If you’re lucky, your defeated foes will drop resources
which you can use to craft new items (from weapon
upgrades to extra missiles and consumables) or
restock your ship’s fuel supply - much like FTL, if
your fuel gets too low, you might get stranded in a
region and not be able to jump to the next sector,
or take damage if you risk it. Thankfully defeating
enemies isn’t the only way to acquire resources - you
can also harvest them from derelict freighters, ore-
filled asteroids and plasma storms. Or if you’re really
desperate, you can attack one of the neutral freighters
and steal their cargo for yourself.
You can’t just loiter around harvesting materials
forever, though - if you don’t move on from each
sector you’ll find yourself pursued by enemy ships
in another feature borrowed from FTL. Naturally,
these ships often appear in large numbers, and
sometimes bring a capital ship with them equipped
with a jump jammer, preventing you from leaving
the sector until the ship is destroyed. It all adds up to
a punishing experience, especially given the relative
lethality of combat and scarcity of resources, but the
frequent deaths and restarts offer enough in the way
of upgrades and bonuses to make you feel like you’re
progressing each time you play, even if you do have
runs where an enemy ship damages your life support
system during your first encounter and no matter
how hard you try you just can’t find enough nanites
to repair it, so you just watch your life drain away
until you ultimately crash your ship into an asteroid
in an effort to end it all. Ahem.
There are plenty of clear influences that have driven
the development of Everspace, but the accessible
mechanics and entertaining moment-to-moment
gameplay, combined with the novelty of the space
combat roguelike concept, fit together nicely and
help Everspace claim its own identity. That you get
an interesting, well-written storyline to experience
is a welcome bonus, but the lure of unlocking new
abilities, components and ships proves compelling
enough in its own right. Yes, seeing the game
through to its eventual conclusion does ultimately
become a bit of a grind, environments start to
become samey, and you will eventually tire of seeing
the same ship and drone designs. But there’s always
something - whether its a new upgrade or just the
sheer satisfaction of blowing up an enemy ship - to
keep you coming back. 8/10
www.eliteonlinemag.com
203