Everspace Review (Xbox One)

INTRODUCTION

Everspace will take you into this long and challenging journey you will not forget. As you travel in space, you will be constantly tested on your skills and pilot abilities. Here are some great points to get you started:
 
The game allows players to explore natural resources and discover several interesting characters along the way. The resources are used to make repairs on your ship, craft items and to upgrade devices and weapons. They can be collected by targeting asteroids, enemies and through containers. Moving on to the next chapter of the storyline will give you an extra piece of the game’s main puzzle.
 
Aside from collecting resources, you will also need to battle opponents. There is a large number of different enemies that will vary from smaller to larger ships. Each of them will show different levels of strength. Even the most confident pilots will notice that it is always a good idea to prioritize their attacks against the most vulnerable targets (such as drones) before moving to harder opponents and obstacles.
 
Everspace is an exciting and engaging adventure that lets the player face great challenges the farther they go. All of the mentioned elements contribute to several extended hours of fun filled with lots of action and positive experience. In Everspace, space shooting commands are just the beginning of a much larger journey.
 
Everspace was developed by ROCKFISH Games and is available for Xbox One for $29.99.

STORY

The plot of this game is very curious and unexpected. You start the story by taking the role of a pilot who has completely lost his memory and slowly discovers his past. He wakes up in a strange location not really knowing what happened to them or how they got there. You will then take control of the action once the pilot runs away from this initial location abducts a ship. This initial part of the game will lead you to a tutorial filled with narratives and brings cut-scenes. Everspace brings nice visual elements to introduce the player to what is about to happen next.

As you start playing the game, more and more clues of the story will be revealed. Eventually, there will be enough information to put together, which will let the player know who the protagonist actually is and why he has been confused about his past. As you dive deeper into Everspace’s story, you will understand a very interesting concept that makes you start your journey from the beginning every time you die. I know it sounds frustrating at first, but it will all make sense later.

Further on, the plot becomes even more intense by creating some interesting situations, which drives the player to not want to stop until the next piece of information is discovered. On the other hand, there is a certain level of predictability. At a certain point of the story, you should be able to foresee who will attack again and how the adventure will end. From personal experience, this doesn’t make the story necessarily bad and it actually reinforced my connection with the character’s role, as a player.

GAMEPLAY

The mechanics of the game are very easy to understand. The player may choose one out of a few ships available and have the ability to upgrade it, without a specific order or rule to follow. Each ship has not only unique characteristics and abilities but also specific weaknesses. The logic of this game is that the player should take their ship to a sector and look for resources while being able to successfully defend themselves. The more you advance, the more secrets you will be able to explore and reveal. In addition to the exploration, you will also fight against strong enemies and space drones, while winning credits and resources that let you craft items later on. When a given sector is properly explored, you may be able to quickly advance to the next available system. In certain areas, there is a possibility to find special portals that allow you to transit to other areas in high speed. You may eventually find yourself in intermediary locations that allow you to investigate mysterious cosmic activities such as comets and shipwrecks.

As far as Everspace combat characteristics, it is almost guaranteed that your character will get attacked in every new area that you unveil. Because of that, it is important to locate the right elements that will assist you repairing your ship, available in certain sectors. There are plenty of resources to collect. Some of them are more useful than others, such as fuel.

Another great characteristic brought by the game, is its simple controls. During battles, you will count on different useful ways to hit enemy ships, but it might take some time to get used to what method works best for you. In the beginning, you start with the primary weapon (a machine gun) and a secondary weapon, which is composed of missiles. In general, the combat gameplay is not difficult to understand, but it can be challenging to master. As you try to strike enemies, you may use consumables and other devices. There are multiple simultaneous movements added to that, including moving fast and dodging massive asteroids. When I initially started playing, my focus was to collect all the resources I could and escape from enemies as fast as possible. After a few fights, I was able to understand the mechanics better and improve my strategy to destroy more enemy ships.

Eventually, unrepaired ships and major accidents during combats will lead your pilot to die. However, dying has a different concept in Everspace. I would suggest paying close attention this particular characteristic since it will provide you with an extra clue of what is going on. To make it simple, once your character dies, you may return to the original hangar of that zone. After that, there will be a brand new ship available, which you can upgrade and optimize based on the credits earned in your performance.One of my favorite things about this game structure is that once I returned to the same sector I once was, I found myself working on my skills even harder just to make sure I would have a better chance to win the next time. In addition, keep in mind that this concept is highly associated with the storyline mentioned earlier in this review. Even if you feel confused at first, remember that it will all make sense later on in the game.

GRAPHICS AND AUDIO

When you start playing Everspace, you will notice that graphics and overall look is really well-developed. Images have a lot of details that fit well in the general design. Considering the nature of the game, the title has a nice variety of backgrounds, filled with beautiful dark shades of colors. Visually speaking, it is interesting to notice the extra details on elements that you don’t directly interact with such as planets and stars.Even though there is not a direct interaction, these background components are part of your journey. Because of that, players can definitely admire their surroundings while dodging huge asteroid and heading to the next combat.  Finally, one of my favorite visual elements are the natural hazards, which include the dangerous lightning clouds (electrical storms) that can damage your ship pretty bad.
 
There is not much to criticize in terms of graphics.You can easily tell that the developers have put a lot of effort to make each and every environment look nice and clean. In terms of audio, there are plenty of great features that include the sound of lasers, explosions, shots and even damage taken. I really enjoyed not only seeing but also listening to these effects, which gave me a better experience while playing. On the other hand, the game soundtrack is something that did not stand out to me. Everspace is a nice and engaging action game, but it misses a better selection of musical elements.

CONCLUSION

Playing Everspace is fun and highly enjoyable if you enjoy a challenging space exploration title. There is a great variety of elements to interact with as you dive into your character’s journey. The story concept is very well-aligned with the style of the game. Everspace can easily be a great game option for players who are looking for an interesting deep story mode while enjoying beautiful graphics and nice visual effects.
 
Despite all of the great things that the game has to offer, I must say that Everspace is not for not for everyone. Keep in mind that this is not a casual game, and it may require you to dedicate some extra time to really advance. If you are not very patient and detail-driven, this can become challenging (especially considering that you can lose several collected items after dying multiple times).