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Open-world space action sim EVERSPACE 2 from ROCKFISH Games has shown off plenty of new footage across multiple events recently and it looks seriously shiny.

This sequel is expanding on basically everything from the first game, including throwing out the roguelike gameplay loop in favour of the open-world approach to let you really get into deep ship customization and combat in planetary atmosphere as well as space itself. Funded on Kickstarter in 2019 with €503,478 in funding, it's entering Alpha next week with Early Access due at the end of the year and Linux support is due with the final release in 2021.

Check out the new trailer below, shown off during the PC Gaming Show 2020:

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It might already be my most anticipated release for 2021.

I'm a massive fan of space, spaceships and of course lots of explosions so EVERSPACE 2 is going to be a must-buy for me. Tons of ships and different styles, masses of loot to find and equip with all sorts of customization options on offer. EVERSPACE 2 sounds like it's going to be an incredible action-focused space adventure.

After you watch the trailer, if you decide that's not enough for you, the developer actually did quite a long gameplay demo with commentary on June 12 which you can see below. Gameplay starts around 9:10.

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You can wishlist/follow EVERSPACE 2 on Steam. You can also see hundreds of other crowdfunded games on our dedicated page.

Want to try the original? It's intense and very pretty. If you like challenging space combat it's worth picking up. Grab it from Humble Store, GOG or Steam.

Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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46 comments
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Boldos Jun 13, 2020
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Uuuuu - Linux version coming too?
I guess I might give them that full price; they deserve it...
chomwitt Jun 13, 2020
When i saw for the first time Everspace video it looked impressive. And the freedom it offered moving and hiding in space were cool.
Jau Jun 14, 2020
Well… Bad news for you my friends… I'm currently struggling with Unreal Engine 4.25 (same with 4.25.1) to compile all my project shaders but there is a HUGE Vulkan crash bug and Epic stays dead silent…
If they don't fix it, Everspace 2, like many of us, might be forced to rely on Wine|Proton
randyl Jun 14, 2020
I'm interested. I added it to my wishlist.
Shmerl Jun 14, 2020
Looks very good. I hope they are finally using Vulkan in Unreal, not OpenGL anymore.
Alm888 Jun 14, 2020
With news like this, I'll think about this game when I see a Linux release.

Sad, but inevitable in our age of broken Kickstarter promises.
Liam Dawe Jun 14, 2020
With news like this, I'll think about this game when I see a Linux release.

Sad, but inevitable in our age of broken Kickstarter promises.
I had to go back and look the info up on that, seems we covered it and they did mention Linux in Kickstarter comments. Still, we've had hundreds of games successfully delivered as a result of crowdfunding. No reason to expect Everspace 2 to drop it.
Leopard Jun 14, 2020
Well… Bad news for you my friends… I'm currently struggling with Unreal Engine 4.25 (same with 4.25.1) to compile all my project shaders but there is a HUGE Vulkan crash bug and Epic stays dead silent…
If they don't fix it, Everspace 2, like many of us, might be forced to rely on Wine|Proton

They even archived some goals about Vulkan in their Trello board.

Seems like Epic is fully on board with d3d12 and sees Vulkan as only a mobile api for Android purposes.
Alm888 Jun 14, 2020
No reason to expect Everspace 2 to drop it.
Alas, I must be cautious, as "Works Great With Proton™" is not sufficient for me. I can not verify Ekuator Games' denial on Kickstarter (as I am not a backer), but see no reason to not believe Cyril.

Plus, we already had examples of studios dropping Linux support, and Psychojau with Leopard have provided damn good reasons to question Epic's level of Linux support. So, I can not rule out the possibility of forced removal of Linux support due to external factors (even though I want to believe in "ROCKFISH Games" and assume they will provide refunds if things "go south").

Gotta play my cards safe and ensure my money goes to truly Linux-friendly companies. Bloodscammed was more than enough for me.
Leopard Jun 14, 2020
No reason to expect Everspace 2 to drop it.
Alas, I must be cautious, as "Works Great With Proton™" is not sufficient for me. I can not verify Ekuator Games' denial on Kickstarter (as I am not a backer), but see no reason to not believe Cyril.

Plus, we already had examples of studios dropping Linux support, and Psychojau with Leopard have provided damn good reasons to question Epic's level of Linux support. So, I can not rule out the possibility of forced removal of Linux support due to external factors (even though I want to believe in "ROCKFISH Games" and assume they will provide refunds if things "go south").

Gotta play my cards safe and ensure my money goes to truly Linux-friendly companies. Bloodscammed was more than enough for me.

If OpenGL isn't removed from current UE4 versions , game will come out with OGL at worst.

Which don't take it as a downfall , it is better than VLK on UE4.

I have a game called Warriorb on Steam which uses UE4 and natively supports Linux. On VLK this game gives nearly 30 fps less on my end compared to default OGL renderer.

For perf reasons , people still might wanna use the Proton but there isn't a solid reason for people who wants to play native version to complain about game not being VLK imo. Unless Epic Games dramatically improves the situation and Rockfish Games does jump onto new, somehow improved UE4 version. Which as a general case as i see with UE4 games , developers finishes the game on the version they started to use as an unspoken but general rule.

So all things considered , i don't see this game coming out with VLK support and there is no reason to pressure them if they use OGL. As it will likely perform better than VLK.
Avehicle7887 Jun 14, 2020
Looks very good. I hope they are finally using Vulkan in Unreal, not OpenGL anymore.

Last I remember, Vulkan for native Linux UE4 games was in a horrible state, performs worse than OpenGL. The first Everspace performed admirably on Linux with OpenGL even on a low end machine.


Last edited by Avehicle7887 on 14 June 2020 at 12:59 pm UTC
Shmerl Jun 14, 2020
By the time they finish the game, there will be UE5 already.
Shmerl Jun 14, 2020
Last I remember, Vulkan for native Linux UE4 games was in a horrible state, performs worse than OpenGL. The first Everspace performed admirably on Linux with OpenGL even on a low end machine.

I don't get why someone like Google can't help them fix that mess.
randyl Jun 14, 2020
The Crystal Balls of Doom are all over this thread. I guess we'll have to see if these guys implement Vulkan better than their peers.

Regarding Proton/WINE vs Native: In my Steam Library the number of working games that break, due to age and updates, across native and Proton are about the same. The thing is with aging native titles, like Torchlight 2 or the beloved Rocket League, they may never get updated and fixed. There are no guarantees or promises with any title. Generally, I wait a few months after a title releases, usually for a sale, before I buy it and that tends to cover a multitude of issues.
Shmerl Jun 14, 2020
....I just still don't see Epic giving a damn unless there's something really big (economically) in it for them.

Google paying them can be big (or just doing this work for Epic who should have done it all themselves). And Google only benefit from higher quality titles for Stadia.


Last edited by Shmerl on 14 June 2020 at 6:04 pm UTC
Leopard Jun 14, 2020
By the time they finish the game, there will be UE5 already.

1-) There is no sign of VLK support will be better on UE5.

2-) You are hugely mistaken if you think they will just move to UE5 for their ongoing work , that is not a simple task.

3-) For just backing up finishing time has nothing to do with engine they will use , Mortal Kombat 11. Released at 2019, utilizes Unreal Engine 3, has a d3d12 renderer. Do the math. Release time absolutely has nothing to do with engine version and Rockfish Games doesn't have that much resources work seperately on a VLK renderer or somehow adjusting the current offering.
CatKiller Jun 14, 2020
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I think it's worth remembering that the people selling Rocket League (Epic) said that the people who made Unreal Engine (Epic) had done such a terrible job at making a cross-platform game engine that they needed to give a full refund to all of their customers on two of the platforms they'd released on. That is quite a strong statement from them about their level of competence.
Shmerl Jun 14, 2020
Release time absolutely has nothing to do with engine version and Rockfish Games doesn't have that much resources work seperately on a VLK renderer or somehow adjusting the current offering.

They worked on it for first Everspace, and even recommend using it over OpenGL one.
Shmerl Jun 14, 2020
I think it's worth remembering that the people selling Rocket League (Epic) said that the people who made Unreal Engine (Epic) had done such a terrible job at making a cross-platform game engine that they needed to give a full refund to all of their customers on two of the platforms they'd released on. That is quite a strong statement from them about their level of competence.

We need engines like Godot eventually push stuff like Unreal to the side. But that will take time.
Leopard Jun 14, 2020
Last I remember, Vulkan for native Linux UE4 games was in a horrible state, performs worse than OpenGL. The first Everspace performed admirably on Linux with OpenGL even on a low end machine.

I don't get why someone like Google can't help them fix that mess.

Google doesn't have to help them. They have resources to do it. But from my understanding, they likely think going on with d3d12 is viable for these reasons:

1-) Dominant api on Windows is d3d.

2-) Microsoft has an upcoming cloud gaming solution.

3-) Due to messy launch and payment model of Stadia , Stadia kinda proved that will be another dead service of Google in a couple of years.

4-) Other serious and really bright cloud competitor is Geforce Now and they are already operating on Windows and utilizing current Windows game offerings that takes place on Steam , Epic Games Store etc. So another point of showing importance of d3d and unimportant nature of Vulkan.

5-) Xbox.
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