EVERSPACE 2 from ROCKFISH Games is ready to properly blast off on April 6th and it's looking mighty fine. I've been quite excited about seeing this one completed and I'll be taking a good look around the release or shortly after.
They've also said they're planning to release a free content update in the second half of 2023, and their team is also working on a major expansion for mid-2024. See the new trailer below:
Direct Link
For those of you waiting on the Native Linux version they said this:
Linux (and Mac) support are still on track, with the aim to deliver this as close to the full release as possible.
From the press release:
“EVERSPACE 2 has been, by far, our biggest and most ambitious project at ROCKFISH Games and a true labour of love over the five years it’s been in development, the last two of which in Early Access,” says ROCKFISH Games CEO Michael Schade. “With our release date revealed, we can see a light at the end of the tunnel where our amazing community and players all over the world new to the series will get to experience this adventure full of exciting, white-knuckle space combat and beautiful handcrafted deep space and planetside locations to explore. We’ve invested a hefty eight-digits budget into creating the game we’ve always wanted to make, and the team is now hard at work finaling and polishing all of our launch day content to perfection. Beyond the final chapter of the EVERSPACE 2’s story, there’s still a lot to see!”
While it's currently in Early Access, they will be raising the price. So if you've been after it waiting for the full release keep in mind the price will go up to $49.99 / £44.99 / €49.99 on February 20th.
Also, have never had any issues with it whatsoever in linux under proton (it's unreal engine, so that's not surprising).
Last edited by ExpandingMan on 7 February 2023 at 2:42 pm UTC
I am super excited about this. I already have about 15 hours in the game, but I've been trying not to sink too much time into it while it's still in EA. I'm a huge fan of sci-fi and space games and this developer definitely knows how to make them fun. I'd already highly recommend it to anyone thinking about picking it up.
Also, have never had any issues with it whatsoever in linux under proton (it's unreal engine, so that's not surprising).
Can this be compared to Rebel Galaxy? I was extremely surprised by that one, the music helped of course but also the freedom it gave next to the story.
Can this be compared to Rebel Galaxy? I was extremely surprised by that one, the music helped of course but also the freedom it gave next to the story.
It's not all that different from Rebel Galaxy Outlaw in that they are both arcade-style space combat games in an open world, but beyond that they are quite different. I was sorely disappointed in Rebel Galaxy Outlaw, I thought their flight model was terrible, and their emphasis on the weird "auto-tracking" feature in which your ship would automatically point toward your target was downright bizarre. Everspace 2 has a flight model very similar to the first game, which I'd describe as in the vein of Freespace but a bitter faster moving. There's also *waaaay* more "stuff" in the game than was in RGO, it takes a lot of cues from more traditional action RPG's: there are tons of weapons, equipment and ships with procedurally generated stat variations. "Borderlands in space" would not be too bad a description.
I'm ultimately more excited about more "realistic" and "systems-based" space games than this, however even as someone who considers himself a huge fan of that genre, I think the developers of those games spend all their time making a cool simulation and don't know (or even sufficiently consider) how to make it into a *game*. The developers of Everspace 2 seem to have taken the approach of taking what they know has been successful for games in other genres and making a space game which is fun first, while superficially satisfying all the requirements to be considered an open space game along the lines of elite. It's an approach that the genre desperately needed to see more examples of.
Can this be compared to Rebel Galaxy? I was extremely surprised by that one, the music helped of course but also the freedom it gave next to the story.
It's not all that different from Rebel Galaxy Outlaw in that they are both arcade-style space combat games in an open world, but beyond that they are quite different. I was sorely disappointed in Rebel Galaxy Outlaw, I thought their flight model was terrible, and their emphasis on the weird "auto-tracking" feature in which your ship would automatically point toward your target was downright bizarre. Everspace 2 has a flight model very similar to the first game, which I'd describe as in the vein of Freespace but a bitter faster moving. There's also *waaaay* more "stuff" in the game than was in RGO, it takes a lot of cues from more traditional action RPG's: there are tons of weapons, equipment and ships with procedurally generated stat variations. "Borderlands in space" would not be too bad a description.
I'm ultimately more excited about more "realistic" and "systems-based" space games than this, however even as someone who considers himself a huge fan of that genre, I think the developers of those games spend all their time making a cool simulation and don't know (or even sufficiently consider) how to make it into a *game*. The developers of Everspace 2 seem to have taken the approach of taking what they know has been successful for games in other genres and making a space game which is fun first, while superficially satisfying all the requirements to be considered an open space game along the lines of elite. It's an approach that the genre desperately needed to see more examples of.
Thank you.
I did not mention rebel galaxy outlaw for a reason ;)
Steamdeck support also planed for 1.0, but has less priority than Linux and Mac
Last edited by Arten on 14 February 2023 at 9:10 pm UTC
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