Everspace by ROCKFISH Games (Developer/Publisher) is a single-player roguelike space shooter. You travel through sectors and planets of multiple galaxies with an A.I program in your ship, trying to remember who you are and what you’ve been through. Everspace has you going back through reoccurring memories and flashbacks while trying to survive the dangers of space.
Graphics
The graphics of Everspace are visually gorgeous. The detailing of the planets that you go to from level to level pop out, as each one is uniquely different and graphically stunning to the next. The scenery, atmosphere, and backdrops of the galaxies themselves are also beautiful because a lot is going on around you as well. There are lightning storms, red dwarfs, the rings of planets forming around you and many meteorites to fly through also.
The graphics get an 8.5
Audio
The audio and sound of Everspace play both into the loneliness of space and how quiet it can be. However, that lonely feeling gets shut down early by the consistent dialogue between your character and the A.I program of your ship, from the enemies that are trying to kill you, and sometimes the very minimal music that does often play during your playthroughs, which isn’t very often.
The audio gets a 6.5
Gameplay
The gameplay of Everspace combines both arcade styled gameplay with the resourced based and micromanagement that usually comes with space simulator games. Everspace is designed to have you run consistent playthroughs and repeat the sector you began with if you die. Each run lets you improve your ship via the resources you’ve mined, the money you’ve earned and the blueprints that you’ve found over the course of your runs.
However, the gameplay outside of the combat gets extremely micromanagement based; you have to watch out for ship repairs, life-support systems, fuel to jump from sector to sector, items for your shields and weaponry. It’s very intricate and takes away from the fun arcade stuff that Everspace does bring to the table.
The gameplay gets a 6.5
Story
The story of Everspace is shrouded in mystery. You wake up in a brand new galaxy in a ship with an A.I. program talking to you, giving you information about where you are, explaining the galaxies and worlds. As you progress sector by sector, you get flashbacks to memories of what happened before you woke up in this new galaxy. But that takes a huge plot twist which ties together the reason for the flashbacks and why you’re being hunted down by people who were previously your friends.
The story gets a 7.
Verdict
Everspace takes both space simulation and roguelike games alike and brings you the best of both worlds respectively. Stepping up to the plate with great graphics that are visually stunning, great and fun gameplay and quite a story that was very unexpectedly good. It does have some areas that it lacks in as well (like its audio) where it isn’t as efficient or some aspects of gameplay that are too micromanagement based for some players to enjoy. But if you’re up to the task of finding out who you are again, while surviving the deepest corners of the galaxies from enemy outlaws and other hostile races, you should take a chance by grabbing a ship and exploring the dark skies within Everspace yourself.
