Everspace 2
By Chad Sapieha,
Common Sense Media Reviewer
Common Sense Media Reviewers
Action-packed sci-fi tale with bloodless space combat.
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Everspace 2
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What’s It About?
EVERSPACE 2 puts players in the cockpit of a customizable space fighter piloted by Adam, the last of a series of human clones who is trying to make his way through the galaxy working as a pilot for hire. The story begins with an ill-fated escort mission that sees Adam and a couple of teammates captured, then quickly escaping to a secret base where they work to regain their strength. The plot gradually thickens as Adam finds himself embroiled in conflicts involving multiple outlaw factions while making new friends and taking on allies who provide information and upgrades. Most of the game is spent flying a nimble, customizable fighter, with several missions set in deep space, in the atmosphere above planets, around belts of space rocks, and inside asteroid caves. It's not quite a seamless open galaxy, but rather a collection of locations you can quickly fly between at will as you unlock more areas to explore. Tasks include scouting assignments, aerial dogfights, and capital ship assaults. You'll also harvest loot from shipwrecks and asteroids that can be used to purchase and craft upgrades for Adam's ship, then install them in appropriate armor, weapon, and accessory slots between missions back at base. Players can expect around 40 hours of space opera action.
Is It Any Good?
If you've ever wanted to play a retro space shooter that uses a Diablo-like loot and inventory system with glossy graphics, then this is the game for you. Everspace 2 throws players into pulpy space combat from the word go, providing intuitive and forgiving piloting and firing controls that let you feel like an ace dogfighter within minutes. You'll tear through foes with lasers, missiles, and other sci-fi guns, gradually learning to switch between weapons that are more effective against different types of enemies and armors while keeping an eye peeled for resources and salvage that you can pull in and capture with your mini tractor beam. This is where the classic action-RPG (role-playing game) elements come in, as you hungrily search for rarer items and begin to create custom modules to slot into your ship, slowly building a craft of your own design that handles and fights just how you want.
The cherry on top is how pretty it all looks. As you slowly modify your fighter, applying custom paints and a variety of aesthetic alterations, you're bound to fall in love with your shiny little ship. You'll marvel not only at your iron eagle but also the stunning galaxy in which it operates. Star systems are filled with colorful, hulking planets and detailed space debris, with distant stars and nebulae providing a jaw-dropping background. It's a shame the narrative scenes, composed largely of underwhelming painted stills, can't quite match the action sequences, but one supposes the folks at Rockfish Games had to leave something to improve upon for the next game. In the meantime, Everspace 2 delivers a rollicking sci-fi adventure that's hard to resist.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about violence in the media. Is the impact of the violence in Everspace 2 affected by the lack of blood and gore? When ships explode, it's understood that their pilots die, even though players don't see the bodies, but do you think about the implied fatalities while fighting and destroying enemy ships?
What do you think Everspace 2 got right about how ships move in microgravity? What did it get wrong?
Game Details
- Platforms: Xbox Series X/S , PlayStation 5 , Windows
- Pricing structure: Paid ($49.99)
- Available online?: Available online
- Publisher: ROCKFISH Games
- Release date: April 5, 2023
- Genre: Role-Playing
- Topics: Space and Aliens
- ESRB rating: T for Violence, Blood, Language
- Last updated: April 5, 2023
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