Everspace 2 - now in Early Access

[Sly Boots]

This hit Steam EA on Monday, and grabbed it.

Have played for about an hour I guess, and first impressions are very favourable - the game itself feels like a natural successor to Freelancer, which was the last space game I really loved, and in terms of the EA build it appears to be very solid, no bugs or crashes. Over the next year it seems to be a case of adding more content as opposed to fixing things.

I really didn't like the first Everspace at all - I didn't get on with the roguelike aspect of it, and ended up refunding it. However, with this sequel they've gone down the route of making it an open-world with a full single-player story to follow, and it's all the better for it.

Definitely consider checking it out if you're hankering for a more arcadey-style space game.

[Rusty]

Picked this one up too, mainly as I loved the first one

First impressions are not the best, it's basically the same as the first one but I think I haven't progressed far enough in for the game to open up.

I'm hanging on to it anyway, no refunds for me. I'll see what happens. The whole thing is covered in warnings saying 'Alpha game' so there should be loads more coming for it.

[DjchunKfunK]

Picked this one up too, mainly as I loved the first one

First impressions are not the best, it's basically the same as the first one but I think I haven't progressed far enough in for the game to open up.

I'm hanging on to it anyway, no refunds for me. I'll see what happens. The whole thing is covered in warnings saying 'Alpha game' so there should be loads more coming for it.

It can't be the same as the first one surely as the first one was a roguelike and this one is just a straight up space game with a campaign?

[Sly Boots]

Picked this one up too, mainly as I loved the first one

First impressions are not the best, it's basically the same as the first one but I think I haven't progressed far enough in for the game to open up.

I'm hanging on to it anyway, no refunds for me. I'll see what happens. The whole thing is covered in warnings saying 'Alpha game' so there should be loads more coming for it.

It can't be the same as the first one surely as the first one was a roguelike and this one is just a straight up space game with a campaign?

Indeed. The tutorial starts off quite on rails, but after the first hour or so things start to open up. I really like it.

[Snowy]

I looked at this, but worried I would be cheating on Elite Dangerous (which I haven't fired up in months and need to do so). I have so much time and effort invested in Elite I don't know if I could warrant starting afresh in another big space opera.

[Rusty]

It can't be the same as the first one surely as the first one was a roguelike and this one is just a straight up space game with a campaign?

Same engine, sound effects and mechanics. You fly to different regions to quest there which is the same as the previous game.

I haven't died yet so no idea what happens then. Whether it's game over and you reload a save or you 'respawn' or 'clone' or something.
But as has been mentioned the start is very on rails so maybe it'll open up soon.

Played a fair bit more last night and some of the skills and perks are odd. I unlocked crafting but can't craft anything yet. I think I need to salvage stuff to level up crafting?

[Sly Boots]

It can't be the same as the first one surely as the first one was a roguelike and this one is just a straight up space game with a campaign?

Played a fair bit more last night and some of the skills and perks are odd. I unlocked crafting but can't craft anything yet. I think I need to salvage stuff to level up crafting?

I've not yet got that far, but from what I've read, I think so, yes.

[elgaucho]

I picked this up last weekend also, and spent some time on it

As someone who really struggles with games like Elite which need a significant time investment and commitment, this is much more my style. I also love the more Descent like controls, and the callbacks to Freelancer (although this actually makes me miss that game a fair bit!)

I think it's a game with good promise. The story feels a bit generic and padded, and the storyboarding narrative weakens it - are they planning to replace it for launch?

Trading seems a bit... well, I Haven't been paying attention to who is paying what for materials, so hard to say if there's any interesting trade routes that can be used to monetise. Given there's limited scope for piracy attacks in warp speed it seems there would be limited risk in making too easy.

The combat is pretty fun, and I've encountered some new surprises along the way, with sniper bots, and having to watch for spawned drones which can quickly cut you to shreds if you don't blow them up quickly.

I have ended up a bit too outnumbered, and I do think I really need to find some weapons that agree with me. It feels like quite a bit of effort tagging enemies as we go.

I also really struggle disengaging when i'm in a bad fight - if your speed booster perk and EMP are on cooldown you're screwed. And while I have some other perks available i haven't swapped to them for this reason.

I just got to the planetoid mission with the vendor who sells ships in the story - game performance in atmospheric conditions is definitely worse, but fairly cool that you have the choice.

Re crafting - I haven't done too much on it. You dismantle common and rare items when you can for the mats, and then click and empty space in your inventory to bring up the crafting menu. At the moment I have very basic components available, and haven't worked out how you craft the items that aren't there.

[Sly Boots]

This now seems to be out on Game Pass as well.