EVERSPACE

Game is very beautiful and fun.
Has a nice story and great gameplay.
SOME TIPS:
- Use missles/consumables often.
- Don't be afraid to upgrade your gear (but keep in mind your upgrades are locked in for your current run).
- To get in locked doors, you need an access key which can be obtained by killing "elite" fighters (represented by a skull icon); they are one time use items that persist through your current run (i.e., you don't have to use it in the same area/sector you find it in). If you ever get offered a chance to "bypass" the locks for the rest of your run at a special upgrade centers, take it; it's easily the most valuable limited-time upgrade.
- Beam laser mk3 is pretty much the best weapon.
- Focus on credit/loot chance percentage upgrades before anything else (except maybe movement speed).
- Try to pick off drones before engaging fighters/Corvettes.
- Don't be afraid to run and hide behind some asteroids while your shield is popped/recharging.
- Finally, if something goes horribly wrong in an area, don't be afraid to save & quit before you die. When you reload, you'll restart from when you entered the area.

Everspace is Faster Than Light realized in full 3D, with engaging dogfighting mechanics and flexibility that allows a variety of playstyles. Advice to new players.... Be prepared, be aggressive and maximize every sector.
The graphics are quite nice, the random generation means you're not studying the game environment to learn how to overcome the challenge like a parrot, instead its an introflective experience of mastering the arts of ship control, management and defense and self-improvement.
Because of the random generation of course it means many sectors are populated with miscellaneous 'space junk', asteroids, wrecks etc.... Although effort has been made to ensure enough variable elements to make the visual engagements unique and the challenge each sector poses as unique, which requires keen analytical and assessment skills from the player to overcome the challenges as they identify them.
The looting mechanics from each sector is super rewarding, with each upgrade acquired adding a tangible dimension to your charge to the end, with a feeling of 'ok I got this thing now, this is gonna make my life better in a few ways going forward.' I leave some criticism for the cheap mechanic of forcing you to move on when you loot too much from one sector, forcing an unbeatable fleet to charge the sector and send you fleeing onwards to the next...
Just like limited inventory space, a fairly common game mechanic, one asks the question: "What would the game be without the mechanic?" because why, it effectively place a hard cap on the limit of looting, ultimately meaning that the reward for extensive looting, the name of the game in essence as you assemble the perfect run, you ultimately hit a shoe-horned, artificial ceiling of the game just not wanting you any stronger than you are right now, so you have to move on.
However, with enough piloting skills and gains spread across multiple sectors, you'll still benefit from efficiency and extensive looting. Even later, there are ways the game removes some of these limitations just due to the sheer difficulty of the challenge that offsets the removal of these limits. So, overall, I think the game takes steps to mitigate this limitation that many rogue-likes fall foul of.... Something which many players are not savvy to and a weakness of many rogue-like games.
The story is there, it makes sense, somewhat sparingly scattered throughout the experience, with decent premise and world-building. Even in new game plus, the game carries the momentum of motivation.
What happens though in the evolution of the Everspace experience is that the game transcends itself to 'Its just me, my ship and the open road', which is something you usually say for many of your favorite games, which makes it an awesome comfort food experience which I enjoyed very much.
Which means yes, the protagonist has their own story going on, but so do you, the story of building yourself up to overcome the ultimate challenge. :)
Also... sometimes you dont wanna spend $70 in every genre of gaming out there every time you feel the itch for something different, so the sale price of the game is attractive. I believe the sequel has its own thing going with full story mode and RPG elements, I actually think the rogue-like and randomization elements served this game well.
This is also a 2017 release like after No Man's Sky came out etc and a lot of other space games came out since that has arguably raised the bar in the industry, so the question can be asked how this game holds up in its genre in light of that, personally I think the premise is solid and it does a lot of things right that it remains strong enough to be its own thing.
Is it too late to request a toggle for the aggressive visual implementation of consumable effects maybe? Since damage limiter and damage booster usage result in a fisheye lens effect of blocking out 80% of your peripheral vision, I played most of the game without them, and seemed like a small oversight in quality-of-life.
Not that it detracted too much from the overall experience, although cycling through equipment with a single key one by one to get to the correct one slightly compounded this issue.

This game really surprised me! The first time I tried it so long ago, I didn't get far before dropping it. Recently though, I came back to give this another shot after playing Everspace 2. For some reason, the gameplay just clicked for me now and I really started enjoying myself! In particular, I found myself admiring the purity and more action-focused nature of this game's design over the more overstuffed and underfocused sequel!
PROS
+Roguelite structure makes it a pure action experience with no fluff that makes you want to use all your resources cleverly to win due to the pressure of losing it all
+Unlike most rogue games, there's enough of a narrative to justify the looping roguelite structure and give the game a greater sense of purpose and motivation
+3 ship archetypes to pick from and lots of equipment/enhancements adds some decent variety and builds to play with to suit your playstyle and keep things fresh
+Crafting systems helps fight against randomness: if you don't get the weapon you like, just craft it
+Nice sense of progression both in terms of statistical power and player proficiency: I really felt like I was getting skilled and loved pulling off tricks like using debris as tactical cover
CONS
-Despite the inclusion of a narrative, the roguelite looping structure can inevitably make the gameplay feel rather purposeless: just feels so futile to lose it all, start over and go through the same build-up over and over
-Metaprogression can feel like an unnecessary hurdle: having to go through a bunch of sacrificial/unwinnable runs until you get enough upgrades and blueprints for it to feel fair. Also most of the metaprogression are statistical upgrades which you barely notice.
-While I understand the reason, it can feel annoying to have the energy bar shared with so many systems, especially boost, since it makes you feel forced to move around slowly when you're trying to get to places so you don't get caught with your pants down (the sequel fixed this)
-Randomness can make some runs just feel screwed over despite player skill and crafting

If you're looking for a straight forward space run game with a simple story-line, this is the game for you. This is my go to game when I just want to play and shoot without having to get too deep into things. But also, it has enough meat on the bone to make each run its own individual experience.

This game plays pretty well on a keyboard with a mouse. I haven't tried a touch-pad but I'm guessing a mouse is the way to go. I started by playing this with a game controller instead, and everything seemed to play much worse. But I can't be sure it wasn't just because I was a complete newb - I was dying so much and really not having any fun. After switching to the keyboard/mouse it started to get fun and I can see why the game is popular. It also didn't hurt reading a "things I wish I had known when I started playing" guide too.
This reminds me a LOT of the dogfights in X3! This is a "concentrate on dogfights and leveling up your ship" game loop. I might write more later, but I imagine because the game has been around since 2017 I won't have much to say that hasn't been said already in other reviews. Hint: If you like dogfights you'll have fun playing this!
Stuff that doesn't sit well with me:
Remember I mentioned X3? What this game refuses to do, sort of, is let me choose when to do upgrades. In other space games if I earn enough money to upgrade my ship, I won't waste another minute trying fight, and will go and do upgrades. But the point of Everspace is to be an **arcade game, not a simulation game**. So if I want to immediately go upgrade my ship, I have commit suicide in order to go back to where I can do ship upgrades. That's a bit immersion-breaking. Sort of a fundamental game-loop thing which is why I avoided Everspace for so many years and only bought it at a steep discount.

wow.. this game.. this fucking game, man.

I was looking for a game to scratch that starfox64 itch. And wow. I'm in love.
This game it brutal at first, so expect to die. a lot.
The voice acting is top tier, which is just *mwah*.. its unnecessary because the game is already so good.
The action is good, the ship customization is good (mind you, I haven't played without the DLC), and collecting resources is immersive as heck, dude. -mining crystals from inside an asteroid, collecting tech and scrap from a wrecked freighter (my last attempt I died to a booby trap !)
The controls do take some getting used to, but once you've got the hang of it it gets really fun!

I got this game on sale with the DLC for a little over $6 and it feels like I stole from the devs. That is too cheap for this game!

love the gameplay of fight and missions but not a fan of rogue style having to redo it all.
Stay away if you don't like rogue game otherwise, go for it. you will have a good time