As someone who likes Sci-fi, Everspace is a game that hits all the right buttons for me. When you start the game, a cut scene is shown in which your character is arguing with someone that he can’t remember. You see how he manages to escape in a stolen ship, and your adventure through space begins. Needless to say, your character has amnesia. However, your trusty ship’s AI is there to help you and teach you about the different game mechanics, the universe you are in, and the different factions there. I like the way the AI interacts with your character. If you try to attack a neutral faction, the AI tells you that if you attack them, they will retaliate, and that is not a smart thing to do (however, if you are feeling gutsy you can try to take them down for some sweet resources or credits). When you die (and you will a lot), the AI makes a snarky comments like, “I told you not to attack them,” or ” You need to evade attacks to live.” The AI says some things that are really funny (even if they were mocking my pilot skills), and when you do things right, the AI praises you so things like that are enjoyable at least for me.
Remember when I said that you will die? Since Everspace is a roguelite, inevitably you will die a lot. However, I feel that dying is a important part of the game play since you can just do a gathering run, trying to get as most credits as you can (since you keep them when you die), and you can use them before your next run to upgrade your ship (if you don’t use them before the next run you lose them). Obviously, an upgraded ship has better chances of survival than your vanilla ship.
When you start your adventure, you are shown a map (kind of like in StarFox), and you can choose which area to tackle. However, each time feels like a gamble because in the beginning, you have no information of the specifics of the area you are about to venture (knowledge is power kids). Luckily, as you die and gather credits, you can upgrade your ship’s navigational systems, and that allows you to view information on the map. The includes the amount of enemies, resources, or even the level of potential danger in each zone. That way you can plan accordingly depending on what you want to accomplish in each run.
However, taking risks can be rewarding because at the beginning of each run, there are a series of objectives to clear like destroying certain amount of enemy ships, or accrue certain amount of credits and so forth. It adds more things to look for in an already objectives filled adventure (I don’t mind by the way). As you are playing, gathering resources to survive is a must. However, that doesn’t mean that you can stay gathering in one place forever because the enemies you defeat will continue to randomly appear, so if you stay to long you might be involved in more dogfights that you want or can handle.
Speaking of dogfights, these can be pretty intense, especially when you are suddenly attacked. You are not a sitting duck, though. You have several weapons at your disposal to counter attack them. With your laser shot, you can deplete their shields quickly, and then you can swap weapon to deal more damage or continue the laser barrage and add a missile or two. I like how dynamic the dogfights are since you are not only battling, but there are also drones (can be a pain with their lasers). Sometimes you are under heavy fire, and if you are not quick to bail out or fight back, it will be another death. If you manage to live to fight another day, you will notice that your ship sustained a lot of damage. Luckily, you can repair your ship’s damage if you have the resources needed. Weapons and sub-weapons can receive damage as well. In one of my runs due to my poor pilot skills, I hit a rock and the missiles were damaged, so I had to play without missiles during that run until after defeating an enemy. One of the drops was a new type of missile I installed it and continued until I was defeated.
This is another thing that I really like about Everspace since you can swap weapons that enemies drop. Some are better than your standard weapons. Some are worse, but if you choose not to equip them, you can disassemble them for materials. Also, engine boost and weapons fire deplete a shared power source, indicated via your reticule, so if you are raining down justice you cannot boost at the same time. If the energy is completely depleted, you will shoot one bullet at a time until the energy regens. I like this mechanich, since it provides a good balance between fighting and running away. Luckily, the energy charges fast enough not to let you sitting there like a duck, waiting for your doom.
I like how the game plays, and how it looks. Graphically speaking, I feel that each area is well detailed, and I could not see any issues with performance or textures, though I am not one that cares much about graphics. If a game is fun and interesting, I’ll play regardless how it looks. Everspace is a game that I really enjoy playing. So far during my review, my death count was around 30 times (not ashamed at all), and it could be more further down the line. I like how the ships look. I think that they have that futuristic feeling. Maybe I wont get to see those types of ships in my life, but these types of games can make me dream about a future that can become possible. For me, this game plays and looks amazing. Since I don’t do PC gaming, nor I have other consoles that the game was released, I cannot compare it to those versions However, to me it doesn’t matter I liked what I saw and played in this version.
Bottom Line Everspace is a great game, once you get the hang of how to maximize the risks and rewards of each run while getting the most of each death, you are smooth sailing. I really liked my time with Everspace and I cannot recommend it enough. For me it was an Stellar experience.
A Review Code was Provided for this Review.