single sector. The story also explains why you can restart/continue after dying.

You can unlock upgrades that disables the Okkar fleet attack but it can take a while to get that upgrade since its tied to a random chance of finding it. My enjoyment of the game improved a lot with it. I'd say that the game gets more enjoyable as you progress. The first few runs are the least fun parts of the game. It's not a game to play for the story or setting in my opinion, but the story/setting aren't actively bad. Its a good game if you want "arcadey" shoot'em up action in a gorgeous space setting.

I played it a while ago so I don't remember the details but there was some serious penalty if you disable that fleet and I remember I didn't disable them.

The glyph adds a jump suppressor to every level, which I didn't mind since I prefer to explore the levels to completion. But its a no-go if you like jumping quickly to the next stage. And glyph slots are limited, so other ones might be better suited, depending on how you play the game.

 

[cyborgboy95]

EVERSPACE 2 Release Date Coming Soon
Five years of development. Two years of Early Access. One more week until a release date!

Here's a taste of the coming trailer. Stay tuned to this frequency, pilots!



We'll see you in space!

Galactic greetings from Lee and your dedicated ROCKFISH Games Team

 

[Matador]

Got an itch for space games. Do you recommend this?

My favourite space game is Freespace 2.

I also liked Elite Dangerous combat a lot but disliked the game structure.

 

[Naraya]

Well, April 6th is the date. I haven't followed this AT ALL but I loved the first one. Is it true this is no longer a roguelite, and instead has things like level scaling and bloated open world? :/

Yeah, unfortunately that's part of my issue with the sequel. The first you could jump into and play in bursts while making meta progress.
The sequel is an open universe levelled slog, like Skyrim or something? All your gear gets obsolete as you level and you're constantly getting FedEx fetch quests side missions and other ? points of interest, but given the sheer volume a lot feels like padding.
It's like the dev went from one gameplay extreme to another: tight minimalist roguelike to sprawling open world space sim and completely forgot about pacing and other necessaries.
edit: Since this and other comments are getting downvoted, I'll ask this: what's the point of all the content here? In Skyrim and similar games with RPG mechanics part of the journey is to simply get stronger and access more adventures (content). Instead the devs chose a Assassins Creed gear system they used since Origins where gear doesn't really matter, it all is temporary and placeholders until you can get something with more DPS. Heck, even if you find something you really like you can only upgrade it's level I think a single time before it becomes level locked and soon obsolete. So if becoming "stronger" isn't a draw, then among the few incentives left is exploring new content - but a lot of that is the same content you've already seen with a different fetch quest or slightly different puzzle. There's a plot, but it's doled out pretty slowly and is levelled content so you're forced to do a bunch of low stakes stuff just to keep your level in-line with the plot requirements. The issue isn't roguelike vs open world, it's interesting content vs filler and slow progression/pacing systems. Steam has me with about 32 hrs in the first game and I've probably put over 20 in the second but my time with the first has generally been a lot more interesting.

 

[Taka-Haradin puolipeikko]

 

[pOcHa]

Well, April 6th is the date. I haven't followed this AT ALL but I loved the first one. Is it true this is no longer a roguelite, and instead has things like level scaling and bloated open world? :/

Yeah, unfortunately that's part of my issue with the sequel. The first you could jump into and play in bursts while making meta progress.
The sequel is an open universe levelled slog, like Skyrim or something? All your gear gets obsolete as you level and you're constantly getting FedEx fetch quests side missions and other ? points of interest, but given the sheer volume a lot feels like padding.
It's like the dev went from one gameplay extreme to another: tight minimalist roguelike to sprawling open world space sim and completely forgot about pacing and other necessaries.
edit: Since this and other comments are getting downvoted, I'll ask this: what's the point of all the content here? In Skyrim and similar games with RPG mechanics part of the journey is to simply get stronger and access more adventures (content). Instead the devs chose a Assassins Creed gear system they used since Origins where gear doesn't really matter, it all is temporary and placeholders until you can get something with more DPS. Heck, even if you find something you really like you can only upgrade it's level I think a single time before it becomes level locked and soon obsolete. So if becoming "stronger" isn't a draw, then among the few incentives left is exploring new content - but a lot of that is the same content you've already seen with a different fetch quest or slightly different puzzle. There's a plot, but it's doled out pretty slowly and is levelled content so you're forced to do a bunch of low stakes stuff just to keep your level in-line with the plot requirements. The issue isn't roguelike vs open world, it's interesting content vs filler and slow progression/pacing systems. Steam has me with about 32 hrs in the first game and I've probably put over 20 in the second but my time with the first has generally been a lot more interesting.

"The removal of dynamic leveling in most areas and situations (one of the patches did this) makes clearing a map feel generally fine. You may feel a bit frustrated by the consistent enemy waves, but they're always 3k+ km out and don't just immediately make a beeline to you."

https://store.steampowered.com/news...=103582791465187005&emgid=3479622095817450564

Overhauled Level Scaling
Let’s address the elephant in the hangar first! We’ve noticed a subset of pilots not being happy with level scaling, especially at the beginning of the game. While others appreciate having a challenge wherever they go and would find fighting underwhelming opponents that drop no meaningful loot just flat-out boring, some pilots just love to obliterate space baddies after they have advanced a few levels and are frustrated if enemies level with them; we get that.

It’s tough trying to make two opposite kinds of player types happy, but we hope we found a fair solution that works for both sides: Instead of having enemies level with you constantly within a given level range per star system — there’s a lot more to the mechanic, but I’ll leave it at that — pilots can now over-level up to a certain point. These are events like reaching a specific player level, a major plot point in the campaign, or entering a new system. If a combination of conditions is met, previous game areas will level up, and you’ll get a message that is even woven into the game’s lore.

Meaning, within the first few hours of the game, there is no level-scaling in missions or while exploring locations anymore. However, after you have made some progress in the second star system, Union, you will be notified that enemies become stronger in Ceto, the beginner area, so you won’t be able to one-shot’em. In fact, if you’re lazy, you’ll be turned into stardust in no time. Enemies won’t chicken out on you or just idle in space without aggro. They’ll put up a fight, thus dropping meaningful loot when defeated. On the other hand, if you’re feeling lucky and rush into higher-level systems, enemies will no longer level down, so you might wanna do a few side missions, distress calls, jobs, or location challenges first to really earn going and find some high-level gear.

It’s a massive change under the hood, so we encourage everyone to start a new game and let us know what they think about the new system, but don’t forget to use all tools available to your disposal: ship devices, consumables, ULTs, crafting, shopping, exploiting weaknesses, dodging enemy fire, and using the environment to your advantage.

 

[Jinn]

Ok, I'm happy with this compromise. In a lot of ways, this new system operates much like how chapter spawns work in Gothic 1 and 2, which is maybe one of the best way to handle enemy progression in an open world game. Thanks for posting this, pOcHa! I would have never seen it, as I had written off the game a long time ago because of the level-scaling. There is now hope for this to be a good game.

 

[Jenkem]

Ok, I'm happy with this compromise. In a lot of ways, this new system operates much like how chapter spawns work in Gothic 1 and 2, which is maybe one of the best way to handle enemy progression in an open world game. Thanks for posting this, pOcHa! I would have never seen it, as I had written off the game a long time ago because of the level-scaling. There is now hope for this to be a good game.

please post your impressions when you do play it

 

[Taka-Haradin puolipeikko]

 

[Ivan]

waiting for it to update on GP. ima devour this

 

[Ash]

Fuck yeah! HYPE

 

[bertram_tung]

this games awesome. been playin all night.

 

[GhostCow]

I played this for a bit but it's too much of an arcade looter shooter for me. It would have been much better as a sim.

 

[Naraya]

I played this for a bit but it's too much of an arcade looter shooter for me. It would have been much better as a sim.

Well, I don't expect any game to surpass Freespace 2 as a sim. Everspace 1 is a roguelite/arcade looter shooter so I don't anticipate or want anything else from its sequel.

 

[Late Bloomer]

How is the planet exploration handled?

 

[Ash]

How is death and game saving handled?

 

[Morgoth]

Everspace 2, the newest aspirant that ticks off a shopping list without ever achieving its own Gestalt. Nothing ever comes close to the wonderful 1990s Kitsch of Freelancer.

 

[Great Deceiver]

Played for a couple of hours but I'm not really liking it so far. Graphics are pretty and it runs well, but that's about it. Zero personality and the gameplay didn't feel particularly engaging. I'd much rather play a more focused game like Descent or even the more recent Overload. Guess I like proper level design.

 

[PapaPetro]

this games awesome. been playin all night.

This right here has got me to install.

 

[Ivan]

Weird, the textbox only appears when I'm in incognito mode...anyway, I wanted to echo what Great Deceiver said in that the game feel is what threw me off. I came in expecting it to control like Rogue Squadron or Overload, but it feels loose, a bit drunk. Maybe it plays better on controller but IDK, the feel is not what I expected.

 

[Fedora Master]

Game is fine but it is hardly like Freelancer.

 

[Stokowski]

Yeah, it's more a space-themed looter-shooter with level-scaling. Weird.