When I was handed Everspace for review, I was honestly terrified. In the past, I have avoided flight sim games like the plague. While I am perfectly fine playing Call of Duty or Destiny for hours on end without getting motion sick, flight sims make me want to throw up immediately. Ever since the space battle from Halo Reach, I haven’t been able to handle anything that remotely involves simulated flight; I would have to have my wife tap in to play. Go ahead, laugh, get it out of your system.

I know you’re dying to know, did I redecorate my living room using breakfast? Did my wife play for me so I could write this review? Is the game bad? Well, the answer to all of these questions is no. While playing in first person did make my stomach turn a bit, the ability to play in third person helped resolve this issue. I thoroughly enjoyed my time with this space shooter. Saying it’s an arcade style game is doing it a disservice, as there is a great deal of depth, but the game is extremely accessible. So let’s call it the gritty, hardcore reboot of Galaga.

While some of the menus are a bit overwhelming at the start, the game handles like a dream. If motion sickness didn’t turn me off of from a similar game in the past, the controls did. ROCKFISH Games did an amazing job making the ships pilot like cutting into warm butter. After a few short tutorial battles, you’ll be engaging in dog fights regularly and weaving in and out of asteroid fields. Flanking the enemy ships feels as natural as any of the top AAA first person shooters out there. I haven’t been this pleased with the vehicle controls in a game since the last Forza.

In addition to the dog fights, there is also a fair amount of resource gathering and crafting required. If you’re someone who usually doesn’t spend much time on this, I would advise you to rethink that stance as the materials you’ll gain early on will help go toward the somewhat grind-y totals you will need to upgrade and purchase new ships. I started the game with the Rambo mentality and later was disappointed I did not have enough funds to purchase a certain weapon.

There is a large amount of customization options available for your ship. Everything from the color of certain areas and patterns of metal, to the guns and abilities being interchangeable. As stated previously, the game is a bit grind-y when it comes to buying new ships or upgrades. I will note, I was playing on Easy, which is also meant to increase the number and value of resources you find. I’ve honestly seen free-to-play games have lower costs for upgrades.

There is a story to get involved in if that’s your thing; however, I found it to be a little too hard Sci-Fi for my taste. In addition, the bland, motion comic book style visuals that accompanied the voice over did little to draw me in as it should. I know it involves you awakening after dying and being a clone of John Conner, sent back in time to prevent your daughter’s real father from activating the Death Star… I’ll just stop there since after the first cut scene, I honestly gave up with it and skipped every single scene after.

Luckily the other visuals are impressive. After a number of fights were concluded, I found myself stopping to take in the sights, observing distant planets and stars. Who knew the emptiness of space could be so beautiful? It was a very cathartic experience, especially after certain stressful combat excursions.

While the gameplay is engaging, the rouge-like elements that give you a unique experience every time the game loads can become repetitive. On a few occasions, while the main map showed I was moving forward, I was put into the same area of space, with the same planets and objects surrounding me. While not a huge issue, after long periods of play this could become redundant. Much like if you were to run into the same room on The Binding of Isaac multiple times in a row.

I would recommend this game to anyone who is looking for something to scratch that Sci-Fi itch or a person like myself, who can’t stomach most flight simulators. With the customization options and randomized environments, Everspace offers a large amount of replayability.

8 out of 10

Pros

• Accessible Controls and Gameplay
• Visuals
• Customization Options

Cons

• Bland Cut-Scenes
• Some Grind-y Elements

 

Everspace was developed and published by ROCKFISH Games. It launced on PC and Xbox One, May 26th, 2017 for $29.99. The game was provided to us for review on Xbox One. If you’d like to see more of Everspace, check out the official site.

 

Here at GBG we use a rating method that you are more than likely familiar with – a scale of 1 to 10. For clarification, we intend on using the entire scale: 1-4 is something you should probably avoid paying for; 5-7 is something that is worth playing, but probably not at full price; 8-10 is a great title that you can feel confident about buying. If you have any questions or comments about how we rate a game, please let us know.

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