EVERSPACE™ 2

玩的其实就是浴火银河的那个味道，一直以来都很喜欢当年在手机上玩的浴火银河1和2，简单但纯粹的快乐，倒买倒卖，升级装备，顺带赚点钱，而永恒空间2就也差不多是这样，只是应该少点解密，那玩意虽然玩起来也算是有点意思，但的确在太空中去这么搞很别扭，方向找不准，矿洞出不去，也没个明显点的那种引导或指示，这种东西你可以没有明确的标点，可做一些弱引导帮助玩家辨识方向找路或仅仅是用来识别区分空间，我认为对于这类太空游戏是很有必要的。

The early game balance in this game is absolutely horrible. Which is to say, it is non-existent. You cannot buy, nor can you craft, healing items. For an ARPG that is supposedly built around combat, this is a terrible and baffling choice. The devs don't like you. I do not recommend you give them a dime of your money or a minute of your time.

TLDR: Buy it on bigger discounts; do not buy it at full price. It's not worth it. I have never seen a game that defines the word "watery" until I played this. This game is the epitome of "bland" - a fairly good 10-hour or less space shooting game super diluted into a 40+ hour drag. [b] The shooting, RPG, and driving are fairly good - it gives you the fun, the engagement, the dopamine. That I will not deny. When you enter a high-risk area (generated high-level combat arenas basically), it's really fun to do the dogfights and kill enemies by the dozens. [/b] The exploration...WHOEVER MADE THE DECISION TO INCLUDE SO MANY PUZZLES, WHICH ARE ALSO EXTREMELY HARD TO FIND, MEANINGLESS TO GRIND, AND BORING AS H*LL, I HAVE ONLY ONE THING TO SAY TO YOU [b] I F**K YOUR M****R. [/b] To fully upgrade your mainframe (which are the stats that you carry over all ships), you have to find mainframe components to piece 3 of each into a mainframe (skill point). There are 135 mainframes in the entire game -- the same number that you would need to upgrade all stats. I do not know who designed this piece of s**t. Speaking of exploration, you do have a perk later that allows you to map out the unsolved puzzles. HOWEVER! It will only trigger after you take out a majority (basically above 95%) of the puzzles in a map, so if you can't find enough puzzles to solve, you can't even find the rest! I was searching a map for over 20 minutes, and I couldn't find a single one, but it showed that I had only done 50%. I am so tired of this s**t. You could have added a system where you just mark out the remaining puzzles. I don't care if I have to use my brain; I am here to have a good time, and this is the total opposite of it. And even if you have found the puzzles, it turns out it's basically unsolvable, and the puzzle reward is s**tty as h**k. Introduce...the shadow creatures; some big brain in development thinks it would be so fun to have a puzzle where you would have to avoid sunlight--in space--to piece two shadow creatures together across the terrain. When you are carrying them, they are junky as f**k, and they WOULD mess up your pathing. When you reunite them, you get...some rare materials. That's it. Also, the terrain is horrible as well...there is a planet with lots of holes in the ground, making 100% nearly impossible, and there is also a space area with huge rocks and a maze within them. And the story...I personally don't have an opinion about stories that don't have high stakes, but this... this is another level of bland. The story gives a feeling that everyone is just reading scripts. When a character died, I was like, "Should I be concerned about his death? I don't feel related to him at all." The soundtrack also feels cheap, like some sci-fi music you get from a free stock music platform. It does not give any feeling towards the strangeness of space and the intensity of space combat. In fact, there isn't much intensity there to begin with. Right now, I do not feel related to my crew at all. Everyone is boring - the doctor, the annoying midget, the grumpy boomer dad...I think these characters are more living stereotypes rather than characters with depth. Overall, 3/10, 3 for combat, RPG, and the parts of this game that aren't distilled. And again, if you don't like puzzles, buy it at a lower price. And I curse whoever designed the damn perks and puzzles. In a traditional Chinese fashion, I curse you, your ancestors and your bloodline for not being able to do any more game development for the 18 generations to come. F**K YOU.

Freelancer is my favorite game of all time and probably the game I've put the most total hours into. I would absolutely love a modern reimagining of it, and this game looked close enough to convince me to grab it on sale. It provided a few hours of fun but ultimately did not grab me and I don't think I'll bother revisiting it. But it's an interesting comparison to Freelancer. First the good. The graphics are beautiful and the combat is pretty fun. These parts definitely feel like a clear evolution of Freelancer - there's more impactful gear to chase, more to do and think about in combat, and it's still got that arcade-y approachable feel. But then you get a little more into the game and start seeing the cracks. Despite there being a very big-feeling universe at first, it's largely an illusion. You speed through large sections of space in a thinly disguised "overworld" of 'supercruise engines' and drop into encounter maps where you actually have the enemies and things to do. The story serves mainly to lead you from one of these maps to another, where you will do some combat, do some puzzles to find loot, and potentially throw in shooting some emplaced turrets or something. Repeat, repeat, repeat - interspersed with occasional runs to a friendly station to sell off the massive amount of useless loot you will accumulate. The story, while not terrible, is definitely not good enough to make up for this repetitive loop. But the thing that really kills me is the lack of interesting lore and aggressive area-gating. The lore is, next to Freelancer, the biggest weakness by far. Freelancer gave you this rich universe full of something like 60 factions all traveling around and fighting each other. Everspace 2 clearly tries to replicate this, but after 10 hours in the game I had run into four factions I could remember - a corporation, some pirates (bad guys!), a government organization of some kind, and a slightly different flavor of pirates. And the worldbuilding around them seemed fairly minimal, even as presented through the story. That's made worse by how you're gated into just one system for a large section of the first 10 hours or so of the game, and entering the second system I didn't see enough to really draw me in so I didn't continue much past that. Despite this, it's the kind of game that could be fun on a server with fr- oh, no multiplayer? Okay well it's the type of game that gets really improved by mod- oh, no modding either? Two more huge points in Freelancer's favor.

这其实是个太空解谜游戏，后面全是解谜，把飞船换成人，地图换成建筑内没有任何问题 后面有个特长说是解锁了可以直接去任意星系，然后任务让我过去用，我寻思怎么不选目的地就直接用呢，结果出问题困到一个地方出不去，原来是让我解谜啊 而且对话时无法停靠，无法跃迁， 每次任务目标完成了我要跃迁飞走，然后主角和哪个AI就开始说话我就只能硬等，你就不能边飞边说，把你手捆住了？

In the past few months, I was bitten by the space bug. I wanted to play a space game, but I didn’t know what type of game. I looked through my Steam library - there’s 3030 Deathwar Redux, which was recommended by Brian, but the font was too small for me. Elite: Dangerous - I launched it and had already forgotten how to play, even though Steam said I had spent 131 hours on it. Homeworld Remastered Collection? Too old, and I didn’t really want to play an RTS. I started hunting for games to buy and came across Rebel Galaxy Outlaw by Travis Baldree, the creator of Fate and Torchlight, both of which I enjoyed. It had good reviews on QT3. I spent about six hours on it and ended up feeling bored. It’s supposed to be like Privateer, but it wasn’t the space game I was looking for. The gameplay mostly involved going from planet to planet making money. I even gambled in the casino to earn more. Dogfighting was fun at first, but after a while, I wasn’t sure what else there was to do. Back on Steam, I noticed that I already owned Everspace and decided to revisit it. The “pew pew” combat and roguelike elements were enjoyable enough that I bought the DLC, Encounters, which added a lot to the game. After almost 20 hours over the past few weeks and reaching Sector 4 before dying, I felt done with the roguelike loop and didn’t want to start over again. However, I liked how well the game worked with mouse and keyboard. Rebel Galaxy Outlaw and Elite were played with a controller, and I was never good with it. All of this set the stage for the realization that what I really wanted was a space opera with stats and progression. Reading that Everspace 2 was a “RPG-like” game with a narrative, character stats, inventory, crafting and progression system immediately got me onboard. Everspace 2 feels closer to something like The Division or GTA. I’m currently at level 12 (pilot level, which effectively functions as ship level, similar to Everspace 1), so it’s still early in the game. The main mission moved me from the starting galaxy, Ceto, to the next one, Union. As more missions were completed, more markers appeared on the map, waiting to be explored. Optional side missions often led to new areas and revealed even more markers nearby. These missions offered good variety: hunting down outlaws, taking down bases, delivering packages, escorting ships. After clearing an area, exploration could uncover hidden stashes. Unlike E1, where most stashes were already marked by sensors, E2 requires actually exploring the vicinity to find them. There are set items - for example, a weapon may be one of three pieces forming a set, with the others being an engine, shield, or hull plating, granting additional bonuses. Similar to The Division, it’s possible to equip two or three sets at a time. Items also come in different rarities: white, green (uncommon), blue (rare), and purple. Each item can be enhanced, provided the blueprint is available, using the corresponding catalyst. This feels similar to socketing gems in Diablo. For example, having a high-capacity blueprint allowed enhancement of a missile launcher set item to carry more missiles instead of the default 20. Another nice feature: if a favorite weapon or sensor becomes under-leveled compared to the current level, its level can be upgraded instead of grinding for a new one. Certain stats can also be re-rolled if they aren’t ideal. Pilot perks unlock at levels 5, 10, 15, up to 30. Each milestone offers three perks, but only one can be activated. At level 5, I chose Defensive Massacre, where killing an enemy instantly triggers shield recharge. At level 10, I picked Percussive Maintenance, where incoming direct armor hits have a 10% chance to reduce a random device cooldown. Devices are equippable ship abilities. My ship have two slots available. I started with Energize Boost, which allows boosting away from intense combat, and EMP Generator, which temporarily disables enemies within a 580-meter radius for eight seconds. Each device has a cooldown of about 25 seconds. Additional devices can be found through missions, exploration, or shops. My current favorite is Teleporter, which has three charges and allows a 600-meter jump forward. I pump points to upgrade devices. After mastering Teleporter device, three alternate modes became available. One leaves a mine behind after teleporting. Another teleports forward and immediately faces the opposite direction - easily my favorite. On top of that, each ship comes with an Ultimate ability. I’m using an Interceptor, which has Weapon Overdrive, boosting damage and firing rate. Different ships offer different Ultimates and passives. Companions return from the E1 DLC. The story involves meeting them again and eventually having them join your team. Each companion provides unique capabilities. Ben improves the tractor beam, which itself has four upgrade levels requiring components and ores. Level 2 pulls items from 800 meters away. Level 3 allows pulling multiple items at once. Elek can randomly appear during battles to assist. At battle-assist level 2, he brings an “Equalizer” weapon to help, though I haven’t found the required weapon to upgrade that ability yet. Delia reduces hull damage and enhances nanobot repairs. Because resources are limited, only certain companion skills can be prioritized. There’s a lot of room for experimentation. Amidst all of this, there’s the story. It drives exploration and the hunt for better components, raw materials, and money to upgrade the ship. Like GTA or The Division, there are plenty of distractions and side missions that help build strength before tackling main missions. Saving is available almost anywhere, except during combat. Quality-of-life features stand out as well - when switching ships, the current one can be traded in by paying the difference. Items also exist to refund device points and respec them elsewhere. There’s still much left to explore. No purple items have dropped yet for me. From what I read, reaching level 30 or 40 opens up even more, similar to The Division. Two additional DLCs are still untouched. I am glad I discovered this game now, even if it was two years late.

Space games usually don't have very deep combat mechanics due to the nature of space itself: Big and empty. Even some popular games have combat no more complex than who has bigger guns and can spin in faster circles. Everspace 2 does a great job of surpassing this limitation by adding lots of cover, loot, and interior spaces to each combat area. Weapons act differently and are highly skill based to aim. I like how trading is present, but can be done alongside missions and combat to supplement your income. In most games it's just a boring grind that takes all your inventory space, but here trading doesn't take that much space and you are told directly what is and what is not a good deal. Lastly, this game has the best control mapping implementation I've ever seen. Great for joystick users, which you'll want to use for the best experience.