Everspace – Stellar Edition

Genre: Space Combat Game / Roguelike

Players: 1

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Review:

Everspace is a Space Combat Game with Roguelike elements. In it, players jump from one section of space to the next searching for resources and fighting off hostile forces, trying to make as much progress into space as they can before they get shot down and start over again, keeping some of the resources they got on their previous attempt.

It’s an interesting combination of elements, and a the Space Combat genre in particular is particularly sparse on the Switch (with the main other noteworthy title being Starlink: Battle for Atlas, where most of the action takes place on the surface of planets), so Everspace’s release on the Switch is a welcome one.

Graphically, Everspace looks pretty good, although its detail and textures are downgraded from other versions of the game. The space environments look interesting, with a fair amount of floating debris and asteroids… although it’s a shame the game doesn’t do much with terrestrial environments or particularly large space stations to add a bit more variety. You’re gonna’ be seeing a lot of asteroid fields.

Actually, variety is one of this game’s main problems. While there’s not a lot of variation in what each area looks like, there’s very little in what you’re doing. Look for asteroids to mine and shoot them, look for other sources of resources and collect them, fight off any threats that get too close, then zip off to the next section of space, wash, rinse, repeat.

I found myself really wanting to sink my teeth into the space combat, but there just wasn’t much to it, once you get used to how your ship controls. Wait until the enemy is in range, fire energy weapon to deplete shields, switch to machine gun to take out the hull, duck behind debris if things get too hot and heavy so you can wait for your shield to recharge. I really wish I had an interesting landscape to zip around or at least a structure that could play a pivotal part of combat. I wish I had… well, honestly, one of the Rogue Squadron or Star Fox games.

Still, the Roguelike elements here work well enough and add a different sort of element to the game. Oh, and be warned, you will die in this game a lot, so at least at first, when you start your mission, pick the easy difficulty – you can change it for each run you make.

In the end, Everspace does manage to scratch that “space combat” itch, and the Roguelike features keep things compelling enough to stay interesting, but the game desperately needs more variety, both in its environments and in the sort of stuff you’re doing in space.

tl;dr – Everspace is a Space Combat Roguelike game, where you’re flying a spaceship, fighting off enemies, dying, and then making another attempt at it with some of what you acquired on the previous run. The game’s core gameplay is good, and the Roguelike elements work well with it, but the game is repetitive and in great need of a better variety of environments and stuff to do.

Grade: B

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