Everspace 2 left early access in April 2023, and it was worth the wait. Rockfish Games built a space shooter that trusts you to fly badly for a while and get better. It’s out now on PC, Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5 and Mac, and it carries an 8.7/10 score from the IGDB critic aggregate across five outlets.
Trailer, via ROCKFISH Games.
A Shooter That Dropped the Roguelike
Everspace 2 is a fast-paced single-player spaceship shooter. It has exploration in space and on planets, loot, RPG elements, mining and crafting. The sci-fi story sits in a handcrafted open world full of secrets, puzzles and perils.
The first Everspace was a roguelike. This one isn’t. Rockfish dropped the run-based structure entirely and built something that wants you to stay a while.
Star Systems You Can Wander
The world splits into several large levels across a series of star systems. You can explore them freely. That freedom is the whole point, and it’s the biggest break from the 2017 original.
You fly from a third-person perspective. Your ship takes weapons. Ship dealers sell new ships for credits. You buy upgrades too: new guns, a secondary weapon, special attacks.
Ship types work like character classes. Each has its own skills and abilities. That means your choice of hull is a real choice, not a cosmetic one.
Loot, Credits and Outlaw Clans
Defeated enemies drop resources and gear. You collect both. Better gear lets you take on tougher enemies, and the loop keeps pulling you forward.
The campaign gives you friends with their own stories. They join side missions and hand you benefits in the endgame. That endgame is where vicious encounters and brutal challenges stand between you and the next epic loot drop.
- Mine and craft to keep your ship funded.
- Buy better guns and secondary weapons from dealers.
- Unlock special attacks for your ship class.
- Take on tougher enemies for better gear.
- Push into high-risk areas for ultra-special gear.
The High-Risk Areas Are the Test
Discover alien species. Unveil mysteries. Find hidden treasures. Defend your valuables against outlaw clans. But don’t get cocky.
Some areas are high-risk and high-reward. Grabbing that ultra-special gear and getting out alive takes serious piloting and all your talent for improvisation. That’s the sharpest thing Everspace 2 does: it makes greed a skill check.
The Numbers
- Release: PC, April 2023
- Release: Xbox Series X|S and PS5, August 2023
- Developer and publisher: Rockfish Games
- Platforms: Xbox Series X|S, PC, PlayStation 5, Mac
- Modes: Single player
- Critic aggregate: 8.7/10, from five outlets tracked by IGDB
Where It Sits
Just over two years of early access shaped this. The PC launch in April 2023 was the full 1.0, and the console versions followed in August. That’s a long runway, and it shows in how complete the systems feel.
The roguelike removal is the decision that matters most. It cost the series its original hook and bought it an open world worth exploring. Rockfish traded repetition for place, and the trade works.
The loot loop is the part worth watching. Gear, credits, ship classes and endgame benefits all feed each other, and the high-risk zones give the whole thing teeth. Nothing here reinvents the space shooter. It just does the job with unusual care.
The 8.7 is a critic aggregate, not a verdict on the whole package. Five outlets is a thin sample, and the score says more about how cleanly Everspace 2 executes its loop than about whether that loop will hold you past the campaign. What the numbers can’t show is the thing that matters: whether the open world stays interesting once the gear stops improving. That question belongs to the players, not the reviewers.
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