Everspace 2

Everspace 2 presents a whole galaxy to unlock and explore, or the ability to just fly around and cause mischief. Either is great fun.

86%Game Brain Score

story, gameplay

grinding, stability

89% User Score Based on 11,908 reviews

Critic Score 83%Based on 20 reviews

Platforms

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About

Everspace 2 is a single player role playing shooter game with a science fiction theme. It was developed by ROCKFISH Games and was released on January 17, 2021. It received positive reviews from both critics and players.

Everspace 2 is a single-player space exploration and combat game with RPG elements. Traverse a vast open universe, gather resources, upgrade your ship, and engage in high-stakes dogfights against hostile alien forces. Experience a compelling story with diverse characters, factions, and quests. The game features stunning visuals, detailed space environments, and immersive sound effects.

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Single-Player

+22

Skip User Reviews

89%

Audience ScoreBased on 11,908 reviews

story1.8k positive mentions

grinding446 negative mentions

story
6,544 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
28%
66%
6%
The story in Everspace 2 has received mixed reviews, with many players finding it engaging yet somewhat predictable and linear. While some appreciate the character development and humor, others criticize the writing quality and the reliance on fetch quests, leading to a sense of repetitiveness. Overall, the narrative serves as a decent backdrop to the gameplay, but it lacks the depth and immersion found in other space-themed titles like Freelancer.
- “The story is engaging, gameplay is reasonably challenging and fun.”
- “The story is interesting and cockpit companion is great.”
- “The story is captivating, the delivery is engaging and funny, graphics and atmosphere superb, and it's not too hard to play, at least at first, so you don't need to invest yourself to enjoy it.”
- “Still, Everspace 2 doesn't have the level of immersion and strong story events that Freelancer had.”
- “But unfortunately, the story was quite simple and weak.”
- “The main storyline lacks compelling hooks, and character development is shallow.”
gameplay
2,268 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
41%
54%
5%
The gameplay of Everspace 2 has been widely praised for its engaging mechanics, smooth controls, and polished execution, offering a satisfying blend of space combat, exploration, and RPG elements. Players appreciate the variety of ship types and customization options, although some note that the gameplay can become repetitive over time, particularly with certain mission types and puzzles. Overall, while the story may not be as compelling, the core gameplay loop remains enjoyable and addictive, making it a strong title for fans of the genre.
- “The gameplay is fast and smooth (I'm using keyboard+mouse), the visuals are beautiful and immersive, and there are so many things to do: fighting, trading, crafting items to perfect your setup, exploring, discovering secrets and solving puzzles, lots of campaign and side missions, different jobs to do...”
- “The gameplay is incredibly engaging, with smooth mechanics that make exploring the vast universe a joy.”
- “Everspace 2 departed from the roguelike style of the first game to a more exploration and loot focused gameplay, and it ended up being a complete win for the game.”
- “This leads to the core gameplay loop becoming repetitive and tedious over extended play sessions.”
- “I couldn't push myself to finish the game as I felt I already had seen most of the game's mechanics, but a 30-hour long spaceship RPG with endgame content seems like a pretty good deal lengthwise, if you're into this sort of game.”
- “The gameplay quickly gets boring and the dialogue is more immature than Star Wars.”
graphics
1,813 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
71%
28%
1%
The graphics in Everspace 2 have received widespread acclaim for their stunning visuals and immersive environments, showcasing beautiful space vistas and intricate details across various locations. Many players noted the game's impressive performance, even on mid-range hardware, and praised the art style, which combines modern aesthetics with a nostalgic feel reminiscent of classic space shooters. However, some critiques were directed at the quality of cutscenes and occasional graphical inconsistencies, but overall, the visuals are considered a standout feature of the game.
- “The graphics are beautiful, even the lens flare is great which I generally turn off in games except this one, motion blur was definitely disabled shortly after starting, but the overall space and ships are gorgeous.”
- “The graphics are stunning, the gameplay is smooth and the story is engaging.”
- “The visuals in 'Everspace 2' are breathtaking, with vibrant and detailed environments, stunning lighting effects, and beautiful space vistas that immerse players in a visually captivating universe.”
- “The quality of the animations and graphics in the cutscenes is awful; a 5-year-old could draw better and with more creativity.”
- “The graphics look like a game from 10 years ago.”
- “The in-game visuals are not as busy, detailed, and entertaining as the trailers suggest.”
music
645 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
46%
46%
8%
The music in the game has received mixed reviews, with some players praising its atmospheric qualities and catchy synthwave tracks, while others criticize it as generic and repetitive, likening it to elevator music. Many users noted that the soundtrack enhances the game's visuals and gameplay, but also expressed a desire for more variety and depth in the music selection. Overall, while some find the music enjoyable and fitting, others feel it detracts from the experience, leading to a common practice of muting it in favor of personal playlists.
- “Each star system has its own soundtrack and it's good.”
- “The soundtrack is insanely good and an awesome creation all on its own!”
- “The dynamic soundtrack enhances the sense of tension and adventure, creating an atmospheric backdrop that further immerses players in the game world.”
- “The music is very generic and almost sounds like royalty-free stock music you would find in a YouTube video with 43 views.”
- “The music is worse than elevator music and again, has zero effort applied to it.”
- “The music, unfortunately, is the worst of any game I have ever played.”
grinding
474 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
2%
4%
94%
The grinding aspect of the game has received mixed reviews, with many players finding it tedious and repetitive, particularly in the mid to late game. While some appreciate the RPG elements and the ability to optimize builds through grinding, others feel that the excessive fetch quests, resource gathering, and puzzle-solving detract from the overall experience, making it feel like a chore. Overall, the game offers a blend of enjoyable space combat and exploration, but the grinding can become overwhelming and detract from the enjoyment for some players.
- “Gathering resources is not too tedious; there are some puzzles requiring a bit of looking here and there.”
- “Travel times are long, but aren't tedious (Elite Dangerous), and the player has ways of making travel faster if they finish the relevant side quests.”
- “Trading and mining are simple and not too grindy.”
- “The game is extremely grindy and repetitive to a soul-draining level, and I really tried to enjoy it.”
- “This game appears fun at first, but turns into a tedious chore pretty fast.”
- “The core gameplay loop becomes tedious really fast.”
optimization
320 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
34%
53%
13%
The optimization of the game has received mixed feedback, with some players praising its smooth performance and beautiful graphics, while others report significant frame rate drops and stuttering, particularly in demanding areas or during intense battles. High-end systems generally experience better performance, but issues persist across various hardware configurations, indicating a need for further optimization. Overall, while many find the game well-optimized for its genre, others highlight critical performance problems that detract from the experience.
- “Gorgeous to look at, great level design (not an easy task in a game based around space flight), well optimized and overall - fun!”
- “Honestly one of the best, most optimized space games to come out in recent memory.”
- “The game looks great, it plays well, and is optimized.”
- “On the technical front, Everspace 2 suffers from optimization issues, with frame rate drops and stuttering occurring even on high-end PCs.”
- “However, the worst problem of this game also comes from the environment: well into the latter half of the game, some areas have very poor optimization that shot up my GPU usage to the point it would shut down, and in multiple instances forced me to restart my PC.”
- “Performance needs work in my opinion; some complex planetary locations, although a sight to behold, do give the frame rate a beating.”
atmosphere
150 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
60%
36%
4%
The atmosphere of the game is widely praised for its stunning visuals, immersive sound design, and engaging environments that evoke a strong sense of space exploration. While many players appreciate the captivating ambiance and dynamic soundtrack, some critiques highlight inconsistencies in gameplay mechanics and a lack of variety in atmospheric experiences. Overall, the game successfully creates a vibrant and unique atmosphere that enhances the player's experience, despite occasional shortcomings in immersion and realism.
- “The attention to visual fidelity creates a captivating atmosphere that truly captures the awe-inspiring vastness of space.”
- “The dynamic soundtrack enhances the sense of tension and adventure, creating an atmospheric backdrop that further immerses players in the game world.”
- “At the end of the day, the atmosphere of this game feels vibrant, unique, and full compared to almost any other space RPG.”
- “What holds this game back in my opinion is the overall crippling lack of atmosphere and immersion.”
- “Doesn't feel like you're in an atmosphere.”
- “Then there's the music, which if it doesn't manage to fade into the background is actively undermining the atmosphere of the game by being way too upbeat and just devoid of ... I guess tastefulness?”
stability
136 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
34%
4%
62%
Overall, the stability of the game is mixed, with many players reporting a smooth experience and minimal bugs, particularly for an early access title. However, some users have encountered significant glitches, crashes, and performance issues, especially related to controller support and specific gameplay mechanics. While many praise its polished feel and lack of major bugs, others highlight ongoing stability concerns that can affect immersion and gameplay.
- “The game is smooth, no glitches or hiccups, graphics are spectacular, story is interesting, many things to do because of the abundance of side missions, and it is very very fun.”
- “Most importantly, it is virtually bug free.”
- “Heck of a lot of fun, polished and relatively bug free.”
- “No amount of reinstall/integrity check/troubleshooting is fixing this ...”
- “The main menu wouldn't open once I started the game, and it was massively buggy in all respects.”
- “Tons of bugs, all the time game freezes (not as in actually freezing) and I can't press anything, game runs but in a 'paused' mode where it just, well, it's just there, nothing is clickable, can't skip, can't do anything...”
replayability
110 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
18%
78%
4%
The replayability of Everspace 2 is a mixed bag among players. While some appreciate the game's engaging mechanics, exploration, and customization options that offer significant replay value, others criticize its lack of endgame content and repetitive elements, leading to a perception of limited replayability compared to its predecessor, Everspace 1. Overall, the game shows promise for future replayability with potential expansions, but current feedback suggests it may not satisfy all players seeking extensive replay options.
- “You'll fall in love with the world, systems, combat, end-game replayability, the ship class-system, and more.”
- “Has lots of replay value, exploration, challenges, and an excellent variety of customization.”
- “Truthfully, everywhere I look I see enough depth and replayability for this being one of my titles I play for a few hundred hours.”
- “I don't think there's a high amount of replayability here.”
- “The big downside is the lack of endgame content and replayability.”
- “This does cause concern for future replayability, as I can imagine it being a bit tedious moving through the same story again.”
humor
98 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
98%
2%
The humor in the game is a mixed bag, with many players appreciating the witty dialogue and engaging voice acting, particularly from the AI companion, Hive, who delivers sarcastic and amusing commentary. While some found the humor to be hit-or-miss, with certain jokes falling flat, others enjoyed the ironic storytelling and quirky character interactions that added charm to the overall experience. Overall, the game successfully incorporates humor into its narrative and gameplay, making it a notable aspect for many players.
- “A very amusing and ironic story, with funny and likeable characters.”
- “Great graphics, funny dialogue, and a nice explore/kill/loot loop.”
- “Even the humor is unbelievably great (I usually hate sarcastic companions, but in this game, it's hilarious).”
- “The writing chooses instead to place the emphasis on largely unfunny humor that results in a jarring tone that wildly swings between somber and kooky.”
monetization
34 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
9%
26%
65%
The monetization aspect of the game has received mixed feedback, with some players appreciating the absence of microtransactions, DLC, and intrusive ads, which they find refreshing compared to typical AAA titles. However, there are concerns about potential future cash grabs and the game's long-term viability, leading to skepticism about the developers' intentions. Overall, while the current monetization model is praised for its integrity, doubts linger regarding future content and monetization strategies.
- “In a time of the so-called 'AAA' games, which are released unfinished, with performance issues and plagued with microtransactions, Everspace 2 is a refreshing experience.”
- “No forced FOMO mechanics, no microtransactions, just a well thought out game that is gorgeous and fun to play.”
- “No microtransactions, no ads, no weird level gating (that I've run into yet, anyway).”
- “Devs, fix it posthaste and apologize for falsely advertising the game as complete.”
- “Money grab (I paid my money and I ain't got time to wait 2 years. By then I suspect this will be abandoned or a further cash grab ensued.)”
- “Pretty sure this is a cash grab.”
character development
30 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
33%
47%
20%
Character development in the game is a mixed bag, with some players noting a lack of depth and emotional investment, particularly in the protagonist, while others appreciate the complexity of the ship and character development tree. Despite the engaging gameplay and well-written story segments, many feel that the overall character development is shallow and fails to create compelling stakes. While the art style and character designs are praised, the dialogue and character arcs leave much to be desired, indicating a need for improvement in future updates.
- “It's a labor of love - great complexity in the ship/character development tree that remains strangely accessible.”
- “There's so much to do, great balance, beautiful UI and in-game art, nice pacing with the character development, etc. It's really impressive.”
- “Just played through the part of the story that was available, it's very well written and has deep character development.”
- “The main storyline lacks compelling hooks, and character development is shallow.”
- “One aspect where Everspace 2 falls short is in character development and emotional investment.”
- “For the amount of effort they put into the main storyline, there's very little stakes and even less meaningful character development.”
emotional
28 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
93%
7%
The emotional aspect of the game receives mixed reviews, with some players feeling a deep sense of nostalgia and connection to the universe, while others criticize the storyline and character development as lacking depth and emotional resonance. Many express disappointment in the underdeveloped relationships and the overall narrative, which detracts from the potential emotional impact. However, there are also sentiments of appreciation for the game's wholesome elements and the effort put into its creation, highlighting a divide in emotional engagement among players.
- “I love this game too, everything feels so wholesome, like everyone pieced together an unimaginable futuristic game with their heart, soul, sweat, and tears.”
- “Thanks for the emotional rollercoaster, devs! :( t.t”
- “There comes a new game called Everspace 2 after nearly two decades and it made me feel exactly like Freelancer did, awestruck.”
- “Boring story; it's not really difficult to go outside your comfort zone and create something unique.”