We got a kick out of the original EVERSPACE when it hit consoles and PCs a few years ago. The mix of fast-paced space combat, ship upgrades, roguelike progression, and interesting story beats made for a fresh take on the space combat genre, while still retaining some pleasant familiarities. Now the sequel is live on Kickstarter with an ambitious EU €450,000 (about $499,000) goal.
EVERSPACE 2 bills itself as a bigger, better sequel to the original game. Players step into the boots of whatever clone survived the first game to take on a much bigger story. With no line of clones waiting behind your pilot, life is suddenly precious. What this means for players is that EVERSPACE 2 drops the roguelike elements of the first game in favor of an expansive RPG-style storyline.
EVERSPACE 2 retains the gorgeous graphics of its predecessor. Who knew space could be so pretty?
I recently got a chance to try the prototype demo. This was the same demo shown off at Gamescom earlier this year, but played in the convenience of my own home. From the start of the prototype, it’s clear that the folks at ROCKFISH Games have worked hard to keep the core gameplay of EVERSPACE intact.
Players start out selecting one of three ship types, then blasting out of their asteroid base. Almost immediately there’s a pirate attack, and a chance to reacquaint myself with EVERSPACE 2’s 6-degrees-of-freedom (6DOF) gameplay style. For anyone with fond memories of playing Descent back in the day, EVERSPACE 2’control scheme will be a familiar blast from the past. For anyone else, the schema is easy to learn, and the game plays equally well whether controlled with mouse and keyboard, gamepad, or bespoke joystick controls.
Planetary flight looks to be a significant addition to ES2. No word on whether the flight model will be effected by gravity or not. We’re guessing not.
Enemy attacks come in from all directions. The fighters in the demo are all well equipped for combat; however, it will be interesting to see how the final game handles the gradual equipping and upgrading of player craft. In the original game, that process was a part of the roguelike death cycle.
I quickly found myself blasting away with lasers and missiles at a slew of enemy pirates. With my home sector cleared, I jumped to one of the other available systems and went exploring. EVERSPACE 2 offers the same kind of breathing world feeling as the first game, where warping into a given system may find miners already at work, pirate attacks in progress, shipwrecks surrounded by minefields, or any number of other surprises.
One of the three medium fighters available in the prototype demo.
A nicely designed soundtrack provides a good atmospheric accompaniment to player actions in-game. During combat, the music gets heavier, while wandering through some lonely debris fields yielded a moody, haunting melody.
I hope this game gets funded, because the world needs more spiritual successors to Freespace. As of this writing, EVERSPACE 2 has yet to hit its Kickstarter goals. However, with about a week to go, they’re looking to be in pretty good shape. Players interested in following the latest information about EVERSPACE 2 should check out the game’s official website.
