EVERSPACE 2
“AN ALL-NEW MODULAR SHIP SYSTEM OFFERS SPECIALISATIONS.” There’s always space for course correction
Rockfish’s first foray into infinity and beyond debuted in 2016, boasting a steep difficulty curve sprinkled with frequent death.
But the studio’s second starbound adventure is ditching the roguelike elements in favour of something a wee bit more approachable. Surprisingly, this shift in gears was as fuelled by the series’ existing player base as it was the developer itself.
By the studio’s own account, the dev had always wanted to fulfil fans’ requests for an open world Everspace. Rockfish only had the resources to go that route after the sequel’s successful Kickstarter campaign, and the aim this time is to create a “more hand-crafted, persistent” experience. Rockfish also explains that the genre change complements the start of a new chapter in the hero’s journey. The first game saw you die, die, and die again as your cloned protagonist searched for a cure for what ailed him. Now they’re fighting fit, albeit without any possibility of starting over if they kick the bucket. Instead of learning through death like in the roguelike predecessor, you’ve got to learn through living. It’s true there’ll be a bigger focus on exploration this time round, but Everspace 2 will serve up a challenge, with high-riskand-reward areas begging for a hot-shot pilot to delve into them.
SHIP SHAPE
But you know what they say – the more things change, the more they stay the same. While the visual direction is stellar in every way, your ship remains the true star of the show. Everspace 2 presents even more options for sailing the skies, with an all-new modular ship system offering various specialisations and tiers to choose from… not all of them purely functional. You’re not merely swapping in bigger, better guns or a cosier cockpit; randomised loot now offers new skins and colourways to ensure your spacecraft is the bestlooking in the star system. The dev has always leant towards more vibrant colour schemes, and Rockfish tells us that the technical lead 3D artist picked Guardians Of The Galaxy as a reference for colour grading and lighting for the Everspace series. That’s definitely going to make for some flashy ship looks.
There’s also plenty of new kit to aid your sojourn among the stars, such as the space grapple hook (you can tell it’s nifty from the adjectival use of ‘space’). The developer pitches it as a short-ranged tractor beam that you can use to, say, hurl energy cores into the sockets of powered-down gates or out into the void of space to provide a quick distraction while you flee from the authorities.
This equipment can be upgraded to become especially useful during the new planet surface missions. As you’d expect, greater gravity can make an already tricky mission that much more challenging – especially when it affects any loot your enemies drop. You’ll have to be quick to scoop up dropped goodies before they burn up in the atmosphere, and an upgraded grapple or even smart fetch drones are just the tech for the job.
STARRY-EYED SURPRISE
This focus on your in-game hardware doesn’t mean the story takes a back seat. The studio wants its protagonist to have an intense emotional journey told through side-stories as well as the main campaign. Rockfish worked with Joshua Rubin, a story consultant who previously worked on Assassin’s Creed II and Destiny, who was intrigued himself by the hero’s naïve beginnings in the first game. We’re told that over the last year of development Rubin has not only assisted with the game’s narrative design, but has also been instrumental in helping the team embrace the lore laid out in the first Everspace. Here’s hoping it’s as gripping as Ezio’s tale in ACII.
While fans will be relieved to learn that not everything old is out, we’re eager to blast off and see where this sequel will take us next.