Rockfish Games’ Everspace is the kind of game that ages well over time thanks to an impressive art style and rogue-like mechanics that added a significant amount of replay value to it. I would have thought it was the kind of game that didn’t need a sequel however with Everspace 2, the developers have made enough changes to make it an experience that stands apart from its predecessor.

The game casts you as Adam, a clone pilot working in space who gets caught in an attack that eventually leads him to become a freelancer and try to earn his way out of his troubles. Over the course of the game you find more allies, build out your ship’s capabilities and find increasing challenges but it’ll all boil down to travelling through a number of systems completing missions and making your way through the game’s main story.

The biggest difference between Everspace 2 and the original game is that it’s moved away from the roguelike aspects of the original game with its procedurally generated content and moved to a much larger handcrafted game world. A number of the locations you find are built to support the game’s numerous missions and narrative while many of the random encounters appear to leverage aspects of the procedural generation so that they have a degree of variety to them. The change may be upsetting to players expecting more of the same but for those wanting a more traditional space adventure this should be more in line with expectations. Many of the locations are quite large too so there may be a lot you won’t find in your first visit which is handy as you will visit a number of places often.

The controls in the game work nicely with movement tied to the sticks and weapons to the triggers. While there are viewpoints that allow you the view proceedings from the cockpit or via a tracking camera, the third person views feel like the most natural in relation to the controls and I found it easier to stick with that default exterior view. Weapon switching is handled via the directional pad and while it might mean taking your thumb away from the flight controls it’s not a huge impact to general play. Your ships have weapons and modules that can be steadily upgraded over time as you collect blueprints and resources. Note that it is entirely possible to play through the game using only your starting ship however others you might find available may have abilities more in line with your play style so it is worth experimenting when you collect enough credits to start buying more.

The game’s presentation is excellent, providing a lot of colour to what could easily have been a very monochrome game world. Locations are varied ranging from asteroids to orbiting stations to planet surfaces and everything in between. That variety is a real strong point as with the amount of regular travel to and from locations there is definitely a need to minimize any obviously repetitive content and the team have done well to avoid that. Cutscenes play out like motion comics and combined with regular voice chatter throughout the game it helps a lot with moving the story forward. There’s also a photo mode too if you find any screenshot worthy images… which to be honest isn’t hard in this game. :).

If I have any concerns about the game it’s probably that that the HUD can be a little hard to decipher at times when you are up to your neck in enemies and are trying to prioritize targets that are close. Drones have a tendency to stick VERY close to you and blast away and I find I lose them easier than I should.

I think I’m finding that I’m enjoying Everspace 2 a lot more than its predecessor thanks to its more mission oriented approach that allows for progress to be made in more manageable parts with a far clearer path of progression. I have to give the developers a lot of credit for taking a different path with it as both games have strengths that allow them to each stand alone on their own merits. Space combat fans with an interest in adventures will get a kick out of this and it’s well worth checking out.

Everspace 2 is out now for PC, Xbox and PlayStation. Played on an Xbox Series X via Game Pass.