I’m always impressed when a studio takes a big swing with a sequel, especially when your audience would be happy with more of the same. Everspace was a decent roguelite, but Everspace 2 feels like a far grander adventure since Rockfish opted to move the series forward by making it a full spacefaring RPG, and is all the better for it.
Now that grand adventure has been squeezed onto Switch 2 in Everspace 2: Galactic Edition with mostly positive results.
Everspace 2 opens its more story-driven campaign by introducing players to the game’s protagonist, Adam Roslin: a clone soldier whose very existence is illegal. Think Replicants from Blade Runner, and you’re not far off.
When a shady mission helping his friend Ben escort miners in Outlaw-controlled space goes tits up. Adam is captured by the Bloodstar Clan (after his client scarpered as he desperately tried to save Ben from bandits) and held captive with a mysterious pilot called Dax Bashar.
Thinking they can ransom Adam off to the highest bidder, the Bloodstars broadcast Adam’s whereabouts to his former colonial masters, who then attack the base while Adam, along with a wounded Ben and Dax, escape in the confusion.
The trio then set off to a long-abandoned rebel military base on Rhodia II. Adam then helps Dax rebuild the base and takes jobs in the quadrant so he can eventually make enough cash to leave the DMZ behind and start over on Eden 12, where he can live a quiet life without worrying about being arrested or executed for the crime of being alive.
In gameplay terms, Adam heads out into Cluster 34, conducting recon runs, scavenging ship parts, and taking part in good old-fashioned heists.
You can freely explore each system, and there’s always something to do, like responding to distress calls, engaging hostile ships, solving environmental puzzles, and looting every last wreck that floats past. You can even participate in a little market manipulation by ferrying goods from one sector to another, where the sale price is a little more favourable.
As he explores the DMZ, Adam meets and recruits new characters to the cause who offer upgrades, perks, and enhancements to your weapons and abilities.
The result is a game that feels a lot like a ship-bound looter shooter. You practically trip over usable materials and loot that lets you refit your ship with new weapons, better armour, faster engines, better boosters, tractor beams, and scanners.
These are further bolstered by unlockable upgrades that do fun things like increase your shields when you boost or autorepair modules. These can be further upgraded when you level up. It’s a great system with a satisfying loop where you are always tinkering with your ship to improve and refine your build.
Rockfish has created a galaxy that’s teeming with life and wonderful characters. Adam is a reckless, if somewhat reluctant hero, in a part of the galaxy that desperately needs one, and watching him rub up against and work with the game’s diverse cast as he tries to make life a little better for those stuck on the fringes is an absolute treat.
This would all be for nought, though, if flying your ship wasn’t a lot of fun, and the moment-to-moment play of gunning around the huge map, collecting salvage, and getting into scrapes with random outlaws is a lot of fun. The controls work really well with the Gamepad Pro, and they nail a nice arcadey mix: nimble fighter jet when you’re in one of the game’s numerous, thrilling dogfights, and a Starfleet captain yelling “engage” every time you hit the jump drive.
A feeling, somewhat diminished by Everspace 2’s numerous cuts to a plain black loading screen every time you engage your jump drive and hop to a new area. This happens far too often and is a shame because if it had simply been replaced with white dots shooting towards you on a plain black/ deep blue background, it would at least be thematically accurate and dull the (I’m assuming necessary) whiplash in what is otherwise a well-presented, immersive game.
Graphically, it looks great on the Switch 2 in both docked and handheld mode, and runs at a consistent 30fps. It feels particularly impressive when you spend a moment to take in how vast it all feels while guiding your ship through dense asteroid fields and ship graveyards, or travelling to planets that start as a pale blue dot and eventually fill the screen. There’s a strange relaxing quality to exploration. Buoyed on by some clever sound design. It’s a very quiet game for the most part. Just the hum of your engine and the endless expanse of the universe.
VERDICT
Put simply, Everspace 2 is an absolute blast. A great big galaxy-sized sandbox to explore and see how much trouble you can get into. There’s plenty of quests, customisation, and superb flying mechanics, and on the Switch 2, there’s not really anything else like it if you want to live out your space-faring fantasies in the palm of your hand
8/10
.