EVERSPACE

Wasn't sure whether I'd like the rogue like mechanic the game employs since I wasn't a huge fan in the past, but the game does a good job in tying the mechanic in with the story.
Where the game shines is in the player's ability to control your ship. Coming from Freelancer (basically my favourite game), my expectations were high and Everspace does not disappoint. Arguably, at least for me, this is its strong suit. Once you get used to it, you'll be blasting around all of the zones and progressing pretty quickly.
Pacing seems to good too. I recommend starting your second run on easy until you're comfortably able to finish a run, or multiple. Although the difficulty spike and learning curve are good, the game does get quite grindy if one wants to complete absolutely everything. It's frustrating wanting to complete an NPC's mission(s) only to realise you skipped an encounter with them and having to wait until you finally reach them on a subsequent run.
Can't forget to mention the graphics. Absolutely top notch. Just see for yourself. The game runs flawlessly as well. I'm running on an i7-9700k and RTX 3070 at 4K with the settings maxed and getting great performance, only occasional dips when, for example, being really close to explosions such as those from fuel tanks. In combat I luckily didn't experience any dips.
All in all, a great game that I thoroughly enjoyed and highly recommend to anyone who enjoys space games. Don't let the rogue like mechanics put you off it like they did for me initially.

For the longest time I skipped past this game due to its rogue like mechanics but after playing Everspace 2, I had to give his one a try and I am happy that I did. First thing you will notice is how beautifully crafted the environments are even for an older (2017) game. The included photo-mode makes it easy to capture breathtaking space scenes that are wallpaper worthy (see some screenshots below).
At the beginning this game is very challenging as it has a steep learning curve and will require you to upgrade your ship after the first few failed attempts. Everspace does a great job in intertwining the rogue like mechanic in with the story. The main game has 7 sectors to complete with increasingly challenging enemies and hazards. Each sector has several locations and an end jump gate that must be used to progress further. Each location is filled with crucial resources (fuel, weapon upgrades, building materials, credits) that you should collect to further increase your probability of surviving until the end of your journey. After you failed or successfully complete sector 7, the credits you collected can be used to upgrade your ship permanently. Many of the negative reviews mention the repetitiveness of the game as you will have to run through the game several times to unlock the true ending but this did not bother me as I never encountered a duplicate area.
With responsive and smooth flight mechanics, navigating your ship at top speeds while avoiding hazards and laying waste to your enemies feels amazing. Mastering precision flight control will take time but once you get used to it, you'll be blasting around all of the zones and progressing rather quickly. All in all, a great game that I thoroughly enjoyed and highly recommend to anyone who enjoys space games.

This is a pretty soft recommend.
The good
The combat and gameplay was pretty good
The roguelite progression was solid and rewarding
The RNG in this game is limited and balanced. It seems like most roguelikes dont bother to make the effort to balance their RNG systems, which allows for no win situations. There are no - no win situations here, unless you play in a way that makes it impossible to win.
The graphics are good an performance was solid.
The ... not as good:
This game is weird in the sense that I enjoy it while I'm playing it but I never feel the urge to start playing it again. I almost never want to go for multiple runs in a day, and I think thats because I'm not a huge fan of the game loop.
Its a rogue like that seems to be trying to create a 50-120 minute microcosm of the space sim genre. Each run consists of space combat, mining, scanning, fuel management, trading, faction loyalty etc. Its like diet elite dangerous, condensed into a roguelike format. On one hand thats really cool, I appreciate what theyre trying to do, and conceptually I like the idea, but in practice it sort of clashes with the roguelike aspect. Space sims typically require an enormous time investment, and those systems are not made to be quick and easily consumable. Take mining for example, mining takes a while and it not exactly the most exciting thing to do. In a space sim you do it for money and upgrades, things that are typically permanent additions to your player economy, however its not necessarily required for growth. Space sims usually allow for multiple activities which allow you to bypass mining or w/e it is you dont want to do. Where everspace differs in this regard is that the bonuses gained through mining is applicable for that run alone, further for many of those materials - mining is the only way to obtain them without relying on luck of the draw from a trader. This is an issue because it sort of forces you to have a large amount of the run dedicated to this down time where you fly across the map to mine these random rocks. This makes each run feel a little bloated and excessively long, for little to no long term reward. You can choose not to engage with the mining system however that locks you out of secondary weapons and consumables, which is a huge detriment on harder difficulties.
Runs also don't feel that unique or varied - you don't get a tremendous amount of upgrades, and your weapons don't change that much from zone 1 to zone 7. In my experience, the most important thing is the materials you gather through the run, this allows you to spam consumables and secondary weapons in the final fights. This makes for some rather static gameplay. Most of the times that I've finished a run, I'm still using the weapons I started with, I've just added some upgrades. You're never forced to change weapons, and almost all the primary weapons fall into one of 4 categories with slightly varied performance (automatic fire weapons, beams, snipers, and shotguns), secondary weapons seem to be mostly various types of missiles, consumables have the most variety with the option of drones, stat boosts, mines and some other stuff. Enemies are also limited - there are only 3 factions as well as some wildlife and the occasional ball of light. Each faction has effectively 3 types of ships that you run into consistently with some specialist ships that show up in later areas as well as drone carriers, cruisers, and battleships. From start to finish you're fighting these 3 ships, just in different quantities and with different upgrades. The number of maps is also pretty limited you've seen most of them by around the 5 run mark and for the rest of your play through you just see them in a different order with slightly different objectives on the map. So in short each run and from start to finish you fight the same enemies, on the same maps, with the same weapons.
The story and characters are pretty weak. Banter between the MC and his computer are probably the best part of if, but the story is short and bland. They introduce characters but the quests are short and the relationships are shallow. The player has about 1 instance of player agency in the whole game, theres a cutscene where it seems like they intended to let the player choose the outcome of another characters story, but then it cuts to the next scene. Another character dies in a scene and it feels like I'm supposed to care but my interactions with that character were negligible in fact they only told me the characters name in the same scene in which they died. The way they explain the story is also kind of dull, everything happened prior to your gameplay and the entire time you play the game just lore dumps on you then you get to the end and its like...... oh.... I really dont care about any of this. Its kind of the opposite of show dont tell, the game stops so it can just be like- This is what this character did, then this is what this character did then this is what.... you get the point.

I held off playing this for a long time because there were a lot of mixed opinions on this... "too hard," "too repetitive," whatever. Imagine my delight to find that EVERSPACE is a fantastic roguelike with tight controls, a great difficulty curve, beautiful environments to explore, an actual story (!!) and huge amount of unlocks. Highly recommend this banger of a roguelike. Works well on linux via steamplay.

Not sure why this game is getting so many mixed reviews. Was very enjoyable and great space shooter. Will definitely be getting Everspace 2 when the price drops.

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.

fantastic atmosphere!