We were quite taken with space sim/shooter/roguelike Everspace even during its Steam Early Access period, although it was glaringly obvious the game still needed a lot of work before its full release. The time for that judgment is here, as Everspace has shed the Early Access moniker and has been patched into version 1.0. There are a few big changes that developer Rockfish have added with this version, including:
- Added the narrative story to the game, something that was sorely lacking in Early Access
- Added VR support, which space sims are tailor made for
- Tweaked several things to make the game run smoother, and added cosmetic elements like more ship colors and Steam achievements
- Completely removed scanner probes from the game
You can view the complete patch notes here, but the removal of scanner probes is a large gameplay shift that Rockfish felt they needed to clarify, stating:
“We watched a lot of streams and videos of people playing Everspace and noticed that crafting/using scanning probes has become too obligatory. The routine would be to craft and use a scanning probe at the beginning of every location which is neither fun nor does it promote explorative gameplay. We realized that a lot of gameplay elements would not work the way we intended, i.e. cloud fields, comm hubs, jump suppressor signals and much more. On the other hand, not being able to craft scanning probes (e.g. due to a lack of gas) would result in frustration, so increasing the crafting costs was not and option. Our solution: Remove scanning probes completely, add radar memory (so that scanned objects will remain on the HUD), increase the amount of comm hubs and introduce a new device, the sensor relay which increases the ship’s sensor range. With these changes in effect, we noticed a huge improvement in gameplay, shifting the approach towards risk/reward driven exploration rather than dully working off HUD markers one after another.”
Hopefully, this change keeps the game engaging and less repetitive than some other space sims. Check out the launch trailer for Everspace below:
Did you play Everspace in Early Access? Think you’ll pick it up now that the full release is available? Let us know in the comments below.
