Everspace 2

Good, focused spaceship looter-shooter, with interesting class & building possibilities centred around set bonuses - often compared to Diablo in terms of acquiring gear, upgrading with new drops and synergising as you go. Controls can be customised and tweaked in a fairly comprehensive manner right down to deadzone adjustment and intertial damping, meaning you always feel like you can control ships as you wish.

I used a ship akin to a necromancer, called the vindicator. A heavy ship that spawns and supports up to 6 drones. But there are 9 classes in total, all with unique quirks. There are other classes that excel with raw firepower, sniping/stealth or regenerating shields whilst boosting.

Something that I have seen criticised is the way cutscenes are dealt with on this game. The only cutscenes which are fully animated are those which take place in-space. The rest is more like a narrated comic flip-book, something I think was an excellent decision. I think it'd be a total waste for a small developer to focus on one-off models and cutscenes that aren't functional to core-gameplay. The story is nothing to write home about and some dialogue is cheesy, but it's not a game that takes itself too seriously in that respect. It's my belief that strategic decisions like this have made the gameplay exactly what it is: a fun little gem.

Would i recommend this game? Absolutely! Why?
- Bug free. Something outstanding nowadays.
- Great graphics.
- Great voice acting and some funny characters.
- Wide range of weapons and ships for multiple tactics.
- Kind of Diablo-like in a sense with multiples "sets" of weapons and gear.
- The game pauses when you are in the inventory or menu so you can craft and change your gear on the fly.
- Make your ship unique in shape and colors by unlocking them (in loot, crates or challenges).
- Perks that give you unique bonuses (you choose one out of three, each 5 levels, and can change them at any time).
- Good life time (far far more than 30h as i read somewhere). I do this review at 126 hours of gaming and i don't even finished the game yet.
- Re-playable. If you like this game, you'll really want to try other ships and weapons.
- It worth his price but if you buy it on discount (as i did) you'll get a very good deal.
- I don't know what to add, except that it's my favorite game of this kind since a very long time!
- Sorry, i found no cons about this game.

Everspace 2 is a space fight simulator with 3D movement focusing heavily on combat, exploration and puzzles. Rockfish Games, the developer, describes Everspace 2 as a "space shooter" with "RPG elements" on its Steam page. That is untrue. Everspace 2 is an action role playing game (ARPG) like Diablo or Path of Exile. And it is terrific.
You play Adam Roslin, an ex-military fighter pilot working for an uncaring and manipulative corporation. After a routine mission goes wrong, you are captured by outlaws and escape to a long abandoned base. You and your fellow escapees then rebuild and prepare for a heist that could set you all free.
Flying your ship in Everspace 2 is a joy. The controls are less detailed than those of more complex space simulators like Elite Dangerous. Still, such an outwardly arcade-like game offers a surprising degree of control. Dodging enemy fire, circling capital ships, and navigating maze-like tunnels all feel fluid and natural.
The combat is vibrant, frantic and engaging. Like most ARPGs, you usually fight swarms of weaker enemies, each with different weapons, defences, and abilities. This structure provides constant variety and changing tactics. Your relative strength also fuels the requisite power fantasy.
Locations also contain puzzles, providing cerebral but slower-paced play. As you fly around, your sensors can detect and track nearby loot, mineral deposits or other points of interest. Your ship has a tractor beam that you can use to pick up and move things around, such as removing debris from a passage or picking up a battery to slot it into a socket elsewhere. These usually unlock doors or containers of potential ship upgrades.
Everspace 2 tells its main story through cut scenes showing hand-drawn images with voice-overs. While low-budget, this style works well for a game focused on flying spaceships. The main quest has excellent pacing while introducing more about the universe and its inhabitants.
There are plenty of side quests and activities, too. As with many RPGs, they are often the most interesting, flesh out the world and introduce unique NPCs. Chasing rogue AIs, rescuing trapped miners, or appeasing crime lords are all on the cards. Racing tracks and rifts filled with difficult enemies satiate those seeking a challenge.
Mechanically, Everspace 2 is a testament to game balance. Everything, including your character, gear, and enemies, is geared to a level. Level differences are more pronounced than in other games. Foes more than a few levels above you are deadly. Those a few levels beneath you will be merely speed bumps. Everspace 2 periodically increases the level of enemies to keep the challenge consistent.
Aesthetically, Everspace 2 is beautiful. Each location is a postcard, with asteroids, massive space stations, aging wrecks, vertigo-inducing icebergs and/or vibrant nebulae. Many are varied and original, like an iceberg in a solar flare or a megafauna skeleton, evoking wonder and appreciation. Each star system also has its distinct look, making them feel unique. 
The electronica soundtrack is also on point, supporting the sci-fi feel. The zen-like cruising pieces contrast with the exciting, upbeat combat ones.
However, Everspace 2 is not perfect. My biggest gripe is with the writing in the main storyline. No one expects deep or complex writing from an ARPG, but this does not excuse poor writing. 
The characters need more substance. Ben and Delia are just cardboard cutouts and deserve motivation and agency. Maddock becomes a contrived, grumpy omni-antagonist. Combining some supporting characters, like Ben and Tareem, would have enhanced both. Everspace 2 also unnecessarily sexualizes a female supporting character at one point. 
Similarly, the early main story has too much "I need you to do this, but I am not going to tell you why for at least two cut scenes." It feels unnecessarily opaque and confrontational. The game also removes the player's agency at a few key moments, railroading you. 
My other gripe is with loot management. Most of the copious loot enemies drop is trash you sell or disassemble for crafting components. The rare upgrade is fun, and Everspace 2's crafting system means you will always have suitable weapons, modules or consumables. 
However, the constant gear drops and level churn mean periodically yanking yourself out of the fun combat and puzzle game loops to clear your inventory. Loot management is a broader problem with ARPGs' variable intermittent reward structure, but it is still a problem.
I initially thought Everspace 2's lack of replayability would be a problem. It lacks a skill tree or other ARPG elements that specialize your character. No advancement or story choice blocks off content. ARPGs have traditionally used these to encourage players to create different characters to replay content differently.
However, being able to quickly switch out a new ship or experiment with new weapons or modules means experimentation or change is refreshingly easy. Meanwhile, the perk and challenge systems provide attainable alternative goals that offer useful benefits instead of gatekeeping high-level content from less dedicated players. 
Ultimately, Everspace 2 is a game that knows what it wants to be. It doubles down on that explore -> shoot -> loot -> craft game loop. If you enjoy that loop, and you will find out quickly or via the free demo, the game promises hours of the same. Otherwise, you will bounce off Everspace 2 hard.
Everspace 2 also knows what it does not want to be. It is single-player and offline, eschewing the complex code, gameplay loops and community management required for multiplayer or online play. It focuses on quality over quantity, providing a few well-developed star systems to explore. There is no piracy, salvage, political simulation or other distractions.
It took me about 60 hours to complete the main quest, including most side quests and challenges. As with most RPGs, you could complete it in under half that time, but you would miss the best content. Meanwhile, the developers continue expanding and enhancing the game, showing a welcome love and attention to detail. If only all ARPGs were this good.

This Game has absolutely ruined all other Space-Sims, Flight-Sims, RPGs, and Single-Player Experiences for me...
You want a solid story-line with Comic book style cutscenes to paint a picture for you when not having full discussions in the midst of Theatrical EPIC Space Combat? Check.
You want full customizability and modularity of your Ship's build in terms of EVERY aspect? Check.
You want a modular but fairly unrestricted Cosmetic customizability that won't bog down your specs? Check.
Lastly, do you want ENDLESS random encounters to grind, Challenges, Quests, INFINITE Jobs (Side-Quests) to grind and build your own narrative to? Check.
There's so much more i can say about this game, like how the controls are the smoothest whether you're using KB&M, Controller, or a FULL-HOTAS Kit like i am, but all that needs said is that you NEED to try this game. You'll fall in love with the World, Systems, Combat, End-Game Replayability, The ship Class-System, and more.
I give this game 10/10 hand's down.
Welcome to The DMZ, Freelancer.

This is a fine game, but *please* temper your expectations if you’ve been reading the reviews that try to sell it as some kind of apex of the space sim genre (or worse, a “spiritual successor to Freelancer”). I don’t know what those people are on, but Everspace 2 isn’t Freelancer, it’s Diablo in space.
Everspace 2 calls itself a “space shooter” for a reason - the main thing you do in this game is fight bad guys, pick up the loot they drop, use that to upgrade your ship, and then go fight more bad guys. That’s not *literally* the whole game, but everything that doesn’t serve that core gameplay loop is clearly secondary, and sometimes even takes more away from the experience than it adds (the puzzles are often guilty of this).
The other big thing there is to do in the game is exploration, which is nice, but quite limited (there’s only 7 systems in the game). At least the locations are all hand-crafted, and many of them look great. Unfortunately, something that goes hand-in-hand with exploration in this game is the puzzles that most locations come with, and as I touched on earlier, these get tedious *really* quickly.
Do I *wish* this game was a true successor to Freelancer with a great combat component, rather than a solid space shooter with the barest skeleton of a space sim necessary to make the whole thing work? Sure, but I also know it’s not fair to put this game down for not being something it was clearly never trying to be. I’m mostly just confused as to how it’s possible that the reviews seem to basically be evenly split between people saying what I’m saying, and people (even some journalist reviews) utterly convinced that Everspace 2 *is* a proper space sim that gives games like Freelancer a run for their money. Maybe people are just that desperate for good games in this genre?
Also, props to Rockfish for this game having a demo.

Everspace 2 feels like a love letter to the old Wing Commander series of games but with a relatively interesting but unintrusive storyline that gives you that Skyrim vibe in that you can ignore it for as long as you want while you gallivant about and do a billion side missions to level and gear up before eventually wandering back to check in on the story. Mix all that in with the sensibilities of a modern looter shooter and Bob's your uncle, you've got yourself some hot Everspace 2 action.

I've read other reviews that say the main campaign is relatively short, and I can't speak to that as I have had an absolute blast exploring all the nooks and crannies of the game so far and am still in only the second of seven systems in the game after 50 hours of gameplay (I play slow and enjoy the experience, what can I say). The side missions are fun, nothing's too frustrating or hard to overcome with a little bit of perserverance, and you always feel like the time you spend doing the thing was adequately rewarded. That's pretty much all I ever ask for from side content in games: make the time between story beats worth spending.

And speaking of the story: the voice acting is serviceable, not particularly inspired but inoffensive and occasionally even charming in spots. There's very little animation in the rare cutscenes that play during story beats, most of the storytelling happening in hand-drawn graphic novel style frames with voiceover that do the job just fine. The story itself, however, won't keep your attention firmly gripped for very long. Again, think Skyrim here: there's a story, and you'll eventually get around to doing it, but first you can do these bajillion other things to get better gear, earn money, get a cooler ship, find rare upgrades, etc. So yeah, I suppose you could do the campaign quickly if you wanted, but you'd be cheating yourself out of the bulk of what the game is trying to offer you...

... which is this: the actual flying your ship. Flying around is extremely intuitive, with controls that are very easy to customize in as much detail as most sane people would possibly want. Not only can you rebind keys to your heart's content, but you can adjust dead zones, adjust sensitivities, and all kinds of other nonsense that I won't bother going into insane detail about. There are lots of different styles of ships to fly with various advantages, perks, and special abilities, and you can customize the look of your ship at home base with more options you'll continue to find as you explore the universe, so you can even fly in style if that's your thing (and it's definitely mine).

I run this game on a pretty old computer: i5-6500 CPU @ 3.20GHz, 16.0 GB RAM, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970 on High graphics settings, and it runs pretty smooth for me most of the time until I enter a couple specific locations with a lot of stuff going on when it starts to get pretty choppy. (Use that information how you will.) When not in those specific places, though, this game is gorgeous. The various space locations I've visited so far have been well thought out, interesting (even the "boring" ones), and had enough variety that I didn't find myself visiting recycled locations very often even when hitting random encounters. Very good level design overall.

The only serious concern I could see the average player having with this game might be with the price tag. $50 for a game that has great gameplay but no real story-based animation to speak of and only mid voice acting might be a turnoff when there are compelling AAA games out there at similar price points that can offer all that and more. I picked this game up when it was on sale for 50% off, so for me I felt immediately satisfied with my purchase and went back and bought the Supporter Pack (again, I like to ride in style!), but I could see a lot of people finding a $50 pill hard to swallow. I wouldn't blame you if you did what I did and waited for a sale, but it's a fantastic game worth playing.

For the most part, this game is genius.
The movement, the combat, the weapon differentiation & variety, the visuals, the combat, the puzzles, the environments, did I mention the combat? This is the Skyrim in space I've been wanting for years now.
I've wanted a space fighter game for a while - so many seem to focus on "bigger is better" until you're just a capital ship fighting other capital ships (like Starpoint Gemini), and while that works sometimes (Rebel Galaxy), it left me wanting the control & nuance of a smaller ship in space, and this really hit that mark. Bigger isn't necessarily better in Everspace 2 - each ship has its own advantages & disadvantages. In many ways that goes for weapons too, so in the end the combinations are nigh limitless and are a little like character classes. Want a stealth ship? Scout. Want lots of minions? Vindicator. There are a number of different options for standard dogfighters too, each with their own influence on your in-fight tactics. Best of all, there's the option to trade in your old ship for the same price you bought it, which means there's no cost to just change ships & thus playstyles.
The environments should get a nod too. So many times I was like "ok this is pretty and all, but it's mostly just fighting in an asteroid or debris field." Then suddenly bam! We goin' underwater. Bam! we too close to a star & have to use debris as cover. Bam! puzzles and / or combat inside a giant asteroid, or a giant derelict ship, or an immense mining complex, or a strange alien biome.
Some aspects of the combat that deserve mentioning are how your ship can move, strafe, boost, and even turn the inertial dampeners on & off to really make for wild maneuvers in an inertia-less environment. Consumables, drones, devices, and ship specials really allow a lot of customization of your tactics, and the ability to build and even mod your weapons further enhances that, so you get a lot of choice in how you plan & enact your engagements if that's your thing. I can't tell you how many times I laid mines right in front of an enemy's fighter bay before luring them out. Yeah, the AI isn't always the brightest, but I can overlook that in the name of fun.
I know some folks will be really turned off by the mention of puzzles, and if that's the case you could probably get by with minimal puzzle-solving & just focus on the dogfighting, but honestly I found the majority of the puzzles entertaining and intuitive enough that I have yet to look up a solution for any of them.
The weakest part was the story, but even that was above average. Not gonna give spoilers, but I will say there were some important points where the story subverted my expectations and did something refreshing. Voice acting was also above average - I've played some games with much bigger budgets & names that had way worse voice acting. I do wish our actions had more effect on the story and gameplay, like with the Bloodstar attacks, or with the Okkar. Most of the big story fights were actually great, and I sort of wish I could go back & play them again.
I don't think there's a high amount of replayability here. I guess you could go 100% all the in-system challenges & races & such, and one of the nice things was not having to do a lot of that extra stuff to progress the story. However, I'm also of the opinion that replayability is way down on the list of what makes a game good. Give me a good first playthrough, which this game did - that's the most important ingredient to make a game good.