The gaming community had high hopes for Bethesda’s new RPG, Starfield. However, it fell short of delivering the promised next-gen experience. Disappointed sci-fi enthusiasts sought a satisfying alternative and turned to Everspace 2. Surprisingly, Everspace 2 emerged as the great sci-fi game the fans were looking for in Starfield.
Key Takeaways
- Developed by Rockfish Games, Everspace 2 has the best combat in any aircraft-based game with a science fiction setting that will leave you in awe.
- Customize every part of your ship to your liking ranging from weapons and perks to body kits to make your playthroughs more interesting, adding variety to them.
- While slowly gaining attention, the devs keep updating their game and releasing new content to keep it fresh and enjoyable.
Everspace 2 was released in 2023 and has significantly improved with expansive content. These updates attracted more players, who saw Everspace 2 as the space game that Starfield couldn’t deliver. But what makes this game so good? Let’s take a closer look.
An Action RPG With Spaceships?
Everspace 2 is an action RPG allowing players to pilot their spaceships to explore and engage in combat with drones and other vessels. It’s uncommon to find an action RPG based on vehicular combat.
Many have compared Everspace 2 to Starfield due to their shared sci-fi settings. While Bethesda learned nothing from its previous titles, Everspace 2 took its predecessor and vastly improved the experience by incorporating player feedback and implementing excellent gameplay design decisions.
In many games, controlling aircraft can often feel awkward. However, Everspace 2 offers some of the best controls I’ve encountered in an aircraft combat game. The controls are accessible, smooth, and incredibly responsive, greatly enhancing the exploration experience.
Even after playing the game for over 50 hours, I never found the controls sluggish, especially when navigating through caves and tight corners.
The game also features a solid combat system, loot, crafting, and upgrades, similar to what you would see in a typical action RPG. Players can complete the main story for gear or tackle side quests to acquire high-level equipment for facing stronger opponents. To push it further, the game features several classes of ships, each with a distinctive play style.
Beauty Of The Universe
The map of Everspace 2 is stunning and well worth exploring. While not fully open-world, it consists of interconnected areas accessible through space jumps. The areas are curated, with the developers paying close attention to detail.
The space jump mechanic offers a beautiful travel experience, allowing you to witness distant planets and stars. This visual spectacle remains captivating no matter how many hours you spend in the game. Seeing distant planets and knowing you can travel to them creates an exhilarating sensation that few sci-fi worlds offer.
Traversing this breathtaking universe was an immersive experience, with a world design, unlike anything I’ve seen before in a space-based game. The game keeps things dynamic by constantly expanding your map, introducing new areas to explore, and ensuring the experience remains enjoyable and fresh.
However, it’s not all beauty and awe-inspiring sights in Everspace 2. Players face numerous threats such as boss battles, ambushes, and enemy traps. While the universe initially feels quiet and empty, it quickly becomes intense, with many moments where my ship was on the brink of destruction.
Initially, the game starts with small drones as opponents, but it rapidly escalates in difficulty with encounters involving large groups of enemies, often led by elite units or bosses. These extended battles demand intense focus for survival, immersing players in space combat as they execute evasive maneuvers and utilize their ship’s arsenal to counter their foes.
The game’s sound design enhances these intense moments. The thrusters’ roar, the blast of laser weapons, and the explosive sounds of missiles create an immersive atmosphere that heightens the flight-or-fight senses.
Personalize Your Ship
Many have also compared Everspace 2 and Starfield due to both having a ship-building and customizing system. While Starfield received mixed reactions for its spaceship system, Everspace 2 outperformed with better quality and extensive customization tools for building and customizing ships.
Players can extensively customize their ships in Everspace 2. The customization options are comparable to those in modern Need For Speed games, allowing you to apply decals, change body kits, and paint the body in your favorite color. In Everspace 2, you can personalize every aspect of the ship, including the color of the thrusters.
Ships can also be equipped with different weapons and perks, resulting in various builds that depend on the chosen class. I always use the Striker class because of its balanced playstyle and its versatility in customization. However, I recommend experimenting with each class to find the one that suits you best.
Future Of The Game
Rockfish Games has promised more content in upcoming updates, which is excellent news for aircraft combat and dogfighting game fans. This will help the game keep up with player requests and add more content to extend longevity.
While the game’s modding community is small and lacks a wide variety of mods, players are beginning to appreciate the addictive gameplay and the beautiful universe of Everspace 2. In the future, I hope there will be a large selection of mods to customize your game.
I highly recommend this game to anyone who enjoys action RPGs, aircraft combat, or science fiction settings. Everspace 2 offers something for everyone, and I believe you will love it too.
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An enthusiastic writer who loves art and gaming, you can find Maaz casually spending his day either behind the keyboard or the canvas. Maaz holds a major in Electronics and has over 5 years of experience working as a freelance blog and content writer. He loves to talk about all things gaming and help other gamers through his guides. He’s an expert when it comes to Diablo 4, Elden Ring, Dark Souls, Starfield and Baldur’s Gate 3.
Maaz mostly plays games on PC, you can check out his library on Steam attached below:
