EVERSPACE 2 Gameplay And Set Item Sneak Peek Stream
Greeting pilots!
A quick plug before getting to the fun stuff: EVERSPACE 2 is 20% off in the Steam Summer Sale. If you or a friend have been waiting to pick it up, now's a great time to do so!
Every week, the ROCKFISH Games Community team streams the latest developer build of EVERSPACE 2 to highlight features and talk about what's to come.
To celebrate the Steam Summer sale, we're streaming a special set item showcase where we take a peek behind-the-scenes at content in the works. Join us next Friday (July 7) as Erik continues his Nightmare playthrough and shares a sneak peek at a few planned set items coming in a future free update!
A recently teased work-in-progress set item.
We'll be live July 7 11:00 am to 1:00 pm PT / 2:00 pm to 4:00 pm ET / 8 pm to 10 pm CET on YouTube, Twitch, and Steam Broadcast.
Want to know more about what's to come? Bring your questions to the stream! ROCKFISH Games Devs and our CEO will be in chat answering every one we can. đ
Lee and your dedicated ROCKFISH Games team
Update 1.0.34617 | New Game Controller Freeze
Greetings Pilots!
It seems our recent update unfortunately introduced a new issue. It appears that new users without existing save games are experiencing a freeze when attempting to start a new game using only a controller.
While there is a workaround available by using a mouse and keyboard to begin the game and then switching to a gamepad, we believe it necessary to provide a quick fix for this problem. We apologize for any inconvenience caused!
We are working to bring this fix to players on GOG and Microsoft Store/Game Pass.
Changelog - 1.0.34617
Bugfixes
Fixed freeze when trying to start a new game without existing save games using a controller
Lee and your dedicated ROCKFISH Games team
Update 1.0.34616 | Legendary Slot Changes | Radio Chatter | Bug Fixes & More
Greetings, Pilots!
As the team works towards our summer console release, weâll be releasing a small number of updates to the PC version to help keep parity between builds. Todayâs update brings a few asked-for features, and a small number of bug fixes.
Legendary Slot Changes
With todayâs update, players can now equip two Legendary pieces of gear on all ships, not just ones of Tier 4 quality. The number of Legendaries that can be equipped has been a hotly-debated topic over the last few weeks. Balance remains a top of mind issue as our gameplay and design team continues to work on more items for future updates, and while this isnât the ideal improvement for some, itâs a step towards compromise.
Weâve also changed the name of "Cassiel's Protection" to "Castiel's Protection" by request of the Kickstarter backer who created it.
Radio Chatter
Experienced pilots may notice new radio chatter added to EVERSPACE 2, filling the void (of space) as it were in a variety of traffic-heavy spaceports. Our goal here is to bring a little more life to some areas by conveying the hustle and bustle of busy space cities and settlements.
To be completely transparent as itâs a hot topic, these new snippets were partially created using AI tools. The scripts were written by our designers and created using AI-altered speech samples from team members. This is an experiment on our part to see how content created this way meshes with our world. While we think these kinds of tools are interesting as far as supporting creative efforts, they will not replace the work of writers, artists, and voice actors in a meaningful way on our games.
Paving the Way Boss Fight
We noticed that even very experienced pilots, such as CohhCarnage, had some difficulties in this boss fight, which can lead to unnecessary frustration, especially on the highest difficulty level. We've made adjustments to the sniper turrets by disabling them in the first phase of the fight and slowing down their targeting a bit in the second phase, so it's now easier to dodge shots. As a result, even on the highest difficulty level and with a slow ship, the fight no longer feels unfair.
Changelog - 1.0.34616
Please note, if you encounter any crashes after installation of this patch, these are very likely due to a download/update problem. If the crash message includes the text "Retry was NOT successful", then this is a clear indication for this. Luckily, this can easily be fixed using the Steam Client's "Verify integrity of game files" functionality.
Integrated community suggestions for translation improvements from Crowdin
Replaced two ship passives:
Interceptor: "Refund 20% of the used ULT energy after deactivating Weapon Overdrive" â "When flying toward a locked enemy target beyond 1500m range, gain 15% increased speed"
Gunship: "50% reduced hull and armor repair costs" â "After 10s of not being hit, gain 2% armor recovery every second, up to half total armor"
The "Hard Reset" mode of the EMP Generator can no longer reduce the cooldown below 5s
UI: Removed delay when opening pause menu
UI: Added new marker to mainframe component in shop of mission 15 for better player guidance
UI: Improved some inconsistencies regarding launch button on stations within the customization screen
UI: Added commodity demand colorization to items shown in hud message log
UI: Improved gamepad navigation with data sub tabs
UI: Ship selection on homebase - Added a small input delay to support faster cycling, especially on gamepad, and also removed potential memory issues when spamming the change action
UI: Improved unlocking of some story so far entries that might spoil future story development
Bugfixes
Fixed that "unlocking" a locked target did not work anymore (unlocking is done by holding the "lock target" button for about one second when using mouse/kb or double-pressing it when using controller)
Fixed ULT charge sometimes not displaying correct value after undocking
Fixed Vindicator drone explosion passive not counting as player-instigated damage
Fixed Sniper Drone/Turret targeting lasers clipping through geometry
Fixed weapon corrosion bonus attribute not working on certain weapon types
Fixed wrong damage values being shown in Legendary item descriptions
Fixed damage scaling curve of Legendary item effects
Fixed ULT behavior when a sequence interrupts them
Fixed broken mission state in "Rips in Space"
Fixed sequence orientation when flying backwards out of the location boundaries
Fixed Vindicator drones being lost after completing a ramen drone job
Fixed that autopilot could not be used when using same keybinding for both "interact" and target lock" ("target lock" is an intended hidden action for autopilot)
Fixed that "toggle freelook" could not be customized for gamepad controls (note that this is by default a hidden action tied to holding the "switch camera" button)
Fixed that in some cases using mouse wheel to scroll did not work in the "missions" screen
Fixed ARC-9000 colliding with the player's ship
Fixed NPCs killing Ancients counting as player kills
Fixed that "x" button icons were shown in cockpit in gamepad mode below devices/consumables icons instead of d-pad icons
Fixed missing SFX for some condition fields (e.g. radiation)
Fixed explosives damaging the player from too far away
Fixed that when undocking too quickly after a repair operation, health value was set to current animation value instead of target value (looked like ship getting damaged after undocking)
Fixed an issue where the camera would continue shaking after a sequence had been started
Fixed a bug that an empty ship couldn't be sold, claiming that there is no cargo space to transfer
UI: Fixed potential memory and rendering order issues when opening pause menu multiple times
UI: Fixed some issues regarding device charges when displayed within an inventory slot
Weâve got good news for all pilots out there: Another small update is coming in hot, fixing the pesky Flak Cannon bug, and some rare mission blockers, as well as bringing various performance improvements. Read on for details, or skip to the end for the full update changelog!
Performance Optimizations
EVERSPACE 2 is a beast of a game, and weâre continuing to look for ways to make it easier on playersâ hardware. With this patch, the development team has made headway in optimization improvements in a variety of areas! A few examples are:
Solar flares now use a single sample occlusion check instead of a full render target
Ship dealer showroom ships now initialize with ticking disabled
Weâve disabled global clip plane
The mesh emitter spawning for explosion particle systems is deferred
Weâve reduced the number of texture samplers in "structures" base material
Now we plan to continue optimizing EVERSPACE 2 as we continue developmentâmore updates on that to come in further updates.
Flak Bug Squashed
The Flak bug, first reported in our launch build, has been a longtime issue that weâve been attempting to solve internally for quite some time, as you can tell from the massive thread in our Slack. Weâre pleased to report that todayâs patch fixes the issue!
For those whoâve never encountered it, we had a very nasty freeze bug in the game that could occur, although rarely, during intense battles.
We quickly found out that this issue only occurred when using a Flak Cannon, but we couldnât reproduce the bug on our end, not even with save games provided by our community members.
One of our community testers could reproduce the bug quite constantly, though; thanks, Flori!
To isolate the problem, we tried a few code changes and built a new version on our development branch (which almost took us a full day each time), then waited for Flori to test this new build and confirm if it still happened.
As we went through a few iterations of this, we discovered EVERSPACE 2 did not freeze when setting the effects quality in the graphics options from Epic to High, adding yet another layer of complexity to the problem.
Over the course of trying to nail down the source of this issue, we were:
Porting Flak's projectile VFX from Unreal's Cascade to Niagara
Spawning and gunning down thousands of Outlaw Scouts
Excluding that it's not bound to specifically AMD, Nvidia or Intel video cards
Loading countless user save games to find a common denominator
Running a simulation with 100v100 NPC shredding each other with high-fire rate flaks to no avail
Testing with different projectiles, no radial damage, disabled loot drop (that @Erik streamed and wondered why no loot is dropping!) as loot could be physically pushed around by the Flak explosion
Building a shipping build with no radial damage for the Flak
Realigning the build pipeline in order to build a debug build
Over the course of this testing, we discovered:
That it happens outside of High-Risk Areas
We could exclude that it only happens when an Elite dies and regenerates armor at the same time
Noticed that it only happened during the killing blow of an NPC
It was not a framerate issue
As part of this, we dusted off a team member's old low-spec computer from 2015 and tried to reproduce the freeze, and it worked. So, we finally had one machine that we could rely on for chasing the bug. We upgraded its RAM to 32GB and attached two external HDDs to run Visual Studio, did the huge Checkout (~100GB), and started the building process on said old computer to attach a debugger to the local build.
We found out that the underlying issue may have something to do with missile locking because sometimes the game would wait for a response from the code infinitely and freeze.
We added some more checks for when the missile lock jumps to a new target, which seemed to fix the issue. We believe it was probably an already dead and partly deinitialized enemy that was receiving a missile lock, and that somehow led to the freeze because some HUD animation would not play.
We still donât know why this only happened with the Flak and with effects quality set to Epic. But thatâs a mystery to discover another day if, for some reason, this issue pops up again.
Hotfix 1.0.34243
Hotfix 1.0.34243 should now be live on Steam, with GOG to follow later this week. An earlier version of this update 1.0.34068 containing all but the Engine Trail LOD has been submitted through Microsoft for our PC players on that platform.
If you encounter any crashes after installation of this patch, these are very likely due to a download/update problem. If the crash message includes the text "Retry was NOT successful", then this is a clear indication for this. Luckily, this can easily be fixed using the Steam Client's "Verify integrity of game files" functionality. Here's how to: https://help.steampowered.com/en/faqs/view/0C48-FCBD-DA71-93EB
Below, you'll find the complete list of changes included in this hotfix.
Changelog - 1.0.34243
Tweaks
Further performance optimizations
The location "Drake Passage" does not trigger follow-up side missions anymore
Activated ULTs will now continue after a sequence has finished
Bugfixes
Fixed rare freeze that would occur when killing enemies with Flak weapons
Fixed that some conditions would not stack correctly
Fixed the broken state of "Ancient Rune Sockets" caused by saving during the rotation animation of the Ancient Cube
Fixed an issue in side mission "Rips in Space" which prevented its completion
Fixed an issue that denied the players their reward when leaving a job-location
Fixed an issue in main mission "Smoke & Mirrors" which allowed leaving the location despite the ads being played
Fixed that some solved Ancient Runes had a broken collision after re-entering the location or loading a savegame (Also fixes the hit-box problem of the Ancient Rune when fighting the Warden in Forlorn Vale)
Fixed sun lens flares being invisible on "High" or lower effects settings
Fixed NPC engine trail LOD issues
And with that, we wish you a Flak Cannon bug-free journey through the DMZ!
Lee & your dedicated ROCKFISH Games team đđ„đ
Accolades | Best Launch | Shoot For The Stars
Greetings Pilots!
In our last update, we mentioned EVERSPACE 2 has been an amazing success for our studio and today weâre able to share a little more!
TL;DR, watch the EVERSPACE 2 Accolades Trailer!
Over the last few weeks weâve seen a huge influx of new players and long-time Early Access pilots with nearly 10,000 of you playing at the same time at one point! To-date, more than 300,000 EVERSPACE 2 pilots have bought and begun their adventure in our five year project, with an additional 100,000+ players coming in on PC Game Pass. Outside of pure sales and in-game player numbers, there is incredibly strong interest in the game. Weâre seeing demo downloads and wishlists like mad which tells us many space fans have their eyes on EVERSPACE 2 for the future.
Itâs been very exciting to see everyone loving EVERSPACE 2 on social media and streaming platforms! Many of our favorite streamers like CohhCarnage, Skill Up, and ObsidianAnt have been praising EVERSPACE 2, and weâve seen an incredible number of content creators pick up and play on YouTube, Twitch, and elsewhere for the first time.
With outstanding Metacritic and Opencritic aggregate scores, itâs apparent the critics have many positive things to say! Weâve had applause from the media with sites like PC Gamer and Gaming Trend saying things like "Everspace 2 is not Freelancer. It's better" and "...the best space game Iâve played in a very long time." A brilliant write up at VICE along with the follow up Waypoint podcast really shows how excited reviewers can be about the game when it really clicks! All these reviews warm our hearts even when theyâre peppered with a little criticism.
We can clearly call EVERSPACE 2 a commercial and critical success, and thatâs great news for space game fans! As weâve said in the past, weâve begun work on our first major DLC and the team is cooking up something very exciting. It is way too soon to share the details of what theyâre working on, but for now just know that there is more adventure aheadâthe coming expansion will add more star systems, exciting story missions, and, of course, new loot!
Finally, thank you for being an amazing community of space game fans. We couldnât have created EVERSPACE 2 without your support, especially all you pilots who stuck with us through Early Access. đ«Ą
Michael & your dedicated ROCKFISH Games team đ
Legendary Limiting | State of Gamepass | Hotfix 1.0.33633 | In-Progress
Greetings Pilots!
The launch of EVERSPACE 2 has been an amazing success! Weâve never seen so many pilots in-game at one timeâwith more than twice the copies sold compared to our first game during launch week and seven times the number of pilots in space, itâs safe to say that this launch is our best yet! We canât thank you all enough!
Legendaries
Back when we first announced Legendary items in the Ancient Rifts Early Access Update, we said that due to the significantly overpowered and unique natures of these items, weâd be limiting how many can be equipped at one time. Now as more and more players have hit the endgame of EVERSPACE 2, we have been hearing comments about this decision. As we continue development, our teams are discussing if there is a good solution for players who want to use more of them.
The current version of EVERSPACE 2 has only been tested with a maximum of two Legendary items equippedâallowing players to use more than this limit at this time may cause game-breaking bugs, and weâd like to approach any possible expansion of the number of equipable Legendaries with caution. This conversation is ongoing and weâll share more about any changes that come from decisions in future news updates.
A note from our design team explaining some of the thoughts behind the design of Legendary equipment.
Legendaries are not supposed to be just the next rarity after "Superior" like in a lot of other games, but instead, truly special and game-changing items.
We want your hard-earned Starforged Superior items to remain valuable and for you to feel rewarded for finding fun synergies. With that in mind, by only equipping a limited number of legendaries, it pushes players to make the most out of their options. This goes very much in line with the rest of the game's design philosophy, e.g. the player perks requiring you to choose between three options.
There are currently 18 legendaries in the launch version of EVERSPACE 2, with one or two per equipment category. Removing the limitation entirely would mean that many players who have been diving into Ancient Rifts would likely be flying around with the exact same loadout come endgame, "Bird's Nest" for example is currently the only legendary secondary weapon. Partially because of this limitation, we decided to make legendaries properly unique and extremely powerful items you can find in-game today.
We want you to have a good time in the game and be presented with proper challenges regardless of your playtime. And yes, we know that for some of you a "good time" involves obliterating hordes of enemies with god-like powers and invulnerability, but that's something difficult to provide while upholding a proper balance.
Gamepass Version 1.0.33479.0
Our 1.0 launch on PC Gamepass did not go as planned due to a cert error on our end, and weâre working to correct this. The version made available on PC Gamepass was very near to 1.0, but did have some known issues, including certain achievements not triggering, broken plugins affecting features like DLSS and TrackIR, and most notably, how cutscene videos canât be played. Saves created in this version of EVERSPACE 2 on PC Gamepass should have no issues when switching to 1.0.
Today, Microsoft accepted our 1.0.33479.0 version for PC Gamepass and it will be available to players very soon. This build, unfortunately, still contains a few of the current video issues that will be fixed in a hotfix update. Today, weâre submitting our latest build (details below), which we are confident will pass, bringing PC Gampass players fully up to par with version 1.0 of EVERSPACE 2.
Weâre sincerely sorry about the delay. It is a fairly complex process with many changes under the hood since our last submission to full(!) certification for the Microsoft Store five years ago. We will continue to update on this topic on Discord and our social media accounts.
Hotfix 1.0.33633
Thank you to everyone who has reported an issue, especially if it was done so in our Steam Community Hub bug reporting area. Todayâs minor update brings a number of requested fixes and tweaks to existing features.
Please note that we have not yet been able to find and fix the cause for the quite nasty and elusive "Flak Crash/Freeze". We are still investigating and hope to be able to release another hotfix for the issue soon. We cannot entirely confirm, but it may help to play in DirectX 11 instead of 12 to get rid of the problem for now.
You can find the full changelog below:
Changelog - 1.0.33633
Tweaks
Further performance optimizations
Tweaked Faction Battles in Drake that could be lost within seconds
Integrated localization changes suggested by Crowdin community
UI: Added Unreal Engine logo to startup screens
Bugfixes
Fixed that main missions stopped after completing "Blakemore's Wrath" if continuing from an auto-save that was created right after mission completion. (Players affected by this can now dock to homebase and the follow-up mission will start.)
Fixed main mission blocker in "Crash and Burn" when managing to quickly undock from Ships & Supplies before the "undock" task was activated
Added missing "Change Compare Item" default binding ("Left Trigger") for Gamepad Scheme A
Updated one of the "vision" videos which still was an older version before
Fixed that "Show Current Gamepad Bindings" screen was empty for "custom" bindings
Fixed that achievements could fail to register when two or more achievements were unlocked at the same time
Fixed that force feedback effects did not get triggered when cam shakes were turned off
Fixed that inversion and other axis settings of some axes (especially when used with modifier buttons) did not work
Fixed red screen vignette flashing up when repairing hull at low HP
Fixed that in some instances a level up was not triggered even though XP requirements were met
Fixed a crash that was related to the dynamic job system
Fixed an edge case in side mission "Vaultworthy" which blocked the mission progress
Fixed "two drones with one mine" challenge not working with Teleporter's "Parting Gift" mine
Fixed that some bonus attributes were not working for flak cannons
Fixed that the warden in the main mission "Smokes & Mirrors" in Forlorn Vale could not spawn properly, resulting in a blocker
Fixed a missing mission hud marker in side mission "A Custom-Made Error"
Fixed that two "kill from a distance" challenges could not be achieved with flak cannons
Fixed excessive VRAM usage when playing via wine/proton and viewing animated cutscene videos
Fixed FSR2 plugin not being loaded on the Gamepass version
Fixed TrackIR not working on Gamepass due to missing NPClient.dll
Fixed that an intended loot drop at the end of Battle Support events did not occur
Fixed that in rare cases the Ceremonial Drone was still present at the end of Side Mission "The Convert"
Fixed that female scientist on BRI Bioplant neither had a name nor portrait assigned
Fixed being able to activate signal decoders in Ancient Rifts
Fixed that a Lava Bomb could be dropped at the 4th Socket before the 3rd in Side Mission "Gang Wars II"
Fixed an issue in first mission stage of "Parasite" side mission in which all awoken ships must be destroyed
Added missing dismantling quality bonus attributes to legendary cargo units
UI: Fixed that tutorial boxes could not be dismissed using keyboard or gamepad in some cases
UI: Fixed that ships at homebase could be changed in customization screen which could break ship layout in some cases
UI: Fixed that modify show preview action was active after modifying an item sometimes, even though it should be disabled
UI: Fixed a bug that multiple modify operations could be executed right after another in some cases
UI: Fixed that menu header credits delta amount could get stuck during animation
In-Progress
As the team works on coming PC updates and our console release, weâve got a number of other projects on the go! The EVERSPACE 2 digital soundtrack is in production as is a very hefty artbook; more on both of those soon. We are exploring bringing French and Japanese voice acting to EVERSPACE 2. As it takes some time to find 20+ talents, record the four-hour-long script, edit recordings, add SFX, and implement the sound files in-game, we expect this new V/O will be added either in the free update or alongside our console release this summer.
Physical rewards for our Kickstarter backers are in production and we expect to be able to start delivering items around or shortly after our console release. We are working with as many European and North American manufacturers as possible to reduce potential shipping delays. Weâll share more on this front with a Kickstarter Update in the near future.
Thatâs all from our side today! See you pilots in space!
Lee & your dedicated ROCKFISH team đđ„đ
V1.0 Out On PC | Looking Back | Whatâs New in 1.0 | Outlook | Scope Changes
Pilots, brace for impact! Launch day is here!
After more than five years of development, with over two years in Early Access, v1.0 is finally ready to download on Steam, GOG, and the Microsoft Windows Store! What a ride itâs been⊠and weâre not done yet! More on that below!
Weâve put together an absolutely amazing EVERSPACE 2 PC Launch Trailer. Longtime EVERSPACE 2 players might spot new scenes in already-seen areas. Letâs see if you catch them all.
With 1.0, weâre adding the final chapter of the campaign, which lets you explore the new star system Khione, unlock tier 4 ships, find the best trading deals for commodities, and face new bosses, plus a whole host of other neat additions. But before you start a new game (strongly recommended) and delve in, letâs stop for a moment and take a look back at the very beginning to appreciate just what an insane journey weâve been together on.
Looking Back
Boy, oh, boy did we look young⊠In fact, things started even earlier than August 2019. Our Creative Director Uwe created the EVERSPACE 2 page on our internal documentation system, Confluence, on January 26, 2017. However, pre-production started in November 2017 when the entire team sat down together to define the core features of the massive game weâd all be working on for the next six-ish yearsâreally amazing to see that pretty much everything that we envisioned back then made it into the final game:
For those of you with really good eyes, hereâs the high-level concept, last updated June 30, 2020, mostly due to changes in the story synopsis (SPOILER WARNING):
Now, reading through my interview with Gamesindustry.biz right after the 2019 announcement about âEverspace 2: Rockfish's not so difficult second albumâ again, I do have to smile, I was NOT wrong. Piece-by-piece over the last few years, EVERSPACE 2 has fallen into place. Throughout development, weâve had articles published on all our favorite sites, seen amazing content creators show EVERSPACE 2 to space fans all over the globe, and read through fantastic suggestions from the community, much of which helped us shape the game as we headed towards 1.0. Throughout, the team has released update after update containing massive new star systems, new ships, additional companions, story and side quests, more languages, gameplay features, and so much more.
Not to say that we didnât have the occasional hiccup. While we had massive success on Kickstarter, it was a very tight photo finishâso close that the top German media outlet had us written off already! But beyond any stumbles, we had a dozen pumping gameplay trailers, 150+ game dev streams, a global #1 selling Early Access launch, six major content updates, and a massive GamePass deal! Now here we are!
This is a humbling moment for our entire team; weâre incredibly proud of what weâve accomplished and extremely grateful for all the amazing support weâve received from our fantastic community. So thanks again! We could not have done this without you!
New Star System
Khione, the new and final star system in EVERSPACE 2, is all about frozen water, from vast iceteroid fields and massive space glaciers to ice caves deep underground. As if that environment wasnât harsh enough, the systemâs cold sun emits devastating solar flares that deplete shields in no time in locations close to the regionâs central star. This makes the new treasure hunt mechanic particularly interesting, as pilots need to take cover from those bursts to get around while following specific electromagnetic pulse signals.
Final Story Chapter
Pilots whoâve played every story mission in EVERSPACE 2 so far still have a ways to go. The plot leads back to Drake, where you must convince another companion to join your party. His special combat ability will come in very handy in large-scale battles of the final main missions. Before Adam gathers all his allies for the final fight, heâll be stranded in the new Khione system and has to figure out a way back all by himself. This is also where heâll be confronted with his past, the very place where everything began.
New Boss Fights
As weâve teased in the PC Launch Trailer, there are new boss fights in EVERSPACE 2 to go along with the story's final chapter. These unique challenges will throw everything youâve learned so far back at you and even introduce new mechanics at the same time. These are our favorite moments in the game; the whole team is particularly excited to see how you all handle these. Let us know in Discord and the Steam community hub, but please do use spoiler tags!
New Legendaries
It just wouldnât be the endgame without new Legendary items! Weâve added a bunch of new gear that can be earned as mission rewards and through Ancient Rift challenges. Last week, our Community Ambassador showed off a powerful Legendary shield that spawns two holographic decoys when depletedâthere are a host of other Legendaries for the community to find, each with a unique perk that can completely change the way you play. Thanks to all our backers who provided ideas for this top-tier gear!
New Player Perks
With v1.0, pilots can rise to level 30 and unlock three new player perks. Pilots should be able to complete the campaign at level 25, give or take a few levels depending on gear and skill. This final set of perks is aimed at going super aggressive in Ancient Rifts and was deliberately designed to add some new VFX and SFXâunleash mayhem and let the fireworks begin!
Tier 4 Ships
Investing in Tareenâs Ship Dealer perks will provide access to the highest tier ships at the ship dealer at Kato Palace in Prescott Starbase. Weâve still got a few models in the worksâwatch out for those in the free update coming later this year.
Commodity Trading
A much-asked-for feature over the course of development has been improved Commodity Trading. Weâve added features in 1.0 that help make the universeâs market seem more alive. Different trade goods now have varying values in different places. Once youâve figured out a few trade runs, earning credits can now be easier than ever.
Nightmare Difficulty
Some pilots wanted an even greater challenge, and weâre happy to give it to them, BUT theyâll have to finish EVERSPACE 2 first to unlock it. Nightmare difficulty cranks enemy stats way up, so beware, but with this risk comes great reward. Players on Nightmare will occasionally see Legendary gear that is usually only found in Ancient Rifts drop during regular play.
We know that some pilots also wanted New Game+, but that has never been a viable option because it would simply be impossible to balance properly due to the endless combinations of builds and loadouts pilots can have after beating the campaign. We know itâs not the same, but we hope Nightmare mode satisfies some folks asking for New Game+.
What Comes Next?
Weâve made no secret that there will be more EVERSPACE 2. Weâve got big plans, but for now, letâs talk about the year ahead.
First up, now that 1.0 is in the hands of all you PC players, our immediate focus is to ensure there are no reports of critical or game-breaking bugs. In the event there are any, or we see a slew of fixes we can make in a short timeframe, weâll release a patch to take care of the problem.
Beyond any immediate hotfix needs (the game is in a great state, so we donât anticipate a need for a hotfix, but EVERSPACE 2 is a very complex game, after all), weâll be turning our sights to release on Xbox Series X/S and PlayStation 5. We donât have a release date to share just yet, but we are on track for launch on these platforms this summer. Weâve partnered with Maximum Games to produce a physical edition for both platforms, which will come in a Steelbook case along with a small artbook and digital soundtrack download.
As development progresses on the console edition, weâll be planning out the contents of EVERSPACE 2âs major free update and what will be in our first paid expansion.
Major update 1 will bring any additional voiced languages we produce for the console edition to PC and new gear, bug fixes, and more customization options. The team is busy planning this out, and weâll be sure to share more on this ahead of time.
The German government has been very generous with its new grant program focused on supporting the video game industry in our country. Back in January, we shared that we were given 1.65 million Euros to help produce the first major expansion for EVERSPACE 2, and we plan to match that with our own funds. While our creative team isnât yet ready to share what this new adventure will be, safe to say this will not be a small expansion.
Scope Changes
Now, with all those great additions, we also need to talk about features that didnât make it into the final game. This might ruffle some feathers, but this is always part of a multi-year-long development where things can change due to unforeseeable technical issues, budget constraints, or changes in the creative vision.
While EVERSPACE 2 became a much bigger game than we initially anticipated, there are still things we would have loved to have more of or be included at all, like more item sets, more catalysts, cockpit customization, and difficulty settings affecting not just stats.
While additional item sets and catalysts are planned for the free major update later this year, we decided to add the option to change the tint of the cockpit windows and engine trails as well as put a pilot model body in the pilot seat even though we now might get complaints that the character is not animatedâbut it looks much better when taking screenshots, so we think thatâs a significant plus overall. The visual impact of the external effects is far greater than we could have done with mere cockpit customization.
In the original EVERSPACE, we had difficulty settings that went way beyond tweaking enemy hit points and damage output, so we wanted to have that in the sequel, too. However, since we dropped the linear roguelike formula for an open-world action RPG approach with looter-shooter mechanics and nine player ship classes instead of three, game balancing became by an order of magnitude more complex, so we had to cut a few corners here. However, weâre very happy with the end result, so not a loss, at least in our book.
However, the biggest change is that the Leviathan and the Dreadnought that we teased with concept art will not come with the free update but the paid expansion in the second half of 2024. Both have been rough ideas at the beginning that turned out to be really hard to implement in a meaningful way without having a proper storyline in place and also come with proper boss mechanics and/or worthwhile replayability. In other words, instead of adding just two very expensive set pieces to an already meaty base game, we rather turn them into iconic endgame activities in the paid expansion that weâll be working on for at least another year (itâs also the only way to make those part of the German government grant covering 40% of the development cost of the paid expansion as their rules say we must not have started with development of whatâs going to be part of the new product).
The latest change is that we wonât have native Linux support even though weâve committed to that many times. We did spend quite a lot of time and effort on a native Linux build. Still, it turned out that due to the broken and incomplete nature of the Vulkan implementation in Unreal Engine 4, our graphically complex game runs at 50% - 80% performance compared to simply running the DX12 Windows version in Proton. At the same time, some features like SSGI cause frequent crashes due to video RAM leaks.
After talking to our friends at Epic Games, thereâs little hope that these issues will be fixed in UE4 since all their focus is now on UE5. As probably everyone will understand, fixing source code of the engine ourselves is completely out of question for usâeven if we had the development resources, it would make future updates even more cumbersome as weâd have to build a custom engine while maintaining two separate code bases (a painful lesson we had to learn from native Linux support in the first EVERSPACE).
However, weâre still working on optimizing the experience using Proton for Linux pilots nonetheless. Any backers who pledged on the PC version not being happy with this solution can request a full refund on Kickstarter, no questions asked (refunded keys will be revoked). Native Mac OS support is next on our list, followed by Steam Deck optimization.
Last but not least, we also have a few features that the community begged us to have in the game over and over again, but we turned those down for various technical and/or game design reasons; until we didnât, and now they are in the v1.0 release: the aforementioned pilot body in the cockpit, naming saves (on PC), and the possibility to continue old saves even though we cannot offer technical support and pilots would miss out on certain content/features that have been added between the Early Access launch and nowâuse at your own risk, you have been warned!
With all that out of the way, enjoy the full changelog below!
Changelog - 1.0.33479
Features
Added new main missions (completing the storyline)
Added markers that can be placed in locations to tag points of interest
Added Tier-IV player ships
Added backer rewards: Legendary items
Added backer rewards: Stranded Pilots
Added backer rewards: Special backer-compiled ships with unique names are now occasionally offered at ship dealers
Added backer rewards: NPC names chosen by backers (used in "Hitman" jobs)
Added new enemy type: Outlaw Teleport Drone
Replaced all remaining Text-To-Speech audio with proper English voice recordings
Added German voice recordings
Added Color Vision Deficiency modes
Made keybinding screen navigable with controllers and updated look
Added a few more stats to the data/player stats screen
Added option to configure auto-aim strength for mouse+keyboard (previously only available for gamepad/joystick)
Added better commodity availability, new price ranges, stack sizes, and price information for improved trading opportunities
Added a feature to acquire jobs occasionally on the map
Re-enabled collisions and atmospheric drag in supralight
"Nightmare" difficulty is now unlocked after having completed the storyline
Added force feedback effects (vibration) for controllers
Manual save games can now receive a custom name
Added loot drop at the end of a faction battle event
Added more situational dialogues
Added more variations to NPC pilots' background chatter
UI: Added animations and transitions to ingame, main, and pause menu
UI: Added difficulty selection menu when starting a new game
UI: Added savegame info widget to load and save screen
UI: Added gamepad controls scheme selection when starting a new game with gamepad
UI: Added new screenshots gallery for every "The Story So Far" plot point entry
UI: Added start screen before the main menu
UI: Added team credits to the main menu
UI: Added "Mark all as read" feature to data tab and codex subcategories
UI: Added "Mark all as seen" feature to crafting tab affecting crafting resources and blueprints
UI: Added gamepad controls overview action to pause menu when opened with gamepad
Tweaks
Replaced or refined all ingame sequences
Tweaked some main and side mission base levels and XP rewards
Levels of NPCs in random supralight encounters are now determined by the average location level of the system region in which they appear
Don't offer jobs with difficulty higher than the highest current location level of the respective system
Random encounters except for shooting challenge now won't grant XP anymore (depending on type renown and/or credits are given)
Time-sensitive events and puzzles are now made easier on lower difficulties
Sort missions in missions screen depending on the time of activation or completion
Black Market Dealer now sells Signal Decoders
Tweaked mesh, cockpit window, and trail colors of elite and normal G&B fighters to distinguish them further
Hardened ore patches, plasma harvesters, and location challenges will now count toward the location progression
Improved plasma harvesters' visibility and interaction
Time is now slowed down when selecting equipment via gamepad or when key is assigned (can be turned off in options)
"Play It Safe" perk will now only trigger with warfare devices
"Relentless" perk is now based on the number of installed support devices
Register resource for map info the moment it is registered by the ship's sensor, not only when mining it
Improved Flak radial damage hit registration
Slightly reduced number of enemies during "Scavenger Baiting" random encounter
Increased amount of attackers at Nepthys Plains during "Spares & Scrap"
Enemies in Ancient Rifts now show an "ancient-possessed" graphical effect
Balancing: Increased Flak energy consumption and slightly decreased fire rate to compensate for improved efficiency
Balancing: Reduced Vindicator drone base damage
Balancing: Reduced Homing Missile fire rate
Balancing: Slightly reduced Gunship Coil Gun Turret base damage
Balancing: Ancient Rift stage mutators are now stacking
Balancing: Reduced Annihilator explosion delay and increased its infection rate
Markers are now added to the last two remaining targets of a "destroy base" task
Prevent stacking of consumable effects by applying a cooldown after use of at least 3 seconds or the consumable's effect duration
Redeemer turrets are now immune to EMP
Photo Mode camera can no longer clip through geometry
Added pilot model for third-person view
Added optional task to tutorial mission to use the cruise drive
Lots of performance improvements
Axis dead zones and sensitivities are now working on "logical action axes" instead of physical ones (different settings can, for example, now be used for the right stick for "Pitch" and "Camera Pitch")
Let AI ignore player during jump gate activation and also grant invincibility
Spawn some Elite Squad ships instead of regular G&B ships during "Into The Forest" side mission, as they are mentioned in dialogue
Show consumables in HUD with low opacity when they are disabled (just like for devices)
Removed "work in progress" and "early access" banners
UI: Optimized ship customization navigation, including animations and sfx
UI: Customization tab - Locked decal color selection as long as no decal was selected
UI: Added mainframe expansion invest info glow animation
UI: Removed modify action for legendary items since they can't be modified anyway
UI: Added, tweaked, and fixed numerous menu sound effects
UI: Added currently selected difficulty to pause menu and game over screen
UI: Added new indication marker logic for shop tab to better highlight mission-relevant items during campaign
UI: Improved widescreen support for many ingame menu tabs and sub-screens
UI: Re-enabling "new" indicator animations
UI: Removed crafting inventory from modal crafting widget
UI: Enabled multi-item select for loot container screen
UI: Implicitly turn on companion perk tracking after upgrade in case it was turned off
UI: Added "new" indicators for reward items (job and renown) that were just claimed
UI: Added feature to get back from a data subpage by clicking on the data tab again while it's opened (instead of pressing back)
UI: Removed "shine" icon animation from already unlocked device items
UI: "Remove level restriction" option is now pre-selected for restricted items when opening the modal modify widget
UI: "Buy and equip" of level-restricted items won't show an options dialog first but an error banner right away
UI: Optimized button hold durations in ingame menu and consistently block input while held
UI: Changed some default key bindings of ingame menu actions to be consistent across all menu screens
UI: Gamepad - Increased dead zone for right analog stick to avoid unintentional scrolling
UI: Fading background music when loading a savegame or going back to main menu
Bugfixes
Fixed that turrets of revived enemies would still attack the player
Restrict opening of ingame menu while being pulled into a rift
Fixed a problem in which temporary "Lost Cargo" job locations could show up in space again as invalid locations shortly after having left them after task completion
Fixed that Destabilizer, EMP, and Web Missile durations were not reduced when fired automatically by special weapon attribute on critical primary weapon hits
Fixed cases in which during an "Item Retrieval" or "Destroy Base" job a HIVE line could play even though HIVE wasn't unlocked
Fixed that Fusion Hook could not be used when having no primary weapons installed
Fixed async-firing weapons sometimes omitting a fire sound
Fixed Outlaw Damage Boosters applying too many damage buffs that would not get removed after the booster was destroyed
Fixed proximity mines launched from weapons restoring in a broken state after leaving and re-entering locations
Fixed EMP not disabling front shields of Zurilia Bombers
Fixed that there was auto-aiming on a "center point" of a jellyfish swarm
Fixed some camera issues that could occur when switching between ship dealer and hangar screen on stations
Fixed that inertia dampeners could be turned off/on remotely steered drones which made ramen drones easy to steer
Fixed that during "The Emissary" the emissary's Corvette was invisible when loading a save that was made while docked
Fixed that "lock target" tutorial could remain onscreen indefinitely if enemies in tutorial were killed too fast
Fixed that damage bars were sometimes longer than max hitpoints bars
Fixed that when encountering Coalition units while having accepted but not finished the "Becoming Invisible" side mission they were friendly, and their HUD markers were hidden
Fixed that for neutral low-level "harmless" enemies that turn hostile a wrong "harmless" marker (a square) was shown
Fixed that shield bar in cockpit was sheared after a shield break
Fixed wrong opacity of health bars of damaged enemies that are neither hovered nor targeted and less than 2km away
Fixed that Kato Palace was showing "jobs" indicator at HUD marker and map info widget even before job board was unlocked there
Fixed that location entry dialogues for unknown signals would repeat for manual saves made at the location after task was finished
Fixed that it was possible to save during some still active tasks at random encounter locations
Fixed that one of the locations in which The Flying Dutchess could be called was missing the shop indicator on the map
Fixed that button labels for "Left Ctrl" and "Pg Up" where overlapping button
Fixed that "input smoothing" setting in menu had "percentage bars" shown, although it is an on/off toggle
Fixed axis inversion problems when using the right stick with left-handed gamepad schemes
Fixed that menu was invisible when having opened pause menu on top of ingame menu and adjusting gamma, and quickly closing the pause menu
Fixed a problem when trying to bind Gamepad Left/Right Trigger to menu actions that are internally defined as axes with two actions for positive and negative scale
Fixed a few typos
Fixed a few cases in which dialogue text did not match recordings
Fixed some audio issues related to the ship's engine SFX
Fixed enemy-mounted turrets not receiving damage buff from lunacy in Ancient Rifts
Fixed focus loss with gamepad when opening a loot container right after another has been closed
Fixed missing ship dealer offer refresh in case there are multiple in one single location
Fixed that the autonomous cargo perk did not work in some cases right after upgrading Tareen's storage extension perk
Fixed explicit reset of all active device cooldowns after docking
UI: Fixed numerous overlapping text issues when using languages other than English
UI: Fixed multiple alignment issues and inconsistencies across all screens
UI: Fixed that the ingame menu could become invisible or transparent in some cases
UI: Fixed that the location info widget could flicker or resize in an ugly way right after hovering a location in the map screen
UI: Fixed that photo mode button was shown in pause menu during supralight even though the feature is not available there
UI: Fixed a bug where perk actions like "invest" could be opened repeatedly even from other tabs
UI: Fixed that scrolling with mouse sometimes wasn't working properly in data sub-tabs
UI: Fixed a bug that crafting a lot of items through the inventory tab could lead to memory issues
UI: Fixed that perks could be shown as completable even though resources were still missing
UI: Fixed that the player perk unlock banner did not open the player perks panel but companions instead
UI: Fixed a bug that prevented players from claiming job rewards even though there was enough cargo space available
UI: Fixed that restricted items could not be properly marked in expand cargo view due to accidentally showing "equip" action
UI: Fixed a bug where a broken compare info widget could be triggered for devices in some cases
UI: Fixed that the discard confirmation modal widget in the options menu was triggered twice and led to wrong destination after confirm
UI: Fixed that the "craft missing components" action was shown for locked blueprints as well
UI: Fixed that affordability of items within shop tab wasn't updated in some cases
UI: Fixed that setting waypoints to under-leveled HRAs was possible using double mouse click
UI: Fixed that the game over screen was interactable even before it became fully visible
UI: Fixed that some items restock costs could be negative in some cases, which led to unavailability of the whole restock functionality
UI: Fixed multiple issues and inconsistencies of the action buttons within the tutorial box
UI: Fixed confusing UI states in case a blueprint was found and shown before crafting was even unlocked
UI: Fixed some visual hiccups of the item info widget right after selecting a new item slot in some cases
UI: Fixed a bug regarding the "equip" action that was accidentally shown for unqualified items in ship cargo
UI: Fixed that the location info widget wasn't properly updated when reopening the map in some cases
UI: Fixed that the scrolling indication handle of a scrollbar could be shown as distorted
UI: Fixed some issues regarding display of already-known resources in the crafting inventory
Thatâs a lot of changes! We hope you all decide to create new save files and begin EVERSPACE 2 from the start because thereâs so much weâve added since our original Early Access launch. Experience new cutscenes, added V/O, new puzzles, and most importantly, MORE LOOT as you play through the final version of EVERSPACE 2âs story.
Join us for a Launch Day live stream on Twitch and YouTube, today from 11am to 1pm PT / 2pm to 4pm ET / 8pm to 10pm CET đđ„đ
Michael and your dedicated ROCKFISH Games Team
EVERSPACE 2 Launch Day Times
Greetings, Pilots!
Since weâve had so many of you ask, this is a quick post to share that EVERSPACE 2 will release April 6 at 10am PT / 1pm ET / 6pm GMT / 7pm CET.
We hope youâll all join us for our Launch Day stream starting at 11am PT, but if youâre busy playing EVERSPACE 2, thatâs alright too. ;)
Watch out for further communications including a 1.0 changelog at launch!
Back to it! See you in the skies!
Lee & your dedicated ROCKFISH Games Team
Linux & Mac Support | Save Game Migration
Greetings, pilots!
ROCKFISH Games Communications & PR Director, Lee Guille here! You'll see me pop up between big announcements as we continue to share development updates leading up to launch and beyond.
Itâs fantastic to see you all hyped up about the April 6 release date and that amazing trailer put together by the team! Diving into the comments on Steam, Kickstarter, and our Discord, we pulled out a few frequently asked questions that we wanted to get answers out for.
Will Linux have full support on day 1?
We know we have a number of excited and vocal EVERSPACE 2 Linux fans in the community. Ensuring the game is playable natively on Linux is high on our priority list. Right now, Linux support is planned to be included at 1.0 launch, but we do want to caveat that by saying game development sometimes throws unexpected curveballs that can be difficult to field as a small teamâwe had to learn that painfully from the Linux version of the predecessor, but overall Unreal Engine 4âs Linux support is in a much better state, now.
Of course, supporting the much larger audience of PC players is our top priority as we move towards launch. The team will be spending the next few weeks working on that front before shifting focus to Linux support. We are reasonably confident in hitting the 1.0 date with Linux, but will update if that changes.
Ok! But what if Iâm playing on a Mac?
Similar to Linux, we are aiming to support MacOS players when we launch at 1.0 on April 6. The team is still digging into optimization, which OS versions will be supported, and needs on these platforms. While we donât anticipate MacOS support slipping from the 1.0 date, we cannot rule that possibility out completely. More news on this closer to launch.
Whatâs the deal with Steam Deck?
Currently, weâre targeting full Steam Deck support for 1.0, but weâve still got work to do. At this time, full Steam Deck support ranks just below Linux and MaxOS in priority since it wasnât one of Kickstarter promises. In case work is not completed by 1.0, it will be rolled out soon after.
EVERSPACE 2 has not been fully optimized for Steam Deck yetâwe need to well⊠optimize it further. In addition to thorough testing, we have many changes to make such as adjusting the on-screen text size (thatâs a big one), changes to the UI that currently shows mouse and keyboard/controllers, and plenty of other little things that would create an ideal handheld experience.
All that said, Steam Deck owners can pick up and play EVERSPACE 2 right now, and theyâll have a pretty OK time. âPretty OKâ is not the quality bar weâre aiming for though, so more work needs to happen. Naturally, the Steam Deck version will also benefit from general performance optimization that are currently in the works, so we expect to be able to share good news soon.
News on the save game wipe!
Weâve been taking in all the feedback that has been shared by the community on Steam, Kickstarter, and our Discord. How and if we can support Early Access save games has been a long running conversation here in the studio.
For good reason, weâve said there will be a save wipe at v1.0. Mainly we approach this from a technical standpoint as old saves can become incompatible when making major changes to the game during development. Also, overall game balance changes can impact old saves as new content is added and old content modified, plus you could miss out on content that was added to earlier areas in the game. For instance, depending on how far someone has already played through the campaign, some of the recently announced Visions will not play for them.
While the latter would still be an issue, Andi, one of our senior game designers and gameplay programmers whoâs been with us for almost 20 yearsâwhere did the time goâcame up with a solution to bridge the gap for saves between Early Access and 1.0, so now you will be able to continue playing from the point you left off before April 6th. Using a pre-1.0 Early Access save game will likely create bugs or cut off access to some achievements during that playthrough.
FAIR WARNING: EVERSPACE 2 has changed quite a bit over the course of Early Access, so by not starting a new playthrough at 1.0, youâll miss out on all kinds of content and loot. For example, mainframe components added in an update wonât appear in containers youâve previously looted. This means youâll never get them in that playthrough and youâll have frustrating moments as you hunt through systems looking for loot that your map completion tracker says should be there.
TL;DR: Youâll be able to continue with any of your saves, but we strongly recommend creating a new save game at 1.0, especially if you are planning any sort of completionist run.
Work in progress in-game messaging. Not final text or layout.
Old save games will be marked in-game and when theyâre loaded, youâll see a message similar to the above (this is a WIP example), so that you know for certain that the save game you are playing may have issues related to it.
Thatâs everything we have for now. Weâve got lots to do and a deadline to hit. See you in space!
Lee & your dedicated ROCKFISH Games Team đđȘđœ
V1.0 Release Date | Price Increase | Full Release Content | Post-Launch Roadmap
Greetings, pilots!
Itâs official: EVERSPACE 2 will be released for PC on April 6, 2023! Weâve been in Early Access for a little over two years at this point, and in just a few short months, space pilots from around the globe will be able to experience the entirety of the biggest (space) game (that anyone at) the ROCKFISH Games team has ever worked on!
The Road From Early Access to Full Launch And what a journey itâs been!
After a massive Early Access launch with 92% positive reviews right out of the gate and #1 Steam top seller spot during that week, we released six major content updates containing star systems worth of locations to explore, ships to acquire, puzzles and challenges to overcome, and more. Throughout the last few years, weâve iterated on core gameplay mechanics, UI/UX, world design, and overall game performance through a series of major updates. Weâve added new features, ships, entire star systems, several companions, high-quality voice acting, and other content while listening to community feedback. Through it all, weâve received incredibly valuable feedback from our dedicated community of players which has allowed us to make significant improvements to the game.
Naturally, with more and more pilots taking a seat in the cockpit, we also got more wishes that either donât fit our vision and/or are not within our budget, and we know itâs impossible to please everyone. That said, weâre super happy with where the game is currently at, and weâre confident that an incredibly polished 1.0 is very nearly ready for its full release!
Price Increase on February 20th
We were in Early Access for longer than originally planned. Yes, COVID and the entire team working from home was one reason, but also because we were able to bring EVERSPACE 2 to PC Game Pass allowing for a bigger development budget. We took the significant revenue from that deal and decided to create a bigger game, packed with more enemies, areas, loot, story content, and features. This financial boost and the extra time have allowed us to craft a more polished experience for players on all platforms.
Thanks to the Game Pass deal with our dear friends at Microsoft, we were able to add Visions to the gameâamong other improvements and additions. In these short story beats, Adam experiences dreamlike moments that add another connecting layer between events in the predecessor and the story of EVERSPACE 2.
Given the significant amount of new content and improvements that have been added to the game during its time in Early Access as well as the total scope and quality of the finished game, we made the decision over a year ago to raise the price a few weeks before the v1.0 release. This will allow us to still have a small discount at launch, but it will not be lower than the gameâs current Early Access price and likely wonât be for some time. Furthermore, there wonât be any sales before weâll raise the price from $39.99 to $49.99 / âŹ38.99 to âŹ49.99 on February 20, so now is the best time to get into the game for a lower price before the full release!
What Will 1.0 Look Like?
At 1.0, players focused on completing the main story missions and who only explore a few side missions can complete the game in 30 hours. To fully complete all the side quests, explore every region, solve every puzzle, finish every racing event, gain all reputation bonuses, and wrap up all the other odds and ends, completionists will be looking at more than 90 hours of playtime. Weâre looking forward to seeing any and full % speedruns after 1.0 launches!
When we launch in full, the game will be voiced in English and German, and include localization in 13 languages including English, Brazilian Portuguese, Czech, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Russian, Simplified and Traditional Chinese, and Spanish.
As the team works on adding more enemies, rewards, equipment types, polished cinematics, customization options, new boss fights, and more for the 1.0 launch weâll bug fixing as much as possible before release. Please continue to report issues you encounterâour QA team is working with the team to crush bugs as quickly as possible.
Sneak-peek of Khione, the for-now final explorable system coming with the v1.0 release.
Sharp-eyed players may notice that the map currently shows eight star systems in Early Access. Many of you have already visited Ceto, Union, Zharkov, KhaĂŻt Nebula, and Drake. At launch, our sixth and final star system, Khione, will open to continue our story.
Having eight systems was our original plan, but we decided to pack a fewer number of star systems with more explorable areas so those vast reaches of space feel less empty. The final event of the campaign will occur in a hand-crafted location for cinematic and dramaturgic reasons in Aethon (no spoilers), and it will not be an explorable system (yetâŠ). Youâll still have 100+ handcrafted locations to explore as promised in our Kickstarter. In fact, we exceed the number of hand-crafted locations weâd planned to create by 20%, but just with a slightly different layout. The map will be updated at 1.0 accordingly.
Post-Launch Roadmap
Weâve talked a little about future free DLC/updates and a paid expansion during our weekly streams without going into too much detail. We wanted to focus on nailing the v1.0 release first and living up to our initial promises before getting carried away by talking about upcoming content. That said, weâre happy to share that weâre planning to have a free content update in the second half of 2023 and that the creative team has already started working on a major expansion, scheduled for mid-2024.
Another banger screenshot of what pilots can look forward to in the final chapter of the campaign.
Excited about launch? Want to know more? Make sure to tune into our weekly live streams as Erik, our community ambassador, continues his latest play session where heâs just recently started a new save file to show off missions, locations, and more that have changed over the course of Early Access.
Weâre continuing to stream on Fridays, showing off content from the latest EVERSPACE 2 dev build on the ROCKFISH Games Twitch and YouTube, this Friday from 8:00 pm to 10:00 pm CET / 2:00 pm to 4:00 pm ET / 11:00 am to 1:00 pm PT. Join us and ask your questions directly to the dev team!
Thatâs everything from us for now. Weâll see you in Cluster 34! Michael & your dedicated ROCKFISH Games Team đđȘđœ
