The Steam Winter Sale is here and we salute all you deal hunters whove held out until the end of 2023 to pick up games youve had your eye on. The ROCKFISH Games team is about to head off for a much-deserved winter break. Before we go, we wanted to share a studio update!

This year has had us busy! After more than two years in Early Access, EVERSPACE 2 launched on PC to critical and community acclaim and we followed shortly on consoles. The Armed & Dangerous Update made news and super-fans fell in love with our digital artbook and soundtrack. Development on EVERSPACE 2 isnt done yetWeve got big plans for 2024!

Without support from fans, our journey through the stars would not have been the same. We truly value the feedback and praise the EVERSPACE community has shared over the course of development and we hope our frequent updates adding content, tweaking gameplay, and making community-requested changes are appreciated. This holiday season, we ask that you leave a review on our games or those of another indie studioevery single positive note means the world to independent studios like ours.



[h3]EVERSPACE Series Discounts[/h3]
Everything EVERSPACE is on sale! Both of our games and all of our expansion and DLC content is discounted for the Winter Sale. If you already own an EVERSPACE base game, make sure to check out the bundle deals to maximize your discount.

Winter Sale Deals:
EVERSPACE 2

• EVERSPACE 2 - 40% off
  
• EVERSPACE 2 Official Soundtrack - 20% off
  
• The Art of EVERSPACE 2 (digital edition) - 20% off
  

• EVERSPACE - 85% off
  
• EVERSPACE: Encounters - 67% off
  
• EVERSPACE: Upgrade to Deluxe Edition - 67% off
  

Greetings pilots!

Its been more than five years since we released EVERSPACE! What a ride its been and were not done yet: EVERSPACE 2 v1.0 launches in just a few weeks on April 6, 2023, and the adventures in the DMZ of Cluster 34 will continue beyond the launch of this sequel. Make sure to follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and to join our Discord for the latest! Definitely check out our major news about the imminent v1.0 release and the story trailer if you havent already:

[previewyoutube=u8m47pGxGaM;full][/previewyoutube]

Now to speak about EVERSPACE specifically, were lowering the price of the game to $19.99 USD, 19.99, 16.99 and adjusting regional pricing globally to best reflect this change. With EVERSPACE 2 on the horizon, wed like to give more pilots the opportunity to pick up the first instalment of the series at an affordable price even when the game is not discounted.

Despite this price drop, in some cases EVERSPACE will be more expensive in a few regions as we examine both Steams recommended price adjustments and regional currency changes over the past year. Part of this is due to people taking advantage of extremely low prices in other regions via VPN. We understand its a way to get a game darn cheap, but this practice has become a significant issue for developers and publishers on Steam including ourselves.

All these changes will go into effect on March 17 at 10am PT/1pm ET/6pm CET. :)

Thats all for now! Weve got a deadline to hit on EVERSPACE 2, so back to work. Thanks for sticking with us for so long!

Michael & your dedicated ROCKFISH Games Team

Greetings, pilots!

The wait is over: the hotly anticipated Summer Update aka Drake: Gang Wars is finally here! Its our most significant Early Access update, adding tons of new things to the game even though were not done yet - therell be one more update later this year before we wrap things up and work on the v1.0 release which is still scheduled for early 2023.

For now, you can enjoy Drake, an all-new star system featuring well over a dozen carefully hand-crafted locations with stunning lava and ice environments, underwater exploration, exciting new enemy types and status effects, brand new challenges and puzzles as well as a three-chapter side quest, introducing daring pilots to the new system, and much more. Have a look at our official release trailer!

[previewyoutube=aGyJxlMMjcE;full][/previewyoutube]

Drake | New Side Missions
Drake is undoubtedly the star (pun intended) of the summer update with its mesmerizing new lava, ice, and underwater locations. These environments not only look darn pretty; they also feature new damage types that players have to deal with on planets and in open space, too.





I think both the lava and ice locations are absolutely awesome. However, I was just blown away when I had to go underwater to disable mines and plant my own explosives in a gigantic, half-sunken space station. I havent seen anything like this in any other game before, and from my own wreck-diving experience I can testify this is precisely how it looks and feels. Granted, I wasnt scuba diving on another water planet, but you get me. Gosh, I wished we had even more underwater content, but our team already said we might be revisiting those locations, again at v1.0; fingers crossed!



You get to Drake via a side quest you must pick up from Elek at the Homebase in Ceto. Its quite a deep side quest, expanding over three missions, and will introduce you to the new system, its most prominent locations, new gameplay mechanics, and three new factions.

New Factions
In Drake, youll have to deal with three new Factions, the Coalition, Retaliators, and Zurilia. They have quite a vicious beef with each other which will escalate into a massive space battle. I dont want to spoil too much but heres some basic info about them.


The Coalition is a faction that veteran pilots probably still remember from Elek, one of the five side characters in the EVERSPACE Encounters expansion. Its loosely named after the Cohhilition community from top streamer CohhCarnage whos a huge fan of the EVERSPACE series and one of our top Kickstarter backers. This time, he even went for the Space Architect pledge, which allowed helping name and design a space station in the game: The massive Letho Star Port, the main hub in Drake you have seen in the trailer, is what Cohh has been working on together with Uwe, our Creative Director. This is also where the three-chapter side quest kicks into gear if you know what I mean when checking out Cohhs logo on his twitch channel.


The next faction youll encounter is another fan-inspired faction, The Zurilia, named after Zurilia, another top-tier Kickstarter backer of ours. They control all locations that are fire-themed. Naturally, they are a pretty hot-headed bunch, and even their ships and gear make good use of some fancy heat-based technology, which can severely damage your ship components.


The third faction is The Retaliators, who control the water/ice-themed locations in Drake. You might expect them to be cool-headed, but they are also aggressive when you enter their territory, attacking with frosty weapons and dealing stun damage to your ship which can have some dire consequences when hit in the heat of a fight. Ok, my puns are not getting any better, but youll get the gist when listening to their dialog. ;)

BTW, since we know that not everyone is a fan of our TTS placeholders, keep in mind the new story content will be voiced at v1.0; the same goes for localization as things are still subject to change, and to make sure that voice-recording and translating text and UI are worthwhile, we need to hit a certain amount of lines.

New Perks
With the new update, we raised the player level cap to 25 and added three new player perks. Pro-tip: Retaliation, reflecting 30% of incoming damage to your attackers, is especially useful when dealing with the new damage types within the Drake system.



Good ol buddy Tareen, also known from the Encounters expansion, received new perks for ship dealers.



Lastly, HIVE also offers a new perk, improving your ability to switch secondaries mid-battle.



High-Risk Area Mutators
High-risk areas have received a major upgrade by adding Mutators into the mix. These expand upon the gameplay variety while creating a higher challenge for those who want to get a taste of what to expect in the upcoming endgame of EVERSPACE 2. And yes, HRA bosses are now a delicious loot piata.


There are a number of positive mutators, like Enemies dropping lots of credits upon death, G&B reinforcements on-site, or Spawn a protector sphere generator, which can be grabbed and used to get immunity to debuffs. On the negative, you might have to deal with Enemies deal area damage upon death, Enemies drop proximity mines upon death, Enemies slowly repair their hull, Two bosses, Enemies are resistant to EMP, Enemies leave behind corrosion fields when killed, and more nasty surprises.

QoL Improvements
Furthermore, the team has been working on several Quality of Life improvements, many of which were community-inspired. For instance, the possibility to craft consumables. But that's not all! You can now craft components from resources, too, so you can build that much-desired Catalyst even though you might not have every single component in place but plenty of others you're welcome!



Tracking required resources for crafting is an all-new feature that goes nicely together with the new resources map mode. Not only will you see right away what resources are still required to make that nifty new piece of equipment, but with one click on the map's submenu, you'll see right away where chances are high to find that precious ore or crystal that's still missing.

Hot-swapping armor was long in the making and a hot community demand, too, so now it's here! Furthermore, some perks like Percussive Maintenance have been overhauled to better work with regenerating armor.

Not really a QoL improvement but very noticeable: Gero, our Sound Director, has implemented significantly improved weapon SFX based on item rarity, giving primaries more oomph and distinction.

Major Rebalancing
With Drake: Gang Wars Early Access pilots are also receiving a massive round of rebalancing based on internal playtests and community feedback, which is one of the main reasons for our open-development approach. Therefore, we highly encourage everyone to start a new game and let us know how the progression/difficulty feels on the Steam forums. Especially around level 10, the difficulty curve should feel much better now. That said, we also want to give all pilots a heads-up that Drake sits at a much higher difficulty level, so you will have to use all your weaponry, consumables, ship devices and mainframe expansions to the fullest while also keeping your gear up to your current player level to succeed. Also, we strongly recommend doing side activities and not just beeline through the story content Drake is no picnic in space!

TrackIR and AMD FSR Support
On the technical side, TrackIR support and AMD FSR have also been added to the game. The implementation of TrackIR was much more complicated than we thought the devil was in the details, as it always is. However, Ingmar, our technical programmer, didnt let go, and were pleased with the result. He was also responsible for implementing AMD FSR and is still working with our friends at AMD on improving the experience with FSR 2.0 further down the road.

Changelog - 0.9.28028
Features

• Added new star system: Drake
  
• Added new side missions
  
• Added new faction: Coalition
  
• Added new enemy faction: Retaliators
  
• Added new enemy faction: Zurilia
  
• Added mutators to high-risk areas
  
• Added crafting of consumables
  
• Added new companion perks
  
• Added new player perks
  
• Increased level cap to 25
  
• Added new music
  
• Added new challenges
  
• Added new consumables
  
• Tier 3 ships are now available at ship dealers
  
• Added new ship modules
  
• Added new decals
  
• Added new weapon sounds
  
• Added new secondary weapon bonus attributes
  
• Added new passives for all ship sub-classes
  
• Added new map mode to show resource deposits
  
• Added new job type in Drake system: "Battle Support"
  
• Added option to enable TrackIR v5
  
• Added option to enable AMD FidelityFX Super Resolution
  
• Added option to hide XP numbers
  
• Added tracking of resources
  
• Added action to craft from an empty equipment slot
  
• Added an info banner when all secrets have been discovered in a location
  
• Added shortcut keys (and bindings) to directly open specific menu pages like "Missions" and "Perks"
  
• Added pre-caching and quick refresh for crafting tab to improve performance
  
• Added proper (gamepad-) navigation for crafting inventory incl. implicit scrolling
  
• Added various new G&B turrets
  

• Armor can now be swapped out at any time
  
• Prevent Flak projectiles from triggering while player is inside damage radius (prevents most cases of accidental self-damage)
  
• Armor hits will now also trigger the "Percussive Maintenance" perk
  
• Consumables now have item rarities assigned to them
  
• Freshly installed primary weapons now start with 0 energy and need to charge first
  
• Potential mining yield display on the star map can now be unlocked earlier with a HIVE perk
  
• Vanguard Time Extender ULT will now leave the ship mostly unaffected by the time dilation
  
• Changed movement pattern and speed of first Outlaw boss' ship so it can be hit easier
  
• Wrecks will now fully repair a Vindicator drone when used
  
• Enemies now have better accuracy when firing at stationary targets
  
• ARC-9000 explosion can now be triggered manually by deactivating the ULT prematurely
  
• The Flying Dutchess is now also offering a handful of ships (via perk)
  
• An alternative set of passives of offered ships can now be chosen (via perk)
  
• Ship dealer offers can now be rerolled every 10 minutes (via perk)
  
• Shops will now sometimes offer equipment 1 or 2 levels above the player level
  
• Jobs now give faction-independent "renown" instead of faction-based "standing" (consolidated old save files by transferring "standing" into "renown")
  
• Decals are now unlocked after completing certain side missions, reaching a certain renown rank, or when completing Prescott Starbase location 100% (when loading old save games decals are given retroactively)
  
• The small lines at the top and bottom of the HUD now turn red while in combat (if any enemy is targeting the player or if any enemy is within 2km range)
  
• Tweaked look of G&B ships and turrets
  
• Tweaked look of Maddocks' freighter
  
• Refined many environments and assets
  
• Moved autosave file generation after undocking to start of animation to avoid freeze while flying out
  
• Integrated localization changes suggested from Crowdin community
  
• EMP Generator "Shield Surge" mode will now restore 10% shield hitpoints for each target hit, instead of an explicit value
  
• Fusion Hook now takes ship mass into account
  
• Balancing: Rebalanced loot rarity drop chance
  
• Balancing: Doubled effect of high-velocity affix
  
• Balancing: Mainframe Expansions will now increase an attribute's value by 5%, not by 20 points
  
• Balancing: Reduced player ship base shield and plating hitpoints
  
• Balancing: Increased armor and shield bonuses of most player ships across the board
  
• Balancing: Increased player ship hitpoint scaling from tier level
  
• Balancing: Reduced Structure attribute scaling
  
• Balancing: Increased base weapon damage but reduced Firepower scaling
  
• Balancing: Revised energy economy and leveled out shield, boost, and weapon energy to equal ranges
  
• Balancing: Reduced Quantum Tether duration from 20s to 16s
  
• Balancing: Buffed "Prime Zapper" and "Equalizer" coil guns and made them feel more unique
  
• Balancing: Increased Corrosion Injector damage
  
• Balancing: Reduced Armor Drone buff radius
  
• Balancing: Increased Annihilator Virus cooldown, slightly reduced range and damage
  
• Balancing: Switched Annihilator Virus damage types so it will primarily deal kinetic damage
  
• Balancing: Dismantling items will now yield fewer lower rarity parts
  
• Balancing: Increasing the rarity of an item now also requires lower rarity parts
  
• Balancing: High-Risk Area bosses and Elite units will have a greater chance to drop higher rarity loot
  
• Balancing: Decreased Outlaw Drone Carrier deployment frequency for Link Drones
  
• Balancing: Reduced Scatter Gun charge duration by 50%
  
• Balancing: Increased Flak range and damage radius
  
• Balancing: Reduced Rail Gun energy consumption
  
• Balancing: Increased Missile Defense System duration
  
• Balancing: Decreased Recharge Booster's recharge delay
  
• Balancing: Revised Bloodstar Repeater, making it more competitive
  
• Balancing: Significantly increased Scatter Gun damage
  
• UI: Reworked catalyst selection including craft & install functionality
  
• UI: Added option to craft missing components to speed up catalyst and consumable crafting
  
• UI: Reworked error-prone "tap to show" (unlock-) banner behavior and added proper queuing
  
• UI: Added and improved multiple smaller features for the perk tab like invest indicators
  
• UI: Perks - Changed that invest indicator is only visible if player can upgrade the perk
  
• UI: The state of having the dialog board open or closed in the pause menu is now saved
  
• UI: Added option to immediately resume the game from the "game saved" screen
  
• UI: Change style of HUD warning that warns players that a mission will fail when leaving the location
  
• UI: Prototype and Starforged Items now stand out more
  
• UI: Added border to clickable buttons
  
• UI: Items now display the name of the companion perk and the current invest ratio if this item is tracked
  
• UI: Added complete new indicator logic for the crafting tab (e.g. unlocked blueprints)
  
• UI: Stackable items in shop or container now show the owned item amount in the upper right corner of their item info widget
  
• UI: Optimized display logic of the item level arrow indication
  
• UI: Added quick jump markers when buying resources
  
• UI: Crafting inventory now lists already found resources even if current amount is zero. (To make them trackable)
  
• UI: Crafting panel - Multiple design adjustments and optimizations (e.g. requirements)
  
• UI: Crafting: Removed result screen for catalysts and components to speed up the process
  
• UI: Crafting tab - Added ship cargo empty slot ratio
  
• UI: Added an error message after trying to unequip an overheated item
  
• UI: Added an animation for the compare slot indicator image
  
• UI: Added "new" indicator for devices within device pool (will be reset after device was equipped for the first time)
  

• Fixed Gunship turret tracking targets without line of sight
  
• Fixed Plating Item not receiving condition change when armor hitpoints are healed via Void Swarm
  
• Fixed that Outlaw ships launched from Redeemer base hangars
  
• Fixed that some pillar-shaped asteroids in random Zharkov locations still could have a wrong rotation
  
• Fixed that some "Rips in Space" tasks did not succeed when having them active at the time of installing update 0.8
  
• Fixed location progression bug where one secret was counted multiple times, leading to > 5/4 display and >100% completion rate
  
• Fixed question marks shown for location progression on some occasions
  
• Fixed missing Expertise name for Stinger in Ship Dealer screen
  
• Fixed compare values falsely transferring from Ship Dealer tooltips to Ship tab tooltips
  
• Fixed health and ULT ratio falsely taken from different ship when switching ships on Homebase and undocking
  
• Fixed Gunship turret not being hidden when arriving via Spatial Bypass
  
• Fixed Excessive Force perk falsely working without a shield installed
  
• Fixed high-capacity secondary weapons not using less energy when flying the Bomber
  
• Fixed Teleporter's "Parting Gift" Mode mine damage not scaling with Utility
  
• Fixed ARC-9000 and Quantum Tether recharging their own ULT energy
  
• Fixed Scorpion Missile having an infinite range
  
• Fixed upgrading rarity of plating items
  
• Fixed ULT icon and charge ratio not immediately updating after changing ships on Homebase
  
• Fixed destroying enemies with mines not repairing armor
  
• Mounted turrets are less likely to hit their owner and do not cause damage if they do
  
• Fixed Spatial Bypass locations not being selectable on any zoom level
  
• Fixed that there was an Outlaw Turret in one of the random Redeemer bases
  
• Fixed hud marker of vindicator drone wrecks disappearing after ULT use
  
• Fixed that under certain conditions it was possible to infect yourself with your own Annihilator Virus
  
• Fixed that some location actors like turrets were not respawning after some hours
  
• Fixed that weapon characteristics like splash damage could carry over if you swap weapons before the projectile hits
  
• Fixed optimized affix still present on item after installing new affix catalyst
  
• Fixed corrosion mines spawned from minefields applying too much corrosion damage
  
• Fixed zero amount pickups being spawned for hardened ore patch explosion
  
• Fixed that when completing a job with item rewards and pressing tab while "claim rewards" was shown, no xp, credits, or renown (used to be standing) were given if item reward was then claimed before leaving the current location
  
• Fixed that Eclipse weapon switch buff was not granted when directly equipping weapons via hotkey
  
• Fixed that modify action wasn't displayed for purchased equipment
  
• Fixed that missile locking animation and sound persisted when uninstalling all secondary weapons while currently in the process of locking
  
• Fixed Fusion Hook activation VFX
  
• Fixed that Vindicator drones would attack and potentially kill Maddocks during chase
  
• UI: Fixed that amount of items in crafting inventory was sometimes clipped while scrolling
  
• UI: Fixed that longer item names may have been cut off in the shop tab
  
• UI: Fixed multiple smaller spacing and alignment problems with the numeric font
  
• UI: Fixed item selection button design in crafting modify panel
  
• UI: Repair widget gamepad navigation was sometimes broken
  
• UI: Fixed some minor rendering issues of inventory sorting icons
  
• UI: Fixed Quickly CTRL+Left click on a lot of items for mass-marking sometimes skips one
  
• UI: Fixed that item icon shine animation wasn't always working
  
• UI: Fixed that using the mouse-wheel in the device selection menu could lead to unexpected selection behavior
  
• UI: Fixed misleading outdated equipment indicator on coilgun in tutorial
  
• UI: Fixed missing refresh of cooldown slot animation after "craft and equip" of secondaries
  
• UI: Item selection - Fixed that slot indication frame of source item wasn't properly rendered sometimes
  
• UI: Item selection - Scroll indication bar at bottom was accidentally shown in case there was nothing to equip
  
• UI: Item selection - Fixed bug that ship inventory was invisible when trying to swap fully stacked consumables of the same type
  
• UI: Item selection - Fixed bug in "other ships" category that was listing empty slots after ships slots expansion via Tareen perk
  
• UI: Item selection - Fixed multiple bugs when installing consumables from another ship
  
• UI: Item selection - Fixed that initial slot information may have been wrong for modules in some cases
  
• UI: Fixed bug that ingame inventory could be rendered haft transparent due to stuck fadeIn-animation
  
• UI: Fixed Preferred compare target slot logic was not fully working in some cases
  
• UI: Fixed that moving the mouse during crafting (hold-) action may reset the progress sometimes
  
• UI: Fixed Elek perk requirements. For new games, upgrading the Elek perk now requires an Equalizer (coil gun)
  

• Increased Advanced Combat Challenge Reward Buff duration from 10 to 20 seconds
  
• Changed secondary autofire bonus attribute to only work for locked targets and missiles
  

• Fixed that there could be floating turrets and other weird issues in a generic Zurilia base
  
• Fixed that some cargo drone containers could be opened by shooting them instead of requiring interaction
  
• Fixed that there was an engine trail missing on some of the new ship modules
  
• Fixed that upgrading prototype gear did not change the ring color
  
• Fixed asteroid turrets in high-risk areas not giving XP and armor refill
  
• Fixed that "Wealthy Foes" mutator could spawn Bloodstar equipment and credits for boss entourage in high-risk areas
  
• Fixed Advanced Combat Challenge Reward Buff triggering after loading
  
• Fixed that the "Flying Dutchess sells ships" perk was not considered for shop/ship dealer icons on the map and in space
  
• Fixed Fusion Hook being usable underwater
  
• UI: Fixed that inventory mark action was active in some cases even though no slot was selected
  

Greetings, pilots!

Holy scrap, what a journey so far! After over three years of hard work, we launched EVERSPACE 2 in Early Access with a rocket launch release in January 2021. We sold three times as many copies as the predecessor within the first week and hit 91% positive reviews right out of the gate. This massive success was followed by the release of two major content packs, Zharkov: The Vortex and Khat Nebula: Stranger Skies, both extremely well received, with the game currently sitting at 93% positive reviews. Last but not least, we also partnered with our friends at Microsoft, again, to bring EVERSPACE 2 to Xbox Game Pass for PC allowing us to make an even better space game for all pilots no matter what platform theyre playing on.

Thanks so much to every single pilot who has put their faith in us. Apart from all the glowing but also critical feedback to help us make a better game, the financial commitment from daring test pilots means a ton to us. This enables us to stay fully independent, allowing us to make a game that our team is super excited about. EVERSPACE 2 is probably one of the most expensive Early Access titles out there, so yeah, thanks again for your trust.


Galactic thanks from the RFG Family & Friends, Bernie Duffy, Games Writer, and Joshua Rubin, Narrative Consultant!

2022 Roadmap
Before we talk about whats coming, lets have a quick look at whats already been added to EVERSPACE 2! We see the question about how complete the game is popping up quite a lot, which is very understandable.

With the most recent content update, Khat Nebula: Stranger Skies, about 65-70% of the planned story content is in the game, and five out of six or seven planned companions have joined Adam on his journey. That said, we might still add more perks to some or all companions if we have enough time and, most importantly, cool ideas (knowing our team, the latter wont be the bottleneck).

We also brought back some beloved features from the Prototype (aka the demo), like the Shadow creatures and, hopefully, the side mission with those dodgy scientists asking you to realign a bunch of solar panels in a future update (this was meant to be a multi-staged side mission spanning across multiple solar systems, so pencil this in as a maybe).


Screenshot of the solar panel side mission from the 2019 Prototype.

There are currently four out of seven star systems to explore. With Ceto and Union being the largest, the current world content is close to 70%, not factoring in any endgame content or procedurally generated locations, though.

We have eight out of nine player ship classes (89%), with tier 3 and 4 models as well as additional wing types yet to come, so the current player ship content is actually closer to 50%. Gear-wise, we have four out of five tiers already implemented. Legendaries will be introduced in 2022. Well also add more weapon types and sets, as well as more consumables and devices. Id say were at 75% of the gear youll see at launch.

Except for trading features, all gameplay systems are in place. However, not all are done yet. For instance, crafting will receive a significant overhaul. Then, there are essential features like localization, difficulty and accessibility settings, as well as porting EVERSPACE 2 to Linux, Mac, Xbox, and PlayStation. In terms of total dev time, we're close to 80% of a 5+ year-long production, not including any potential post-launch DLC.

Ok, now lets take a closer look at what content we plan to release and when:

[h3]EVERSPACE 2 Rogues Debut, Spring 2022[/h3]
The spring update will bring the Rogue player ship sub-class, the remaining light fighter class as well as additional rear engines and hulls for all lights and heavies. Furthermore, look forward to a major crafting overhaul, where you can unlock blueprints by acquiring them in different ways (loot, buy, dismantle) and determine the outcome of your items' attributes as well as better trading opportunities and resource gathering/processing. Along with new equipment and challenges, we also plan to raise the player level, introducing another set of player perks.

International pilots will be pleased to hear that well add UI and text language support for German, French, Italian, Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese, Polish, Czech, Russian, Simplified Chinese, Japanese, and Korean, too. Last but not least, well add a bit more story content with English voice acting and substitute all current TTS placeholder dialogues.

[h3]EVERSPACE 2 Drake: Gang Wars, Summer 2022[/h3]
In summer, its gonna be all about Drake, the new star system. Drake introduces an intense conflict between three rival factions. Unlike previous reveals of new star systems in EVERSPACE 2, Drake will be accessible via a new side mission starting in Union and can be explored even before playing through the campaign thus far, adding more open-world appeal to the game. For more information on what new adventures await, check out the teaser at the bottom of this news update.

[h3]EVERSPACE 2 Ancients Rifts, Autumn 2022[/h3]
This update Introduces a sliver of endgame content and will be released sometime after Gamescom. Using these first Ancient Rifts, daring pilots will be able to venture into the most dangerous areas of the game and hunt legendary equipment. Were still working on the game design, but imagine some high-risk/reward mechanics you may have come across in other looter titles, but in space! This should provide plenty of (new) content to toy around with until the full release.

Ancient Rifts will likely be our last big release for 2022. From there, well be head-down, working towards launch.

[h3]EVERSPACE 2 v1.0, Early 2023[/h3]
Launch! Completing the games content, adding final polish, squashing as many pesky bugs as possible, and porting EVERSPACE 2 to Linux, Mac, Xbox, and PlayStation will take us six to nine months after the previous beat (well partner with a specialized porting house for the console ports, though, so we can put all our effort in the PC version of the game).

Apart from the final act of the campaign and additional side missions, the full release will also feature all tier 3 and tier 4 player ships as well as much-requested difficulty and accessibility settings. Oh, and a bunch of nice achievements, of course!



Hottest FAQs
Were constantly updating the FAQ channel on our Discord, but we thought it might be worth highlighting three hot topics that continue to pop up on the Steam forums and our social media channels.

[h3]Will Save Games Wiped at v1.0?[/h3]
Were 99.99% sure thats a yes! Sure, we havent had to wipe saves since the Early Access release, which is great, but do understand it could happen due to major technical changes along the way, especially when implementing the endgame. Even if backed up save games would still be compatible at v1.0, we cannot guarantee those would work (we know some pilots will still try).

After all, Early Access pilots zooming to the finale of the campaign and into the endgame will miss out on all the content that were still adding to the game in earlier star systems. Plus, theres a high chance that balancing could be completely off for anyone still using an Early Access save after full release.

Frankly speaking, no one should play our game during its Early Access phase if they can't live with the thought that they are going to lose all of their progress. Fair warning to everyone on the fence: We'll raise the price reasonably, yet significantly, at full release. So, no complaining! You have been warned, no matter what! ;)

[h3]Is EVERSPACE 2 open-world?[/h3]
Yes! Now, Im aware that this will inevitably cause some pilots to make a case about why THEY think EVERSPACE 2 is NOT an open-world game (because of brief loading screens, story-gated content, level boundaries), and thats perfectly fine. In fact, we perfectly understand their point of view. However, we think it is not all black and white, and there are plenty of examples of iconic open-worldish ARPGs that wouldnt match their high expectations, either.


The popular vote is clear: Not only is EVERSPACE 2 considered to be open-world by thousands of space pilots, making open-world one of the top tags on Steam, Valve was also perfectly fine to feature the game in the 2021 Open-World Sale under:

• Space/Action/Open-World
  
• Space/RPG/Open-World
  
• Space/Simulation/Open-World
  
• Space/Controller/Open-World
  
• Sci-fi/Action/Open-World
  
• Sci-fi/RPG/Open-World
  
• Sci-fi/Controller/Open-World
  
• Open-world/Action/Exploration
  
• Open-world/Action/Shooter
  
• Open-world/Action/Single-Player
  
• Open-world/Action/First-Person
  
• Open-world/Action/Third-Person
  
• Open-world/RPG/Exploration
  
• Open-world/RPG/Singleplayer
  
• Open-world/RPG/Third-Person
  

Hey there, pilots!

BOOM shaka-laka-laka, dankeschn, auf wiedersehen! The 3rd major EVERSPACE 2 content update, Khat Nebula: Stranger Skies has launched on Steam and GOG WOOHOO! Check out the massive changelog of whats new, or just delve right into our strangest star system yet, featuring a new faction and gear, new gameplay mechanics, new alien lifeforms, new story content, another companion bringing freaking FaaaaaaST tRAveLlllll to your space map and more, as well as an all-new player ship class that will make you go awww, look at those pretties!

This is me genuinely enjoying reaching out to 8K backers and 150K Early Access pilots directly, while also testing the limits of how goofy and entertaining we can go in our communication very similar to how Erik does in our weekly gamedev & community streams on Twitch and YouTube you really should swing by if you havent! Its always a ton of fun, especially when things go wrong while showing the very latest dev build. Also, if you have a burning question that has to be answered the heck right now, drop it in chat! Im behind the keyboard and will answer everything Erik might not be able to cover.

The Khat Nebula
There are space games that fascinate with billions of proc-gen locations to explore, seamless transitions, and the ability to exit the spacecraft to drive vehicles and walk on planets with loads of alien flora and fauna, and they have been massively successful with this space sim formula.

However, in EVERSPACE 2, we deliberately took a completely different approach by focusing on fast-paced space combat and close-range exploration with 100 to 120 carefully handcrafted locations, each filled with secrets to unveil, puzzles to solve, and precious loot to find. Having full control over gameplay at any given time and being able to design the environment by utilizing the amazing graphics power of Unreal Engine 4 to the fullest, allows us to create limited yet unique experiences within the space game genre.

With the 4th star system in EVERSPACE 2, our intention was to take this promise to a whole new level (WARNING: MASSIVE SPOILERS AHEAD!):

[previewyoutube=RsLXxPjm21w;full][/previewyoutube]

New Faction: The Redeemers
The Redeemers began as part of the "Research Department for Extinct Extraterrestrial Monuments", a group of scientists, adventurers, and mercenaries who entered the Khat Nebula seeking clues to The Ancients past and keys to their technology. After unlocking an ancient portal and capturing the Ancient Warden within, obsession and the dark energies from the portal have driven these researchers to worship everything related to The Ancients.



Corrupted and slavishly obsessed with The Ancients, The Redeemers are now a cult dedicated to the understanding of this precursor race. Drawn by mysterious stories, new recruits travel to Khat to learn about the wisdom of The Ancients. Here they are forced to make a "rite of passage" by leaving all their material belongings outside the jumpgate and passing through without their vessels, "unburdened by their past". Successful recruits (namely those with useful skills) are brought to a "sacred location" in order to be bombarded with strange Ancient dark energy and initiated into the cult. Those who do not pass muster, are left in the vacuum of the void.



This sub-faction is hostile to all to enter the Khat Nebula, using a mixture of Freelancer gear and adapted Ancient technology to destroy or capture travelers within the star system. They survive off illegal trade (arms, drugs, slaves), but also offer Ancient tech and artifacts to those with the right connections.

New Gameplay: New Ancient Puzzles
As you can see in the new trailer, weve added a slew of new Ancient puzzles in the Khat Nebula. Now, instead of explaining how they work in detailthat would be super-lamelet me share why we did this.

One of our secondary pillars for EVERSPACE 2 was creating a distinctive look & feel for every star system; not just through variation in key world design assets, signature color & lighting theme, new enemy types, and focus on game lore, but also by slightly shifting the focus from the franchises iconic fast-paced loot & shoot gameplay to introduce new gameplay mechanicsphew, what a sentence!

To keep things fresh and interesting and make world exploration worthwhile; we have spent a lot of time and effort introducing new types of activities with each star system. In some cases we explore new twists on already-introduced mechanics, but they always bring something new to the cockpit.



In Union, youve been introduced to the first Ancient puzzle, set in a confined space with hard-to-miss-pointers to its solution. In Zharkov, youll find Ancient puzzles based on established mechanics which require further exploration to solve. In the Khat Nebula, were introducing entirely new mechanics and more complex puzzles that can even spread across an entire location, making for some jaw-dropping moments when things fall into place.

Before moving on: To all space pilots not fans of puzzle-solving, again, dont you worry! Most of them are optional, while the few that are part of the campaign are really not that hard. BTW, a scientific study in 2017 showed that playing a very popular 3D-platforming game increases hippocampal grey matter in older adults; meaning, complex 3D video games prevents Alzheimerscrazy shit; isnt it? Man, I cant wait to turn 70 and play video games all day long and maybe go for a walk at least every other day just not to get rusty. Where was I? Right! Weve also got a brand-new player ship sub-class!

New Player Ship Class: The Vindicator
This new Heavy Fighter type ship class switches it up with the highest mobility of all Heavies and the unique capability of using drones to deal damage. The Vindicators drone focus is supported by both its expertise, which increases drone hull hit points, and its Ultimate ability, Phalanx, to immediately spawn all missing drones, greatly increase their fire rate, and synchronize them to attack your locked target.

The Vindicators Special ability, Reanimator, turns the wrecks of destroyed enemies to your advantage. Interacting with wrecks spawns or repairs your currently active drones. These reanimated drones have an unlimited lifetime and you can have up to 5 active at a time.



Just like all other player ship sub-classes, tier 1 and 2 Vindicators can be purchased at any Ship Dealer in the DMZ if youre lucky. Before you pull the trigger, though, you might take a closer look if the roll of Passive Perks suits your playstyle:

• Maximum number of active drones increased by 1
  
• Drones are invulnerable during Phalanx
  
• Drones regenerate 1% hull per second
  
• 50% reduced damage from enemy drones
  
• Drones explode in a violent blast, damaging and slowing down nearby enemies
  

• Added new main and side missions
  
• Added new star system: Khat Nebula
  
• Added new player ship class: Vindicator
  
• Added new companion
  
• Added new enemy faction: Redeemers
  
• Added new lifeforms
  
• Added new puzzle mechanics
  
• Added fast travel mechanics (companion perk)
  
• Added map completion display (companion perk)
  
• Added more resources
  
• Added new star map assets to represent planets and celestial objects more accurately
  
• Added "relative mouse controls" option for centered mouse crosshair controls
  
• Added new Pulse Laser type
  
• Added projectile sounds
  
• Added new WIP narrated cinematics
  
• Added new music tracks
  
• Increased level cap to 20 and added three new player perks
  
• UI: Info widget - Added support for disabling tooltip style via settings when using M&K
  

• Player ships now have names depending on ship class and ship modules
  
• HUD markers for pickups now have a new look and individual icons for each category (weapon, module, resource...)
  
• Enabled target lock for outlaw station cores
  
• Made fighting G&B in "In Transit" mission a bit more challenging
  
• Added planet names to supralight and star map
  
• Sniper Drones will now telegraph their shots more accurately
  
• Made Sniper Drone shots easier to evade
  
• Increased distance at which boundary warning is shown and ship turns around
  
• Show time since last save in pause menu and game over screen
  
• If saved on station, show station name in save game slot
  
• Limited the number of Quantum Tether targets to 5 and reduced the damage bonus from 10% to 5% per target
  
• Renamed "Aeterna Bypass" to "Mainframe Expansion"
  
• Once initiated, holding F to pull multiple items at once with tractor beam now does not break if item is not hovered anymore
  
• Allow "High Capacity" affix on primary weapons which increases energy capacity
  
• Slightly increased Outlaw Sniper precision
  
• Improved texture memory allocation
  
• Improved Fusion Hook "Kunai" mode target acquisition
  
• Increased Nano Transmitter "Distribution" mode range to 1km
  
• UI: Added action bar divider to improve readability
  
• UI: Perks tab - Added animations for selection highlight and "new" indicator
  
• UI: Item info widget - Added input specific scrollbars and indicators
  
• UI: Item info widget - Switches display style implicitly based on last navigation input (WASD=static or mouse=tooltip)
  
• UI: Item info widget - Optimized side-by-side compare window interaction and (sfx-) feedback
  
• UI: Shortened hold action durations like dismantle, destroy, store and more
  
• UI: Added a rarity dependent duration bonus to the new default dismantle hold duration
  
• UI: Added actual object name to loot screen headline (e.g. "Shipwreck" instead of "container")
  
• UI: Shop - Default amount when buying resources set to 1 instead of stack limit
  
• UI: Crafting - Saving last used crafting rarity independently instead of per category
  
• UI: Item management - Batch move - Added implicit sorting on gamepad
  
• UI: Item management - Batch move - Added info banner in case action did not move all items
  
• UI: Changing modify action from simple press to hold action to be more consistent with crafting
  
• UI: Added new indicator logic for devices and the ship tab
  
• UI: Tutorial - The plating Adam got from Dax has a new marker now
  
• UI: Perks - "Last opened perk tree" changes to "first not fully upgraded perk tree" in case it is fully upgraded
  
• UI: Hyper travel - Gamepad button opens map tab instead of inventory tab
  
  UI: Reworked special item action bar. (WIP)
  
  UI: Added new ingame menu footer action styles like "pair" and mouse-only
  
  [h3]Bugfixes[/h3]
  

  
  
  • Fixed that "Union Border Control" location was unlocked too early
    
  • Fixed bug where upgrading items in cargo boosted the stats
    
  • Fixed wrong max hull hitpoints calculation when repairing your ship while any Augment is put into Structure
    
  • Fixed Vesna Mining Colony shop not being shown on map
    
  • Fixed occasionally wrong navigation result when using gamepad or WASD to select colors/decals
    
  • Fixed that the Bomber perk that converts mines would break Minesweeper jobs
    
  • Fixed flickering of outlaw station cores
    
  • Fixed "Ultimate Ready" display not showing the correct icon
    
  • Fixed that secondary weapons will not count towards "Upgrade a weapon's level" achievement
    
  • Fixed that the "Accelerated" affix for shields wasn't changing any stats
    
  • Fixed Recharge Speed attribute for shields falsely decreasing with higher levels
    
  • Fixed bomb indicators in the mission "Tipping the Scales", which didn't stop pinging after interaction
    
  • Fixed calculation of Flying Dutchess spawn position
    
  • Fixed that some equipment received affixes that did not change any attributes, e.g. "Swift Repeater"
    
  • Fixed being able to re-enter invalidated, already cleared high-risk locations
    
  • Fixed being able to leave the location using jump drive right after retrieving the signature in "The Vortex", before the suppressor drones even become active
    
  • Fixed slide door open/close sounds playing although door was already opened/closed
    
  • Fixed outlaws being able to spawn below surface during "Spares & Scrap" mission at Nepthys Plains
    
  • Fixed not receiving all rewards when finishing multiple jobs at once by docking
    
  • Fixed not receiving a reward when bringing the Flying Dutchess her designated quest item
    
  • Fixed an exploit that made it possible to create energy spheres without time limit
    
  • Fixed same keybinding for "increase setting" and "decrease setting" being shown in photo mode when using gamepad
    
  • Fixed set bonus background border not aligning correctly when comparing items
    
  • Fixed that containers did not drop loot when hit by player from further than 2km away
    
  • Fixed a case in which dialogs could overlap after undocking from Nephtys Plains station during a mission and immediately docking again
    
  • Fixed blocked paths for secrets in Volta Nebula
    
  • Fixed "Low" texture quality setting not being applied correctly
    
  • Fixed that setting gamma value via pause menu while docked looked weird/broken
    
  • Fixed missing location image for "Union Outer Rim"
    
  • Fixed Fusion Hook "Kunai" mode pulling disabled targets at ludicrous speeds
    
  • Fixed Okkar Corvettes flying straight out of locations
    
  • Fixed one frame input lag in auto-aim
    
  • Fixed that an item bonus was not displayed for an attribute like Utility if there are more than 5 items with a bonus equipped
    
  • UI: Fixed that drag and drop actions of weapons within equipment inventory could lead to wrong slot highlighting
    
  • UI: Fixed item management - Batch move - Missing consolidate when using Hive's "send to homebase" feature
    
  • UI: Fixed item management - Batch move - Sometimes not all items were moved even though there was space in the target inventory
    
  • UI: Fixed item management - Batch move - Disabled multi-selection of items located in container or shop
    
  • UI: Fixed data tab - Empty slots in mission items inventory
    
  • UI: Fixed focusing wrong slot after consumable fillup via item selection
    
  • UI: Fixed issues with inventory sorting type "Latest"
    
  • UI: Fixed a bug where the player could get soft-locked in the crafting materials screen after minimizing the game
    
  • UI: Fixed item info widget - Side-by-side compare getting stuck when hovering over non-comparable items
    
  • UI: Fixed perks - Some companion avatar images were cut on top during animation
    
  • UI: Fixed loud SFX when selling multiple items at once
    
  • UI: Fixed item selection - Reset item info scroll progress after selected slot changed
    
  • UI: Fixed ship selector - Change ship actions were active in tabs that didn't support it
    
  • UI: Fixed item repair costs could be zero in case they were between 0 and 1
    

  
  [h3]Features (Exp Diff)[/h3]
  

  
  
  • (Exp) Added new Redeemer Drone Beam Laser VFX
    

  
  [h3]Tweaks (Exp Diff)[/h3]
  

  
  
  • (Exp) Some performance optimizations
    
  • (Exp) Added list of required resources to mission log of mission "Rips in Space"
    
  • (Exp) Renamed three Redeemer ships
    
  • (Exp) Increased initial delay for invasions
    
  • (Exp) Do not spawn invasions at Prescott Starbase
    
  • (Exp) Reduced Synchro Pulse range by 100m
    
  • (Exp) Slightly increased Synchro Pulse energy consumption
    

  
  [h3]Bugfixes (Exp Diff)[/h3]
  

  
  
  • (Exp) Fixed location progression not correctly counting devices or mainframe expansions in armored containers
    
  • (Exp) Fixed location progression not correctly counting some objects (Ancient Jars, Wrecks in Anemones)
    
  • (Exp) Fixed location progression display not showing a full circle at 100%
    
  • (Exp) Fixed planet names in the Khat Nebula system
    
  • (Exp) Fixed a dialog being repeated while searching the shipwreck during "Picking Up The Pieces"
    
  • (Exp) Fixed the collision of iris hatches in location "BRI Bioplant"
    
  • (Exp) Fixed being able to enter the bottom interior of the ancient structure in "Chabar Tower"
    
  • (Exp) Fixed entry dialog in the first location of the Khat Nebula system
    
  • (Exp) Do not spawn invasions in High-Risk areas
    
  • (Exp) Fixed ancient door open sound being played again although door was already opened
    
  • (Exp) Fixed "Travel here" button being visible on spatial bypass locations in map mode while not using a spatial bypass
    
  • (Exp) Fixed that enemies could spawn before the gate to the Khat Nebula system was unlocked
    
  • (Exp) Fixed a bug in which, during a certain stage of "X Marks The Spot", no enemies would spawn when not continuing the mission
    
  • (Exp) Fixed a bug in "X Marks The Spot" that prevented enemies from spawning if mission was not continued
    
  • (Exp) Fixed skybox elements missing in randomized locations (Unknown Signals, High-Risk Areas, etc.)
    

  
  
  Roadmap 2022 Preview
  Phew, this was quite a hefty news update, but were aware that many of you also want to know whats next. To be brutally honest, we havent fleshed out all the details for our 2022 roadmap yet as the team has been hard at work getting as much community feedback on the experimental build incorporated into the official release.
  
  However, we can share that the next update is planned for spring; it wont feature any new story pieces as we hit about 70% of the campaign content with todays update and we need to keep some of our powder dry for the full release.
  
  Now, before anyone goes (**) , we plan to have another star system and maybe even a teaser of the endgame, as well as the third Light Fighter sub-class in the next update. Furthermore, we also plan to have UI and text language support in German, French, Italian, Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese, Polish, Czech, Russian, Simplified Chinese, Japanese, and Korean for all content released so far, which was very high on the list for many Early Access pilots.
  
  As always, check out our weekly ROCKFISH Games Show on Twitch and YouTube where, Erik Schrader, ace pilot and beloved Community Ambassador will take you on a mesmerizing tour. Be there, or be square, this Friday from 8:00 pm to 10:00 pm CEST / 2:00 pm to 4:00 pm EST / 11:00 am to 1:00 pm PST!
  
  Keep it civil on the forums, and see you in space!
  Michael and your dedicated ROCKFISH Games Team
  

  
  

Greetings, pilots!

Grab a drink, sit back, and relax! What was intended to be a short & snappy news beat about the official Zharkov release on top of all the information shared in recent news updates, became our longest news update so far, covering new topics of the 2nd major content update of EVERSPACE 2 in-depth as well as some important studio and community-related news.

First off, a big shout to all the daring test pilots who smoke tested the experimental release opened up a few days ago. You all provided very useful feedback on the overhauled game balancing and also flagged a number of bugs that slipped through the cracks. The team acknowledged and fixed most of them, while a few improvements have to wait until the next major content update, currently scheduled for fall (or spring if your home base is on the Southern hemisphere of planet Earth). Youll find the official changelog at the bottom of this news. Changes based on the experimental build are marked with the prefix (Exp).



Now, before you jump cut to the bottom of this release to check out the 150+ changes this update brings, let me put a spotlight on several team members and external partners whove been hard at work to hammer out yet another meaty content update.

It sounds easy, but one of the most critical tasks for any update is left to Sven Lohse, our Technical Director, who has moved his mouse and clicked a few buttons to open the jump gate to Zharkov on Steam and GOG for all Early Access/GiD pilots. Technically, youll have to play through the new main story to unlock the jump gate yourself, but youll find the way. And yes, all new and previous content is fully voice-acted... except for Banjack, the adorable scrapyard robot.

He has his charming TTS voice back by popular demand from the community and because we also think TTS just perfectly fits his character. In fact, since he became such a beloved shop dealer, weve decided to write a proper side mission for Banjack, shedding some light on how he ended up in that abandoned scrapyard in the first place. But thats for a future content update. Now, lets have a look at our new gameplay trailer, produced by Lol_bye, one of our Kickstarter backers (of course, weve compensated him like a pro for his excellent work)!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vn0kEi4e_-c

The Vanguard
For those who havent watched Erik Schrader, our one-and-only Community Ambassador talking about the all-new Vanguard light fighter class during its reveal stream, heres the nuts and bolts description and a nice ktschon shot from GeometryPrime, one of the most active space photographers on our Discord:


The Vanguard is a lightweight, highly maneuverable reconnaissance ship with a high emphasis on speed/mobility and defensive measures. The Vanguards Special overcharges the shield to up to 200% capacity when boosting or when in Cruise Mode allowing for shield-buffed attacks. Thanks to its Expertise of increased critical hit chance when attacking enemies from the rear, clever combat positioning can provide a significant advantage in dogfights. When things get too messy, the Vanguards Ultimate Time Extender slows down the action, allowing pilots to regain the upper hand in any given combat situation. Vanguards also come with one out of four random Passive Perks that let cruise drive be activated with enemies nearby, reduces Web effect by 50%, lowers up to 20% support device cooldown depending on overcharge percentage, or makes Time Extender immediately restore all weapon and boost energy.

But wait, weve got even more ship news coming from Matthias Kummer (Senior 3D Artist) whos exclusively been working on all player ships for over two and a half years. With the new update, pilots will have access to Tier 2 ships of all currently existing ship classes, featuring fancier wing types and better base stats, such as increased cargo space.

New Story Content and Companion
In the new content update, the plot thickens. Youll finally catch up with Maddocks in Union and get a better understanding of how all the parties involved so far are connected to each other. After you found out how to activate the Outlaws jump gate, Zharkov will be your new oyster, filled with new secrets, activities, alien mystery, puzzles (yes!), and loot, but lots of danger too. Watch out for lightning rods that cause havoc when flying too close as shown in the Zharkov teaser trailer and other environmental hazards.


In the continued campaign, youll meet another old friend: Tareen, the Okkar trader from the EVERSPACE: Encounters expansion, will join your roster of companions and provide some very useful perks. As your new quartermaster, Tareen will allow you to expand storage and increase the number of ships to park at your Homebase. Hell become even more useful later in the game, but thats a topic for another day.

New Gameplay
One particular highlight of the main campaign that we havent talked about yet are the all-new drone missions. These are all about your 6DOF maneuvering skills as you remote-control a maintenance drone through narrow tunnels and bypass moving security barriers deep underground of the G&B Lunar Mining Colony to prevent an undercover job from going down the drain. So no looty-shooty for a change but no touchy-touchy those lasers either, or AAAALERRRRT!!! No worries, theres no time limit so you can take it slow and careful, and you can immediately try again if discovered.



Some fans of hardcore space sims might think: RC drone gameplay and even more puzzle-solving, what the heck!? I thought this was supposed to be a space game? I didnt sign up for this, I want more space combat and exploration!" Well, our vision for EVERSPACE 2 has always included introducing new gameplay mechanics and objectives to keep things fresh, like puzzle-solving or, in this case, remote controlling a drone la Descent. If youre also a fan, go check out the Overload Kickstarter, the spiritual successor created by the same devs; Overload is currently sitting at 94% positive on Steam, and they even have a free demo, also currently sitting at 94% positive.

Now, even though weve talked about this before, anyone not into puzzle-solving or 6DOF drone gameplay, please understand that EVERSPACE 2 is meant to stand for its own within the space game genre. There are much bigger titles already out there or in the making, so there would be no point in us trying to compete against the juggernauts of space games. While on the creative side, we believe theres enough room for an arcadey space action RPG with looter-shooter mechanics bringing new things to the space game genre, which our team is very much excited about. On the whole, allowing our designers the freedom to flex their creative muscles with additions like these is going to make for a stronger game overall.



Continuing the main mission, you will be introduced to another gameplay mechanic right before bumping into the next boss encounter, testing everything you should have learned so far. Without saying too much, HOTAS pilots dont throw your precious gear at the screen! Its gonna be rough, but dont you worry! Well have various difficulty and accessibility options at full release, so itll be fine! For now, you might want to fly some of the more challenging missions with a mouse + keyboard or a gamepad of your choice, though.

Along with voice recordings that are replacing the TTS voices of the story content of the previous update Contracts/Hinterland, Gero Goerlich (Sound Director), Uwe Wtherich (Creative Director), and Bernie Duffy (external Lead Story Writer) have worked with 20 voice talents to record 2180 new lines with over 20,000 words for more than 40 roles just in the most recent recording session alone. In the final game, well have well over 6,000 lines / 60,000 words of voiced dialogue, putting EVERSPACE 2 on par with various iconic AAA action adventures/RPGs.

Gero, Uwe, and Bernie have also worked closely with our friends from Puppetworks to add new quality cinematics based on concept art by Moritz Manhart (our in-house Concept Artist) and Tobias Frank (external Concept Artist on artstation, but part of the RFG family since the very beginning).









So yeah, while we wont have gazillions of proc-gen planets in a vast, seamless universe, we hope that experiencing our carefully handcrafted content in a pseudo-open world while playing through a proper sci-fi story is a journey worth your while. And were not even done yet!

Speaking of more story content being in the works: with a heavy heart, we have to share that Kevin Mentz, our very much esteemed Quest Designer, has left the RFG family on good terms.

We have very much enjoyed working with Kevin for three full years. He was the mastermind behind the EVERSPACE 2 tutorial and most of the side missions. Kevin also worked closely with our story writing team on the main campaign, bringing lots of great narrative ideas into the mix. If youve been laughing over some of the absurd 4th-wall-breaking TTS jokes or bloopers of yet unfinished missions, that was also him. Here are some fond memories of watching top content creator Cohh Carnage losing it when he played the closed Alpha:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FDvycrt32Ys&t=1200

Kevin will be joining Osmotic Studios to work on more narrative-driven and less action-heavy games. Everybody at ROCKFISH Games wishes him nothing but the best for his future, and godspeed to our indie dev friends at Osmotic with their offices pretty much just around the corner, while our doors will always be open for Kevin to return just in case... nudge-nudge, wink-wink!

Ok, put away your tissues because heres the good news: a) Kevin left us with a ton of more wicked ideas for future side missions, and b) since the core gameplay mechanics of EVERSPACE 2 are mostly in place, you can look forward to Andi, Senior Game Designer and Programmer, whos been working with us for over 15 years(!), as well as the creative-minded Gameplay Programmer, Thorben Kohler, who already was a former colleague of Kevin when they were working together at Daedalic Entertainment taking over.

Theyre both super excited about creating new main and side missions for you, and I can say from experience, you wont be disappointed. In fact, Thorben already got his hands dirty by designing and programming the side mission VaultWorthy in this very update, while Andi, in case you didnt know, worked together with HCK, our Lead Game Designer, on all main and side mission of the Galaxy on Fire 2 - Supernova add-on (arguably the closest thing to Freelancer on mobile, but thats a looooong story maybe for another day).

All that said, with Kevin leaving and no substitute in sight, we have to slightly reduce the complexity of the game world. Meaning, instead of having eight star systems at full release as originally planned, we decided to go with seven imaging Erik playing his inglorious BOO! sound on stream before telling everybody to calm down but to hear us out: System 8, as we call it internally, has always been designed to be a rather small star system primarily meant to stage a major plot point in the campaign. Thus, we can integrate it into one of the other seven systems without cutting any super relevant content.

New Gear
Playing through the new content would be only half as fun if there wasnt any new gear! Weve got all you loadout tinkerers covered with a slew of new weapons and devices. Get ready to try the already teased Fusion Hook for some cool Zero-G swing maneuvers, new types of secondaries, such as the (mostly) self-explanatory Corrosion, Armorbreaker, Shieldbreaker, and Destabilizer Missiles, and the Web and Corrosion Mine Launchers for more sophisticated crowd control. Last but not least, weve also added set bonuses for Bloodstar items and introduced a new item affix Swift, which reduces ramp up and charge time of certain weapons by 30%youre gonna love this one!


Swift auto cannons now take less time to go DAKADAKADAKA, significantly reducing TTK, if you can land all your shots, that is. However, you'll notice that weapon ramp up / charge time is not shown; this might change in the future when we're done designing all weapon attributes.

Crafting UI/UX Improvements
Thilo Eggers (UI/UX Designer) and Mathias (Thies) Ebell (Senior UI/UX Programmer) have been working hand-in-hand to make crafting more intuitive and more streamlined. Not only can you now perform any action with both mouse click or hitting a key. Use is also visually and functionally the same for both mouse and keyboard users and gamepad pilots so that neither side has to sacrifice comfort options or usability. Another new feature added is the Material Overview Overlay, which can be summoned over the crafting interface. It shows which materials you already have and how to obtain any further required resources.

Thilo & Thies have also significantly improved the UX of unlocking blueprints. New unlocks are now visually highlighted with a shine animation, while upcoming unlocks are teased. So when unlocking a blueprint, you can immediately see the next two unlockables.



Furthermore, you can now change the rarity of an item directly without losing focus on your selected item. The selection will remember the last slot selected, even if you toggle through rarities or reenter the crafting interface to improve user experience by letting players start over where they left off.

Thilo & Thies also improved the side-by-side compare function before and after successful crafting, so you are always aware of possible changes and improvements. Also, all interactions are now more mouse-friendly.

Technical Improvements
Finally, weve made significant technical changes under the hood. For instance, game assets are now compressed to save disk space and are distributed among several PAK files to speed up patch installation via Steam, so no more hours of copying data from your jampacked SSD to your HDD and back for incremental updates. That said, due to all the handcrafted content and baked high-quality GI lighting still to be added, well probably hit the 75 GB mark for the final game. To help running EVERSPACE 2 on lower-spec systems, we optimized texture memory usage even further, but please dont expect any miracles when running EVERSPACE 2 on a potato from several years ago.

To smooth out some spikes in the overall game balancing, especially when fighting against ten or more enemies simultaneously, Sven also tweaked our in-house developed AI director (we went a bit too far in the experimental build, so we had to scale it back for this official release; thanks again for providing community feedback). Its a pretty complex beast, so if you want to know more and see it in action, check out Eriks most recent gamedev stream where he talks about us addressing game difficulty issues in highly populated areas:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=38ENARXfAZk&t=1567

While Sven was knee-deep in the technical code of the game, he also improved floating-point precision for more accurate hitscan and long-range weapon targeting. Bonus news: this allowed us to even add weapon zoom for Rail Guns, a much-requested feature by several marksman pilots.

Changelog

[h3]Features[/h3]

• Added new main and side missions
  
• Added new star system: Zharkov
  
• Added new player ship class: Vanguard
  
• Added new companion: Tareen (spoiler)
  
• Added new device: Fusion Hook
  
• Added new missile weapon types: Corrosion, Armorbreaker, Shieldbreaker, Destabilizer
  
• Added Bloodstar items set bonuses
  
• Added new item affix "Swift" (reduces ramp up and charge time by 30%)
  
• Added "Union Explorer" challenges + challenge reward for "Explorer" challenges, allowing to fast-forward in supralight
  
• Tier 2 ships are now available at ship dealers
  
• Added English voice acting for all dialogs that were added since the previous Contracts/Hinterlands update
  
• Cinematics now feature improved animation and professional voice-overs (but are still WIP)
  
• Added new music tracks
  
• Increased max level to 18
  
• Added 10 new ship colors to collect
  
• UI: Added "new" and "invest" indicators to the perks tab
  
• UI: Item crafting and modification rework including item preview and materials overview
  

• Game assets are now compressed to save disk space
  
• Distributed game assets among several .pak files to speed up patch installation via Steam
  
• Optimized texture memory usage
  
• Improved Thermo Gun projectile performance
  
• Overhauled enemy damage and hitpoint balancing
  
• Balanced difficulty when fighting against multiple enemies at the same time
  
• Fewer Outlaws in Siren's Sea and Palaemon's Wound
  
• Cargo space will now increase with higher ship tiers
  
• Slightly reduced Scout agility
  
• Increased ship acceleration while not boosting
  
• Outlaw Ravager and Bloodstar Overseer now have fewer and more prominent weak points
  
• Outlaw Vipers now leave behind a corrosion field when destroyed
  
• Creatures and cruisers can no longer be targeted by the Magnetic Repulsor
  
• Nanobots and Nano Injector will now repair a percentage of hull hp, not a fixed value
  
• Improved Teleporter collision detection to prevent getting stuck in geometry
  
• Corrosion will now first damage the armor before damaging the hull
  
• Annihilator Virus: reduced explosion delay and doubled infect interval
  
• Annihilator Virus: reduced kinetic damage from 150 to 90
  
• Annihilator Virus: limited maximum number of infected targets to 6
  
• Annihilator Virus: increased range from 400m to 600m
  
• Annihilator Virus "Symptomatic" mode: increased target damage reduction from 20% to 50%
  
• Annihilator Virus "Incubation" mode: renamed to "R-Naught" - now increases the maximum number of targets by 2
  
• Corrosion Injector, Annihilator Virus, Quantum Entangler, and Quantum Tether (Striker ULT) can now be used on capital ships
  
• Doubled Quantum Tether (Striker ULT) effect range
  
• Rail Gun: Reduced energy consumption
  
• Rail Gun: Added zoom when charging
  
• Rail Gun: Increased full charge damage by 50%
  
• Baron Executioner: Increased max spread angle from 0.5 to 1.5 degrees
  
• Beam Laser: Increased energy consumption by 20%
  
• Elek will only jump in if the player is in a fight with more than 2 enemies
  
• Reduced "Play It Safe" perk effect duration from 12s to 5s
  
• NPCs will now gain EMP resistance immediately after receiving the EMP debuff to prevent stun locking
  
• EMP resistance duration is now scaled with the duration of the EMP itself
  
• Increased hull hitpoints of G&B and Freelancer freighters
  
• Decreased probability of Interceptor passive perk that recharges Weapon Overdrive with critical hits from 50% to 20%
  
• Increased global elite enemy probability
  
• Signal Decoders will now reveal a high-risk area inside the current region of the system
  
• Signal Decoders will now always have a higher rarity (no more common signal decoders)
  
• The first boss now gives more and better loot
  
• Improved support for mixed input methods like joystick + mouse (added option to specify input method or use auto-detect)
  
• Prevented crafting exploits via reloading
  
• Fully mine ore deposit when using Flak or Missile Launcher
  
• Portable debris can now be picked up from a further distance
  
• Only play detonator drone warning sound when it is flying towards a target
  
• The pinging sound and icon-effect of invisible containers continue until the container is emptied
  
• Added options to quickly invert camera pitch/yaw (in addition to the already present invert option in the "customize controls" screen)
  
• Force fields now have two distinct textures representing their access state
  
• Flying Dutchess will now spawn-kill enemies when jumping in
  
• Post effects produced by conditions, devices, and damage are now hidden in Photo Mode
  
• UI: Added dedicated HUD marker icons for different drone types
  
• UI: Improved speed when first opening the map
  
• UI: Joystick keybindings are now displayed in HUD when a joystick binding is assigned
  
• UI: Tractor Beam Range is now shown in "Ship" screen
  
• UI: Master rewards for challenges are now instantly revealed
  
• UI: Added implicit cargo sorting for M&K in case sorting was active on the last menu visit
  
• UI: Repair and device hold actions trigger an error on the start of hold action in case of insufficient credits/points
  
• UI: Clickable action buttons in crafting result screen
  
• UI: (Batch) marked items now feature an animation
  
• UI: Added ingame menu tab pre-loading for Inventory, Ship, Perks, Mission, Data, and Map
  
• UI: Better explanation of locked player perks when in space
  
• UI: "Crafting XP" is now called "Crafting Data"
  
• UI: Opening ingame menu with gamepad implicitly sorts inventory and selects the first slot
  
• UI: Dismantling and destroying while using a controller now implicitly sorts inventory (removes empty slots in-between)
  
• UI: Enabled "Expand Cargo View" / batch actions in loot container view
  
• UI: Enabled "Send To Homebase" action in loot container view
  
• UI: Added navigation SFX to mission item inventory
  
• UI: Hovering one of the six main attributes will now show the items that contribute to the respective value
  
• UI: Added descriptions for condition tooltips in ship screen
  
• UI: Added storage slot ratio to inventory headline
  
• UI: When activating a high-risk area and choosing to show it on the map it's now highlighted and centered
  

• Fixed ship selector sometimes not being displayed in Homebase despite owning multiple ships
  
• Fixed floating-point precision issues related to weapon aim
  
• Fixed already destroyed Bomb Thrower Turrets sometimes still throwing bombs
  
• Fixed energy orbs not restoring armor
  
• Fixed not being able to activate buttons using a flak cannon
  
• Fixed a potential blocker and a wrong dialog being played in "I Heart Scrap" side mission
  
• Fixed dialogs related to fights being played when colliding with level geometry
  
• Fixed destroying Okkar units not yielding correct XP
  
• Fixed Okkar being spawned by the Wanted System giving loot and XP after re-entering a location.
  
• Fixed player stats not being updated immediately after re-entering stats screen
  
• Fixed highlight effect on some structures being visible from far away
  
• Fixed "Data Fishing" side mission briefing dialog being played again when docking before leaving the location
  
• Fixed mission item "Drone Debris" not getting removed from inventory after becoming obsolete
  
• Fixed Gauss Cannon and Rail Gun having improper affixes
  
• Fixed Baron Executioner weapon receiving energy damage modifiers
  
• Fixed item bonus attributes that grant extra damage not working properly
  
• Fixed bounty not increasing when defeating an enemy with a device like the Corrosion Injector
  
• Fixed problems with axis inversions also affecting other logical axes that were bound to the same physical axis
  
• Fixed that Elek could appear multiple times in a location
  
• Fixed that Elek sometimes left too soon
  
• Fixed that Elek and Dax could die when acting as wingmen
  
• Fixed enqueued hull repairs being lost when docking to a station
  
• Fixed faction rewards not being displayed for accepted jobs in the missions tab
  
• Fixed being able to use warfare devices on allies
  
• Fixed timestamps of items accidentally being renewed after having been moved to a different inventory slot
  
• Fixed device inventory did not update after changing ships under some circumstances
  
• Fixed quick equip with right mouse button in loot container screen might send an item to Homebase instead of equipping it
  
• Fixed that some item attribute bonus values (like Resistance) would not spawn
  
• Fixed Sentinel ULT (Static Overload) not scaling with Utility attribute
  
• Fixed Sentinel passive "20% reduced cooldowns for warfare devices." falsely stacking until cooldown was zero
  
• Fixed that missiles could not be destroyed after the ship or turret that fired them died
  
• Fixed additionally spawned Okkars not leaving location after having paid bounty
  
• Fixed "ULT ready" not being triggered by Interceptor passive perk
  
• Prevent being able to switch camera while in "1st person no cockpit" view and having activated auto-pilot
  
• Fixed that retractable turrets could be destroyed by very high damage, e.g. Annihilator Virus
  
• UI: Fixed that only one missing attribute was shown when comparing items
  
• UI: Fixed item actions for Aeterna Bypasses and Signal Decoders being visible in multi-select mode
  
• UI: Fixed equip action being visible in multi-select mode
  
• UI: Fixed focus and hud visibility problems after very quickly opening and closing ingame menu
  
• UI: Fixed wrong device slot length in item selection
  
• UI: Fixed wrong implicit cargo sorting when using a gamepad and first opening the menu
  
• UI: Fixed inventory items clipping through scroll indicators
  
• UI: Fixed icons for companion perk upgrade requirements sometimes being wrong
  
• UI: Fixed that when using mouse+keyboard, gamepad icons were displayed on a device icon and consumable slots in the menu
  
• UI: Fixed stats and condition tooltips sometimes still being shown on screen after changing ships
  
• UI: Using dedicated icon for ship special in the stats panel
  
• UI: Fixed that log sometimes displayed items with the wrong affix
  
• UI: Fixed that pressing Tab while "Press Tab to Show" was shown for completed or new challenges not opening the challenges screen
  
• UI: Fixed slot focus being lost after clicking on various regions in ingame menu header
  
• UI: Fixed item sorting type 'Latest' (newest item first) not working properly
  
• UI: Fixed "Quick equip" action of selected equipment in storage inventory being broken after changing ships on Homebase
  
• UI: Fixed icon scale for devices that can't be used not being reset after being replaced by another device
  
• UI: Fixed damage numbers not shown for damage-over-time conditions like Corrosion
  
• UI: Fixed shop icon not being shown on Map for Flying Dutchess beacons
  
• UI: Fixed Ben's speaker image not showing implants after his operation
  
• UI: Fixed "Outdated Equipment" message appearing at a bad time
  
• (Exp) Fixed a bug that resulted in inadvertently easy fights against large numbers of enemies
  
• (Exp) Fixed that energy spheres would show resist marker in radiation fields
  
• (Exp) Fixed false unlock of random system regions when entering supralight which leads to Union Explorer Challenge unlock banner not being shown
  
• (Exp) Fixed being able to activate gas harvester boss from the outside
  
• (Exp) Fixed invisible forcefield spawning right above shield generators after beating gas harvester boss and loading checkpoint save
  
• (Exp) Fixed being able to damage the Okkar Corvette during "Tipping The Scales" Side Mission
  
• (Exp) Fail "The Vortex" main mission when attacking G&B at Vesna Mining Colony
  
• (Exp) Fixed colliding with invisible ships on ship dealer platforms
  
• (Exp) Fixed that fast-forwarding in travel mode affected playtime
  
• (Exp) Fixed faction standing not increasing after completing a job
  
• (Exp) Fixed fast-forwarding not pausing when opening menu
  
• (Exp) Fixed camera being inside remote drone occasionally
  
• (Exp) Fixed that the Raid Booster's "Boost After Kill" bonus was stackable
  

Greetings, Pilots!

In this actual gameplay teaser trailer, space game enthusiasts get a glimpse of the third star system that leads deeper into the mystery of the Ancients, a powerful alien race, as well as shady business being done by the Grady & Brunt mining operation, two factions that were already established in the original EVERSPACE. Keep an eye out for new natural hazards, weapon types, and a new planetary location that is briefly shown. Time to get excited, pilots!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VeBPY56nm10

Make sure to swing by tomorrow's ROCKFISH Games Show when our beloved Community Ambassador Erik Schrader will give a sneak peek of Zharkov on Twitch and YouTube from 8:00 pm to 10:00 pm CSET / 2:00 pm to 4:00 pm EST / 11:00 am to 1:00 pm PST. Chances are, things go sideways yet again when showing the latest build, plus even more spoilers heading your way, so it should be fun!

Keep it civil on the forums, and see you in space!
Michael and your dedicated ROCKFISH Games Team

Greetings, pilots!

DRUM ROLL! After being smoke-tested by daring Early Access test-pilots without running into any [major] issues and some last-minute tweaks & fixes to address much-appreciated community feedback on the experimental version, were excited to announce that we just pushed the button to release the first content update, EVERSPACE 2: Contracts/Hinterland, on Steam and GOG - WOOT! Make sure to follow us on Twitter, Facebook, Reddit, and join the Discord for future chances to jump in early on upcoming builds!

While weve already shared quite a lot in our previous info update on Steam, weve put together a 12 min explanation trailer to wetten your appetite if you dont mind spoilers, that is:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m4-SFjsXaXE

Smuggling
The biggest addition, beyond all the new contents, previously revealed on Steam, is a multi-stage smuggling mission taking pilots to several locations in Union through the continued story campaign included in this update. It features cuddly Elek helping you out, drawing enemy fire while you deliver precious, yet highly volatile cargo stored behind your cockpit seat. Meaning, better to keep your finger off the trigger and sneak around hostile units by using the environment to your advantage.


Steer clear of the firefight while hauling an explosive payload! Volatile cargo is dangerous, but it pays top rates. To stabilize hazardous goods between Supralight jumps, quick pit stops will cool things down.

Wed love to hear your feedback about these kinds of missionswe plan to add more smuggling activities in the future for all those space truckers who enjoy making extra credits on the side. Still too early to say how exactly it's gonna work, but illegal smuggling jobs might have an impact on your trading reputation later in the game. Would be dope if we even added special gear and certain ship class capabilities in the future that would come in handy for dubious tasks further down the line, wouldnt it?

Music Overhaul
Now, before you frantically click on the link to the 100+ entry changelog to find out what else is new in our first major content update, lets talk about whats under the hood of Added/Improved various music tracks, plus some general thoughts about music in video games and EVERSPACE 2 in particular.

Disclaimer: Having a great soundtrack alongside everything else were making for EVERSPACE 2 is hugely important to us. The team is filled with suckers for great music so this section grew longer than planned; Anyone who always turns off in-game music to listen to their favorite playlist on Spotify, feel free to skip right to the end with the link to the changelog; no hard feelings! :)


Meet our one-man-army sound designer & director Gero! He has been lost in music, caught in a trap, no turning back Sister Sledge-style in his sound-proved studio at our office without going nuts all by himself. For over two years, hes been composing and tweaking well over 60 tracks, mixing a plethora of iconic SFX for primary and secondary weapons, activated ship devices and consumables, distinctive audio clues about environmental events, UI actions, as well as directing and editing countless hours of voice acting. If that wasnt enough, Gero is also a veteran audio programmer, making all that in-game audio magic happen at the right time and place. Oh, he also does layout edits for the cinematics and in-game cutscenes. Its been a ton of work and its far from being finished, but as long as coffee doesnt run out, all is good, Gero assures us.

We probably all agree great music and fitting SFX has always been super important in video games. Even if excellent game audio might elevate the game to higher levels for many players just subconsciously, playing your favorite games, from 8-bit classic to the latest AAA blockbuster, without music can make you realize how much of the total experience is missing.

Now, when making an open-world space action RPG, many epic soundtracks from iconic space movies and sci-fi shooters immediately come to mind as inspiration. From Star Wars, Star Trek, and Battlestar Galactica to Halo, Destiny, and Falloutthe list of fantastic sci-fi music is endless. Expectations for a top-notch sci-fi action RPG score are very high, especially when the visual fidelity is so good. However, we dont have a AAA budget for a highly-decorated composer and full-sized orchestra to produce several hours of in-game music. Even if we did, we think it wouldnt be the right fit for this title.

So, being budget-limited and wanting to produce as much as possible in-house, we had to come up with a music direction that Gero could produce all by himself on keys and guitar along with high-quality percussion samples and all sorts of SFX from premium sound libraries. Instead of trying to produce an epic space opera score on a budget, we doubled down on Geros variety of talents and went for the iconic sound of 80s electronic pop music, like in the first installment, but with some modern EDM vibes thrown into the mix. Whatever your take is on this, we think the new music direction is the right fit for a fast-paced, arcadey spaceship looter-shooter at its core with optional exploration and other activities on the side.

If you want to read a deeper meaning to the change of our music direction for EVERSPACE 2, you could say that EVERSPACE 1 had a rock-solid foundation of top-notch space combat and striking visual but was a bit rough around its UI/UX edges, paired with a grindy roguelite game loop and a pretty dark story campaign, held back by an edgy learning curve. The game was meant to break established rules of the classic space combat & exploration genre while bringing modern roguelike elements to the mix. Hence, its unusual music direction based on 80s synthesizer sounds and 90s electric guitar riffs, combined with modern beats.

With our change of direction for EVERSPACE 2, the stakes are higher than ever. As our new title appeals to a much larger audience and is meant to be more accessible than hardcore space sims, the games audio direction had to follow suit. Consequently, fewer quirky sounds or tracks with a strange 7/8 beat hard to jam to, instead a straight 4/4 rhythm going right into your feet, with some off-beat syncopes here and there to keep things interesting. Last but not least, a more positive score is also a better fit for the heros journey in EVERSPACE 2 as Adam is growing from a formerly naive clone pilot to a real human being that finds his place in life and a goal that is worth dying for.

Now, if youre still reading and thinking man, that sounds quite boring, and I really dont like that one battle track with its boring theme and stomping Euro techno beat. Dont fret! Gero is constantly exploring his creative boundaries and with some sixty tracks already in the game and even more to come, youre bound to find a favorite track. Gero has an open ear for feedback from the community and from our team.

Ok, everything aside: Gero has been hard at work creating new tracks and sanding off the edges on tracks in progress; while there is still a lot to be done, I gotta say, the team and I are super pleased with some of his latest work for Union.

Check this out:

• All-new Union Supralight Theme
  
• All-new Union battle theme ramp up 01
  
• All-new Union battle theme ramp up 02
  
• All-new Union battle theme ramp up 03
  

• Added new main and side missions
  
• Added new player ship class: Bomber (heavy fighter)
  
• Added new companion
  
• Increased level cap to 15 and added three new player perks
  
• Added EMP Missiles
  
• Added new Outlaw units: Bloodstar Prospector, Bloodstar Overseer, Outlaw Drone Carrier
  
• Added new Bloodstar-branded equipment
  
• Added resolution scaling setting
  
• Added NVIDIA DLSS setting
  
• Added experimental HDR support
  
• Added setting for third-person camera stiffness
  
• Added keybindings for cycling through on-screen enemy targets
  
• Added batch actions for processing multiple items at once
  
• Added overview screen for data tab
  
• Added new WIP narrated cinematics
  
• Added new/hint indication marker for some menu tabs and items
  
• Added current conditions bar to ship menu tab
  
• Added dedicated mission inventory to hold mission items instead of ship cargo
  

• Manual saving is now possible anywhere while not in a fight or mission
  
• Balancing: Slower leveling by reducing enemy XP, slightly increased enemy DPS and HP
  
• Enemy levels are more varied now; enemies above player level more common
  
• Slightly reduced Uncommon and Rare drop chances for low levels
  
• There are now cooldowns when installing new weapons/consumables
  
• Homing missiles now require a short lock-on sequence, and missiles will only home in when fired while a target is on screen
  
• Reduced Augmentation bonus from 30 to 20 per Augment
  
• Increase ship slots on Homebase from 3 to 5
  
• Greatly increased resulting Critical Hit Chance bonus from Precision attribute
  
• HUD markers for discovered objects will now be saved and restored when entering a location / loading a save
  
• Modules will now always have a Firepower, Precision, or Structure bonus attribute if rarity is at least Uncommon
  
• Increased heavy ship deceleration with enabled inertia dampening
  
• Show additional offscreen damage indicators in HUD
  
• Reworked movement for most NPC ships, resulting in a less "beeline" attack style
  
• Enemies will now boost when investigating
  
• NPC ships will less likely carry the battle to the location bounds
  
• Reduced Outlaw Sniper Drone focus time
  
• Outlaw Destroyer: Now fires missiles while weakpoints are exposed, easier to spot weakpoints that now also change color when hit, more base hitpoints, higher weakpoint damage multiplier
  
• Sniper Drone will now try to keep 2km distance from player
  
• Consume at least 30% of maximum ULT charge when canceling ULT
  
• Faction item rewards will now have the player level when claimed
  
• Challenge tasks are now tracked individually instead of the whole collection
  
• Increased controller Auto-aiming strength for mines
  
• Auto-aiming will now ignore friends/neutrals
  
• Increased amount of damage needed for a G&B Freighter to turn hostile, but now always turn them hostile when a container was (mostly) destroyed by the player
  
• Changed Speed Booster Recharge Speed from 500% to 300%, increased Recharge Delay from 1s to 2s
  
• With a Cruise Booster equipped, you can now activate Cruise Mode faster (1.8s 1s) and closer to enemies (2km 1km)
  
• Increased charge duration and energy consumption of Rail Gun, slightly decreased kinetic base damage
  
• Targets affected by EMP will now receive 30 seconds of EMP immunity after the effect ends
  
• Energy Orbs: Now always floating towards the player, replaced effect bonus perk level with armor recharge, better spawn effect
  
• Slightly decreased signal decoder and color drop chances for some enemy types
  
• Added VFX to make Outlaw Armor Drones stand out more
  
• Slightly increased maneuverability while webbed
  
• Added RESIST and IMMUNE impact labels (e.g. EMP on freighters: Immune, EMP on fighters with EMP Resistance: Resist)
  
• Reduced magnitude of bonus attribute values (Firepower, Resistance, Precision, Utility, Structure)
  
• Decreased Thermo Gun kinetic damage by 33%
  
• Baron Executioner: Increased kinetic damage, removed energy damage
  
• Salvor Jaeger: Decreased spread, slightly increased kinetic damage / decreased energy damage
  
• Show "influence" offscreen indicators for npcs that are debuffing the player (e.g. webbed by Webber)
  
• Dedicated Supralight music in Union system
  
• Optimized sorting options and internal order of item property priorities
  
• Removed unnecessary amount selection for some item transfers
  
• Added small animation and highlight when selling to rebuy shop inventory
  
• Added icons and quality of life improvements for perk upgrade and the investment process
  
• Custom ship style slots now display the selected colors
  
• Hide HUD marker for items pulled with Tractor Beam
  
• Made page indicators in customization screens navigatable and clickable
  
• A small indicator is displayed below the player health bars when inertia dampeners are turned off
  
• Show "tracked" icon in pickup log on top of item icon when tracked for perks
  
• New mesh for the Flying Dutchess trading ship
  
• Freelook/orbit cam is automatically entered when activating autopilot in Supralight
  
• Autopilot can now also be activated/deactivated with target lock binding (middle mouse button is the default)
  
• Player armor, health, and shield bars now all have the same length
  
• Show energy bars in a different color when carrying an energy orb to make it more obvious that energy is unlimited now
  
• Reworked Thermo Gun projectile VFX
  
• Reduced Energized Boost "High Pressure" mode impulse to prevent physics-related issues
  
• Rigged Asteroid UI displays the currently activated and the overall amount of detonator triggers
  
• Changed name and appearance of "Outlaw Ravager" to "Bloodstar Overseer" in the tutorial
  
• The game is now also auto-saved when undocking from a station and having visited a menu or made any changes
  
• Decreased "create new energy sphere" hold duration from 3 seconds to 2 seconds
  
• Show max level info message when reaching Max Level
  
• Prevent save scumming in regards to ship and shop offers
  
• Various UI/Menu tweaks
  
• Updated Unreal Engine to 4.26, potentially fixing some low-level issues (like graphics crashes or problems with available resolutions)
  

• Fixed Bomb-Thrower re-enabling shield after death
  
• Fixed broken state when loading a save game on Ayres Relay Station with Striker
  
• Fixed player ship not being auto-repaired when levelling up while docked at a station
  
• Fixed energized boost "Compressor" mode stacking
  
• Fixed weapons not always facing straight during supralight
  
• Fixed overlapping dialogues after finishing a job
  
• Fixed finished job locations still showing on Map if they have item rewards that are unclaimed
  
• Fixed Tractor Beam sound not pausing when the game is paused
  
• Fixed camera view occasionally being automatically switched to third-person after using jump gate
  
• Fixed playing time not properly updating after crossing the 144 hours mark
  
• Fixed Interceptors "Power Converter" not using Boost Energy for charging weapons
  
• Fixed Coil and Rail Guns having the "high-velocity" affix
  
• Fixed Corrosion Injector "Mercy Kill" mode not resetting cooldown for insta-kills
  
• Fixed consumable/device keys not showing changed keybindings and also automatically refresh many icons/buttons after a keybinding change
  
• Fixed new high-risk area waypoint not immediately showing after using signal decoder at a location and setting waypoint via map
  
• Fixed "Tag Mines" attribute of Sensor not working correctly
  
• Fixed having to change joystick throttle or other axis input again after pause/resume in order to receive the current axis input
  
• Fixed Missile Defense System sometimes locking up in a loop
  
• Fixed that when trying to use shoulder buttons as modifiers for keybindings the options menu tab would change instead
  
• Fixed that activation of Signal Decoders was not possible if the max amount has been reached and one high-risk area was just discarded
  
• Fixed stat attributes not updating after upgrading an item
  
• Fixed shop discounts falsely granted for non-equipment
  
• Fixed previously used player ship in Hangar still casting a shadow when currently viewing another player ship
  
• Fixed high-risk-location icon looking different in Supralight to what it looks like on the map
  
• Fixed secondary weapon meshes being hidden after having switched to "1st person no cockpit view" and going back to third-person
  
• Fixed dialog window being transparent after plating help message was shown
  
• Fixed interact repair hold sound not stopping when moving out of interact range but still holding the interact button
  
• Fixed that EMPing a mine counted as having cleared the mine although the effect wears off after some time
  
• Fixed reactor repair costs not matching the mission amount
  
• Fixed player mines being hostile after loading a saved game
  
• Fixed minable resources HUD marker being visible after fully mining a resource and then re-entering the location later
  
• Fixed multiple bugs regarding sorting of inventories
  
• Fixed a problem that showed zero credits for all items in shops
  
• Fixed wrong rarity displayed in resource log (HUD) after taking-all-items action in containers was used
  
• Fixed inaccessible Distress Calls being shown on the map
  
• Fixed that upgraded modules may not receive mandatory firepower, precision, or structure attribute
  
• Fixed devices and ULTs becoming less powerful in higher levels
  

Greetings, Pilots!

Time to get excited about the first EVERSPACE 2 content update! Union: Contracts/Hinterland is scheduled to officially drop on Steam and GOG on April 28! As the suffix suggests, therell be new things to discover and do in the second star system. While we dont want to unveil too much, we know that many early pilots are yearning for some teasers, so here we gothere will be spoilers; you have been warned!

Weve already shared some information about the two new ship classes, the Bomber and the Vanguard, including some detailed concept art in our previous update. While the Vanguard still needs some work in the ROCKFISH shipyardits now scheduled to be deployed with the next maintenance patch after the content update has droppedwere excited to share the first in-game screenshot and some more details of the Bomber with you.


First in-game shot of a Cyclops, Bomber Class, Tier 1 in action. Although some pilots perceive subclasses in EVERSPACE 2 to be like different ship types in other space games, its worth mentioning that each ship subclass in EVERSPACE 2 will feature subclass-specific wing types as well as different perks.

The heavy-class Bomber is a bulky demolition expert with a virtually unlimited supply of missiles and mines, including the infamous ARC-9000. This much-loved secondary weapon in the first installment makes a comeback in EVERSPACE 2 as the Bombers very impressive Ultimate: It fires a massive ball of destruction that damages ANY ship in its vicinity and explodes on impact, so use it with great caution!

The Bombers Special "Conversion" is also nothing to sneeze about as secondary weapons use energy instead of ammunition. In combination with a set of random passive perks, like the ability to convert hostile mines [instead of triggering them] or reduced target lock-on duration, plus the upgradable Expertise to self-repair its hull based on a percentage of damage dealt, the Bomber allows for a unique playstyle.

Meeting An Old Friend
Its no secret that Elek, our Outlaw friend from the EVERSPACE: Encounters expansion, will have a comeback in EVERSPACE 2. As Outlaws do, our furry friend has got himself in quite some trouble.


You might wonder how Elek ended up hanging upside down... trapped in a cocoon... in a dark, spooky cave deep underground at Cephas Downs... youll find out soon!

The main mission rescuing Elek will take combat and exploration gameplay underground a notch further compared to what you have experienced in the tutorial by featuring a bigger and more complex cave with several tunnels as well as a new type of alien creature, fittingly named Cave Crawlers. While the pests are individually weak, they compensate through quantity and have some nasty tricks up their sleeve.


While you can easily splatter Cave Crawlers with any weapon, make sure to avoid the stacking corrosion damage from their acid spit attacks. Corrosion goes right through your shield and eats your ships armor and hull within seconds if hit by too many times. Better to be safe than sorry; a full stack of large nanobots might come in handy!

Once you have figured out how to make it back to the surface, Elek will drop a clue thatll help you progress further in the main campaign, leading to an all-new type of mission. Later on, Elek will join your companion roster, where youll be able to unlock and upgrade his perks.


The chance of Elek joining the fight when Adam is under attack is the first of several perks to unlock and upgrade for our furry pal. Later in the game, [i]Eleks connections in the DMZ will come in handy, too.[/i]

Veteran EVERSPACE - Encounters pilots who have fought together with Elek know him as a skilled wingman; its always good to have him flying alongside you, ready to pull yet another ace from up his Outlaw pilot sleeves when things get hairy.

However, Elek being Elek, hes not a fan of sitting around at the Homebase, waiting for you to call for help, but being busy. By further investing in your relationship, youll be able to increase chances that hell take your call. IF he shows up, his space combat skills never disappoint.

Chasing Spaceships
Some pilots wondered what those racing challenges scattered all around in Ceto and Union are all about. After all, EVERSPACE 2 is a looter shooter RPG with spaceships, not Mario Kart, right? While this loose quote from a comment on Steam about race challenges in EVERSPACE 2 might be a bit exaggerated, we also understand that racing in a space combat game could feel out of place, especially to fans of hardcore space sims.

However, our creative vision for EVERSPACE 2 is more like an open-world action RPG in space. We want to provide various gameplay mechanics that you can delve into while progressing through the game in your preferred manner. Much of these side quests are optional objectives to pursue whenever youd like to take a break from the main story campaign.

That said, we arent implementing all these different types of gameplay mechanics for nothing. Some super-duper loot will require top maneuvering skillz AND brainz to obtain. No worries, were not gonna force anyone to solve lots of complex puzzles and tight pursuit missions to progress through the story campaign la Uncharted or Tomb Raider. However, many in our team enjoy games that challenge players in lots of different ways, so we also like throwing various challenges at pilots that are up for testing their capabilities outside of established gameplay mechanics in the space combat & exploration / looter-shooter genre.

Watch out for sudden obstacles, unexpected turns, and nasty surprises dropping while chasing an informant through a dense field of asteroids.

A great example of how to keep things interesting off the beaten path are those inglorious exotic weapons quests in Destiny 2, throwing bonkers platforming challenges at Guardians before the final boss fight. At first, you might hate them, but once mastered, its all the more rewarding when that precious legendary drops.

With that in mind, look forward to a twisting high-speed pursuit within the busy delivery drone flight routes at Prescott Starbase and an adrenaline-rush spaceship chase through a dense asteroid field to test your maneuvering skills.

Ancient Puzzles
As said earlier, puzzle-solving in EVERSPACE 2 has generated a lot of feedback, especially from hardcore fans of space sims. Be sure that we are constantly reevaluating and changing things throughout Early Access. For example: In the new update, the rigged asteroids puzzles will now show the current amount of activated and total detonators. It's a small change, but it will make this puzzle more accessible without rendering it trivial. Again, no challenge, no fun, right?

Anyhow, looking at 92% positive reviews, its fair to say that the vast majority of pilots do like puzzle-solving to keep things varied, so good news for most of you: Union: Contracts/Hinterland will also introduce new types of puzzles in combination with the second boss encounter, featuring another old acquaintance from the predecessor, The Ancient Warden.


Veteran EVERSPACE pilots already know that the Ancient Warden is no push-over with his long-range hyperbolic attacks that can hit you even behind cover and its capability to teleport when receiving too much damage. Make sure you have weapons with high energy damage installed, dodge its attacks, and pay attention to the final combat phase that will be even more devastating in the confined space of a cave.

Overhauled Game Balancing
Weve heard from a few players struggling with the overall game difficulty, especially when coming from space flight sims featuring more atmosphere-style combat with fewer weapon types and ship capabilities. Some are even using HOTAS, which is a more difficult to use setup in the EVERSPACE series compared to mouse + keyboard and gamepads.


According to a recent survey on the ROCKFISH Games YouTube channel, about two thirds of space pilots prefer mouse + keyboard when playing space combat games; based on current player data, were seeing a whopping 82% playing with mouse + keyboard in EVERSPACE 2.

On the other hand, weve received a lot of feedback from pilots that the game is much too easy, thus reaching the current level cap of 14 far too fast, a point also shown in anonymously collected player data. To improve player progression throughout the story campaign and local challenges, weve reduced XP from kills, buffed some enemys hitpoints and damage output. Furthermore, drop chances for uncommon and rare items have been reduced, too.

To make things more interesting across the board, enemy levels are now more varied and more commonly above player level. Speaking of player level, we also decided to increase the new level cap to 15, enabling pilots to unlock a new set of perks:


The new set of perks is all about dealing extra damage that might come in handy when venturing into high-risk areas.

Now, to all pilots that had a hard time in EVERSPACE 2 so far, dont fret! Once weve nailed game balancing of the full game for the vast majority of players, well introduce various difficulty levels plus more granular gameplay and accessibility options to tweak the overall difficulty to everyones liking.
That said, our creative vision for EVERSPACE 2 is an open-world action RPG with looter shooter mechanics and various side activities. Meaning, just like any other open-world action RPG, anyone just bee-lining through the story campaign would not only miss a ton of content and features, the game will also be incredibly difficult.

So, we strongly recommend going for side missions, jobs and random events, solving puzzles to get more rare loot, using crafting to always have items at the current player level, and optimizing your ship and gear loadout depending on the current objective. Most importantly, always keep moving and circle-strafe to avoid incoming fire, lead your shots, and use the environment and all ship capabilities to your advantage! This is how EVERSPACE 2 is meant to be played! ;)

Additional Content, Features, Improvements, and Bugfixes
As teased in previous live streams, the first EVERSPACE 2 content update will also introduce the Bloodstar, an all-new Outlaw sub-faction with different combat capabilities, and the chance to drop special Bloodstar gear introducing set-bonuses. Heres Erik revealing Bloodstar NPCs in a recent live stream.


Bloodstar items only drop from defeated Bloodstar units and come with unique attributes that can significantly boost gear stats when equipped simultaneously.

Beyond adding new content and features, weve also tweaked a ton of things. As of writing this production update, Im counting over 40 improvements currently listed on our internal changelog, ranging from migrating the project to UE4.26 to potentially fix some stability issues, more sophisticated enemy AI, to numerous QoL and UI improvements across the board.


The all-new Batch Actions feature makes dismantling, destroying, selling, or sending several items to Homebase so much easier!

Closing Remarks About Our Vision
Thanks to a ton of great support from our hardcore fans in two wildly successful Kickstarter campaigns, over two million EVERSPACE 1 pilots since its Early Access release in September 2016, and an incredibly successful Early Access launch for the sequel, were living the indie dream. With this success, weve been able to forge our creative vision of an open-world space action RPG that everyone on the team is really passionate about, while working closely with our community to make it the best game within our financial and crafting capabilities without having to make compromises based on the agenda of a 3rd party.

Now, commercial success of a predecessor alone is not all it takes to make a great sequel. The most important thing is that everyone on the ROCKFISH Games team is on board for the journey and aiming for the same goal, which is harder than it sounds! Our team is composed of a very diverse type of gamers. While some of us prioritize deep storytelling, casual combat, and deep exploration, others mostly want to blow stuff up and maxout their loadout without too much thinking, looking behind each asteroid for hidden treasures, or watching cutscenes. Whereas some, like our hardcore players, mostly thrive on challenges that are absolutely insane, like the way Erik enjoys playing, while still appreciating deep lore and compelling storytelling.

Meaning, building accessible loot & shoot gameplay with intuitive shooter-like controls is the common foundation not only for our team but also our promise to our community. We want to offer a decent amount of depth to the EVERSPACE 2 world in various additional mission types, worthwhile gameplay mechanics, and more further down the line. We know that many design decisions may not make every pilot happy, but we hope everyone can appreciate us being as open as possible about our creative, technical, and commercial decisions.

To help digest all this new information and answer any burning questions you might have, make sure to join our next ROCKFISH Games Show on Twitch and YouTube, on Friday, April 16, 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. Chances are, things go sideways yet again when showing the latest build, plus even more spoilers heading your way, so it should be fun!

If youre new to the franchise or have waited for a great deal, this might be the time to pull the trigger: Get the first EVERSPACE installment at 85% off (DLCs 70% off) and/or the sequel for 10% less on Steam. Both special promotions end on April 21, 10am PST.

Keep it civil on the forums, and see you in space!
Michael and your dedicated ROCKFISH Games Team

Greetings, Pilots!

Our first patch including community-requested features, tweaks, game balancing, and overall performance improvements, as well as several bugfixes, is out. Steam reviews are sitting at 1700+ with 92% positive, sales are beyond expectations, and current outstanding wishlists are through the roof (as in over 3x compared to the predecessor after 30 days post-launch).

Theres no denying that things are looking really good so far. On the other hand, avid space pilots from around the globe have already burned through the current content and are demanding MOARRR! Well, thats definitely a good problem to have, and were already working on lots of new stuff.

Roadmap 2021
Our first content update is on track to be released in April, featuring various additional side and mini-missions as well as new activities taking place in Ceto and Union. There will also be new loot as well as two new player ship sub-classes.


he Vanguard is a lightweight, maneuverable reconnaissance starfighter with a high emphasis on speed, mobility, and defensive measures.

The Bomber is a missile and mine specialist with access to unique explosive weapons and warheads. Think shoot first, ask questions later

Not enough you say? We agree! Even though we originally didnt plan to add more main story content beyond whats already in the Early Access release version, we feel you guys. The cavehanger is brutal and totally unexpected, making you go: NOOOOOO!

TBH, thats exactly how I felt when reaching the current end of the story campaign. I knew I hadnt discovered every location and solved all puzzles yet. Id already reached level 14 because Id constantly got side-tracked doing side missions, jobs, challenges, distress calls, unknown signals, and high-risk areas. Good job, team!

However, I didnt move on while playtesting before the Early Access release because I didnt want to spoil my first playthrough experience for the rest of Union and instead wanted to look at our WIP game from a consumer point of view. It really left me with a weird feeling. On the one hand, I couldnt wait to see all the cool stuff to experience for myself that I have missed and be able to write about it heretheres content for 25+ hours of gameplay in the current version if youre willing to explore. On the other hand, I wanted to preserve that feeling of discovering new locations when new main and side missions will take me there once the new update dropped. Meaning, I can totally understand everyone whos yearning for more story content.


Along with new cinematics being further polished with great help from the talented folks at Puppet Works, based in Budapest, look forward to continuing the story campaign in Union, bringing back the beloved WIP TTS voice-overs (and maybe some more 4th-wall-breaking dialogues), only available during Early Access.

Now, weve also received a ton of questions about whats coming and when. We love your excitement, yet we also want to manage expectations, as adding new content and features to a complex open-world action RPG with spaceships is no joke for a small indie dev team of 25we already feel the pressure

Even though we just launched in Early Access, some media outlets are touting EVERSPACE 2 as Roque Squadron meets Diablo, being The Witcher of Spacer Shooters, Nailing Those Freelancer Vibes So Far, praising it as Descent and Privateer had a baby. No doubt, we love these kinds of headlines, but as an indie studio, we also dont want an overblown sense of hype around our game, while we also aim to make EVERSPACE 2 stand out on its own.

To manage expectations, as the hub in EVERSPACE 2s game world, Union will be the largest of our planned star systems. While some will be substantially smaller, each star system will feature a unique look & feel and offer new types of activities.


In the star system Zharkov, EVERSPACE 2 pilots will get to the core of Grady & Brunt's shady business operations when infiltrating their ranks and learning about G&B's dark deeds.

Here are the major improvements, new features, and content additions that weve PLANNED for this year:


On the EVERSPACE 2 Steam store page, weve listed all major improvements, features, and content additions that are PLANNED for v1.0. However, its really hard to share detailed milestones beyond the next 12 months [because we honestly dont know yet]. Of course, well update the roadmap every three to six months, accordingly.

Space Critters
As some of you have already seen in the sneak peek of our live stream from two weeks ago, space critters will be a thing in EVERSPACE 2:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2iReG0syyUo

Were still working on their abilities and experimenting with how they can interact with the player, but look forward to saying hello to Cave Crawlers (the name might change) in the first content update.

Ok, thats it for now. If you wanna know more, join our next ROCKFISH Recap, hosted by Erik the Shredder, Community Ambassador and ace pilot, on Twitch and YouTube, today 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. Rumor has it that hell have some all-new content to show!

Keep it civil on the forums, and see you in space!
Michael and your dedicated ROCKFISH Games Team

Greetings, Pilots!

PHEW, what a launch week! EVERSPACE 2s start in Steam Early Access exceeded our wildest expectations. So far, weve received overwhelmingly positive feedback from fans and press all over the world. After we started Early Access with more than 260,000 wishlist entries on Steam, we were very confident. However, we would never have dared to dream that we would land at number 1 on the global Steam Charts in no time and stay in the top ten for six consecutive days, resulting in EVERSPACE 2 becoming Steam's #2 top seller of last week.


Last weeks sneaky reveal: You wanted it, you got it: EVERSPACE 2 is available on NVIDIA Geforce NOW!

After a few hours, we saw over 3,000 concurrent players, which is more than double the record of the lower-priced, original EVERSPACE during its first big summer sale. With currently 93% positive reviews, we seem to have hit the bulls-eye with tens of thousands of space shooter fans. The critical consensus from the media and content creators is also overwhelmingly positive, and wed like to share a few articles and our favorite video previews with you:

Everspace 2 is close to being the new gold standard for space shooters | I like tinkering with graphs and plotting galactic domination as much as the next guy, but I'm enjoying Everspace 2's singular focus on energetic combat and exploration. Even though it's an Early Access game that Rockfish says still needs 12 to 18 months of work, Everspace 2 is absolutely worth buying when it releases on January 18. - PC Gamer

Im already heavily impressed by Everspace 2 and think Rockfish Games is doing an incredible job. The combat is excellent, the graphics look great, and the game naturally explains all of its mechanics in an extremely clear manner that makes it more than easy to grasp all of its many facets. The only worrisome thing is that, yes, youre going to lose your save if you play now. Aside from that, though, the game is very much well worth picking up, as its a blast. - PC Invasion

EVERSPACE 2 | The Best Space Adventure In A Looong Time. This space shooter brings along a single-player galaxy exploring adventure, fluid controls, worthwhile upgrades, and great combat. - Boomstick Gaming
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-HHeJKBYzf8
Everspace 2 - Excellent Already! Karak with ACG does a 5 point rundown of differences and details he likes in this 5 point inspection preview of the early access. - ACG
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SDFYTrhTWqU

Troubleshooting
As with every major launch, quite a few users ran into technical issues, especially as the game is still in Early Access. A lot of the issues discovered are on our list already; some require deeper investigation on our side; for others, there are workarounds, a few are engine-related issues where we have to rely on our friends at Epic Games.

[h2]Mouse + Keyboard, Gamepad, and HOTAS Input [/h2]
Some pilots have mentioned MKB input feeling laggy or sluggish, which was surprising since we had received a lot of praise for the tight shooter-like WASD-controls in the predecessor. Its one of the few code snippets that we didnt rewrite for EVERSPACE 2, but we made some adjustments as the sequels combat is slightly slower-paced. If you prefer a more direct input, go to settings->input->mouse+keyboard and set "mouse position" to "operating system."

If youre a veteran space pilot coming over from a classic space flight sim and just cant get the feel of EVERSPACEs primary gimbal weapons and twitchy aiming, we got good news for you: Due to popular demand, the option to have the crosshair always centered when using the mouse, as well as options to show or hide the mouse deadzone and a small dot indicating the screen center, will be available in the next patch.

If you play with a gamepad controller and are used to it, you should feel fine with at least one of the presets that you can still customize. We also invested quite a lot of time and effort into getting HOTAS/HOSAS support right from the start. While it works fine for all Logitech (Saitek) and Thrustmaster models we tested, the devil seems to be in the details. If you run into any HOTAS issues, please try disabling Steam Input, which did the trick for quite a few HOTAS pilots. If things still don't work properly, we kindly ask for your patience. We will look into these issues soon, but it won't be an easy task. We plan on opening a dedicated thread on the forums regarding key binding issues, and with your help and feedback, we should be able to find out why it isn't working for everyone.


Even if HOTAS input is preferred by only 12% of pilots according to our recent poll, we understand it is important for them. We really want to nail this, but we need your feedback if things dont work as expected and hope for your patience. If anyone wants to add their vote, the poll is still live.

[h2]Ongoing Optimization Efforts[/h2]
Before we go into the details, please bear in mind that playing EVERSPACE 2 with max settings puts a lot of strain on both your CPU and GPU. Weve done a fair amount of performance optimization, and while there is still some room for improvement, dont expect any miracles when playing on older hardware. Weve been working closely with our friends at Nvidia and AMD to performance-test builds - both rated the Early Access version with good - and utilize their in-depth feedback for further performance optimization. To get the best experience, always make sure you have the latest graphics drivers installed and try running the game with DX11 if your GPU is older than two years.

Most crash reports were submitted by players running EVERSPACE 2 at max settings on older hardware or Windows versions or on overclocked GPUs. Heres a pretty good article on how to troubleshoot. Please note that we most likely will not support Windows 7 or Windows 8 as we cannot guarantee that future versions of Unreal Engine 4 will still support those operating systems.

Pricing
One of the biggest discussions on the Steam forums and on social media is about the pricing of EVERSPACE 2 in Early Access. While we understand $39.99 / 37.99 might feel steep compared to typical indie games in Early Access, please bear in mind that EVERSPACE 2 is a AA production with a development cycle over 4+ years by a veteran team of 25, plus a handful of long-term contractors as well as additional external AAA art services. We feel our asking price is right for the current production quality and the amount of content and features already in the game. At full release, we plan to reasonably increase the price to what is common within the genre of high-quality open-world space games.

If the price is not right for you, thats totally fine. You might pull the trigger sometime down the road or never at all. To manage expectations: We plan to run only a few moderate sales between 10% to 15% during Early Access as we respect and value the financial commitment of our backers who shelled out up to $38/35 for a digital copy on PC during our crowdfunding campaign back in 2019 when we had only a prototype to show.

Now, we noticed that in some countries, the price for EVERSPACE 2 is somewhat higher, which sucks. However, much like any indie dev, we followed Steams suggestion for regional pricing, and we dont want to open a can of worms by adjusting prices in certain countries. This would inevitably cause outrage in other regions where we dont adjust the price. Constantly monitoring and adjusting regional pricing, factoring in exchange rates, and purchasing power is big publisher territory.

Disliked Features
Even though EVERSPACE 2 is currently sitting at a staggering 93% positive reviews out of 1275+ right out of the gate even without a day #1 patch, were not surprised about some negative feedback, especially from pilots that prefer a more hardcore, realistic space sim experience over our arcadey spacer shooter approach. We created EVERSPACE 2 with a focus on high accessibility and fun gameplay mechanics set in a game world with vibrant colors. Well, heres the good news first: if you prefer a more simulation-style flight mechanic to cut engines and drift through space, etc., you can already do so by binding a key for this in the customize controls menu. The action does not have a default binding right now as we don't want to confuse players who might accidentally press the key and wonder why their ship all of a sudden keeps drifting.

Now the not so good news for space truckers that are not fond of puzzles in EVERSPACE 2. In the widest sense, simple puzzle-solving, like shooting generators to deactivate shields or activating several generators on the clock to power up a service space station, has already been a side gameplay mechanic in the predecessor. Those have all been optional and were intended to add some variety to the overall combat & exploration experience while yielding special rewards without breaking the flow of playing a fast-paced arcade space shooter.

Since exploration and discovery play a much bigger role In EVERSPACE 2, we wanted to test the waters in Early Access and take puzzle-solving a bit further by having a greater variety of puzzles utilizing the new grappling mechanic. This concept was introduced during our Kickstarter campaign back in 2019: https://youtu.be/AxxRcCRo4GA
Long story short, puzzles will stay, but also know that we plan to balance the distribution of these puzzles with combat and other gameplay mechanics we add in the future. We plan to add more engaging puzzles, but the vast majority will still be optional. However, since accessibility is also really important to us, we consider the addition of a gameplay option to adjust puzzle timers.

Furthermore, a few pilots, mostly coming from die-hard space sims, find the short loading screens when entering a new location annoying or at least immersion-breaking, and we understand where you guys are coming from. We too would love to have no loading screens and will look into further optimization towards the full release, but it is not a priority as a lot of things are still subject to change during Early Access. To manage expectations, there will always be a lot of data to be loaded into memory when entering a new location in EVERSPACE 2 for technical reasons. Since we cannot hide the loading process by riding in an elevator or traversing through a tunnel, like in other games, and as streaming is probably not gonna do the trick either as you already can see the destination right in front of you before leaving supralight travel, dont expect any miracles to happen

The second "disadvantage" of having a handcrafted game world in an arguably pseudo-open space game is that locations have to have boundaries because space Well, maps in EVERSPACE 2, or locations as we like to call them, are 10 km x 10 km x 5 km in size and bigger than in any other space game featuring handcrafted locations that we are aware of. We cannot go that much further without running into severe gameplay issues at the far ends of the maps without implementing dynamic world origin shifting, which would be a huge undertaking and may even break the game.

Were not saying that isnt technically feasible; we think it is just not worth the effort and the risk. In fact, were pretty happy with the size of the locations as they are since it fits our vision to design a great gameplay experience within a controllable area, featuring great maneuvering with robust 3D collision physics while flying at high speed in open space but also inside narrow spaces, like hollow asteroids, derelict space stations, tunnels etc., precision-maneuvering in centimeters - yeah, let this sink in, its nuts, we know! :D

Last but not least, bear in mind: EVERY one of those fixed locations you can see on the map in EVERSPACE 2 was carefully designed, manually crafted, and tested by our team. For the final game, we plan to have some 100, each one featuring at least one challenge or mission objective plus various optional activities. In video game development, you gotta pick your battles, especially if you dont have deep pockets. We went for quality over quantity.

Wanted Features
The closing sentence of the previous topic is also a great intro for this one: We already made a big leap in game development by taking EVERSPACE from an indie roguelike space shooter to an AA open-world space looter shooter with RPG elements plus endgame content. We know space game fans always want more, but there is only so much we can do as a 100% self-funded team of 25.

Consequently, big features like multiplayer (PvP, Co-op, shared online space, you name it), EVA (extravehicular activities aka Space Legs), piloting capital ships, and VR support have never been on our list. There is a plethora of technical, game design, and business reasons that have already been discussed at great length for each one of them, so no need to delve into each topic again here. We are 100% committed to the promises we made in our Kickstarter, and were laser-focused on our creative vision to make the best single-player open-world space looter shooter that we possibly can. Yet again, were putting everything on the line with EVERSPACE 2, and we dont have any other irons in the fire. We dont have any filthy-rich investors, big AAA publishers, or platform holders paying our bills in case things go sideways. This is just us and you, our fans! If you want to know where were coming from, .

Outlook
With this update, we had planned to share our high-level roadmap with you guys. However, were still digesting the enormous amount of feedback weve received so far on the Steam and GOG forums (2000+ open threads even after us merging threads wherever reasonable), our discord, and social media channels. While were already working on a lot of new content and additional features, we also want to make QoL improvements based on community feedback. There is some really good stuff being shared, so keep it coming!

Now, we dont want to leave you hanging in the air with this update: System 3 is already in the works and scheduled to drop in summer because were not done yet with System 2! We still have some cool new stuff for Union up our sleeves with our first major content update in April. You can also look forward to piloting two new ship sub-classes as soon as the update drops.


Concept Art: Right now, visitors will find a side mission, assignments for various jobs as well as shops to trade goods at Noah Damaris Starport. And there is much more yet to come! Rest assured, we didnt build this sprawling beast of a station just as a pit stop.

But wait, there is more! Weve also been busy working on the first patch bringing various bug fixes, QoL improvements, and further performance optimization to be released sometime next week. Heres the kicker: Everyone can jump right into it by switching to our all-new Experimental Branch on Steam.


To access the EVERSPACE 2 experimental branch, right-click on EVERSPACE 2 in your Steam library -> select Properties -> pick Experimental Branch under BETAS. The Experimental build changelog can be found here.

So, its fair to say that overall, things are looking pretty good. And while we will keep reading through every thread no matter if good or bad, glowing feedback like the fan video below makes our day and never gets old:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NIjK5TD3Njg

Alrighty, this is it for now! In case you are not familiar with our weekly ROCKFISH Recap, hosted by our one-and-only Community Ambassador and ace pilot Erik Schrader, make sure to dock on Twitch and YouTube to watch the latest dev build in action, from 8:00 pm to 10:00 pm CET / 2:00 pm to 4:00 pm EDT / 11:00 am to 1:00 pm PDT.

Keep it civil on the forums, and see you in space!
Michael and your dedicated ROCKFISH Games Team

Greetings, pilots!

We know, we know! Waiting sucks, but it's finally happening: EVERSPACE 2 will launch in Steam Early Access on January 18 at 7 pm CET / 1 pm ET / 10 am PT.

Priced at 37.99 / $39.99 / 31.99, the game will launch in English with professional voice acting for the first 12+ hours of the story campaign and several side missions that take place in the first two star systems of the final game. The initial version will be good for at least 25 hours of gameplay, while introducing pilots to EVERSPACE 2s core gameplay mechanics of space combat, exploration, mining, puzzle-solving, traveling, trading, itemization, crafting, ship customization, player and companion perks. Youll be spending all that time in five different player ship subclasses. Lots to play with!

The full version for PC, including Mac and native Linux support, will be released at a reasonably increased price in the first half of 2022 and come with UI and text language support for German (incl. voice dubbing), French, Italian, Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese, Polish, Russian, Simplified Chinese, Japanese, and Korean.

[previewyoutube=jeBXVhuURKI;full][/previewyoutube]
After multiple rounds of community testing by some 2,000 players, and great feedback from various gaming outlets and content creators on the closed Beta, EVERSPACE 2 is ready for Early Access, and we cant wait to receive your much-appreciated feedback on the initial release version. If anything does not feel right, is missing, or you got a great idea, make sure to let us know on the Steam forum. Rest assured, we will read every single comment.

Of course, the game is far from being finished. On top of the two star systems pilots will be able to explore in Early Access at launch, we plan to have four to six more as well as several additional player ship subclasses beyond the Interceptor, Sentinel, Striker, Gunship, and Scout at launch, to be gradually added on a quarterly basis. In the final game, players will also be able to enjoy twice as much story content plus lots of worthwhile endgame activities. We look forward to working closely with you guys and gals over the course of the next 12 to 18 months to make an outstanding narrative-driven open-world space looter shooter.

If you're still on the fence to even wishlist, check out our YouTube channel where you'll find numerous streams of our weekly production videos to see for yourself where production is currently at. We also recommend giving the free EVERSPACE 2 demo here on Steam a try but please note: This demo is the Prototype from last year, so it is quite outdated. Weve already implemented a lot of improvements based on community feedback on UI and controls as well as new features and content like additional graphics settings, cockpit view, HOTAS support, and a ton more into the upcoming Early Access version.

Speaking of which, Erik Schrader, our beloved Community Ambassador and admired Ace pilot will demo the current safety build on Twitch and YouTube this Friday from 8:00 pm to 10:00 pm CET / 2 pm to 4 pm ET / 11 am to 1 pm PT. This will also be the last opportunity on our channel to win a pre-release key incl. immediate closed Beta access, so you really wouldnt want to miss it.

Anyway, enough teasing. The hype is real even for us. See you this Friday or in Early Access on January 18
Michael and your dedicated ROCKFISH Games Team

Greetings, pilots!

Todays production update will be the last for this year. Obviously, we had a different main topic planned for this one. Were fully aware that many of you still feel bummed out about our new Early Access release date, even though we have received a lot of understanding for our reasoning from our backers. So thanks again for your support!

Wed like to conclude an unprecedentedly rough year for probably all of us on a high note. Thanks to our new timeline, we got some cool new content and features to share that would not have made it into the Early Access release version (our code freeze was pushed back by two weeks, the content freeze by four weeks).

Ruins Of The Ancients
You might recall from the Kickstarter campaign that you awesome EVERSPACE fans unlocked the stretch goal The Ancients Rifts, a sector in the endgame offering extra hard challenges and the best loot in the game. In this area, you will encounter remains of a mysterious alien race first found in EVERSPACE, and youll get an early taste of whats to come in the ruins of Ancients structures scattered on an all-new moon in the Union system.


Concept art overpaint of ruins of The Ancients on Cephas II, a moon of the gas giant Cephas within the Union system. While you wont run into any Ancients yet, we squeezed a couple of their mysterious ruins in as a teaser for the initial Early Access release, thanks to the extra time.

Encountering The Ancients without any warning whatsoever was a major highlight in the original EVERSPACE. Their ability to transfer energy into matter as well as control time and space added new challenges in combat, the opportunity of fast-travel, as well as some wicked alien tech to play within the endgameall must-haves in any great open-world space RPG, right?

So, how better to introduce the mysteries of fast-travel as well as mind-bending weapon technology and devices (with a chance of surprising side effects) in the universe of EVERSPACE than utilizing some ancient alien tech that nobody seems to know much about yet, hence the generic name. But what if The Ancients turn out to be deeply connected to the established lore? Definitely not a new concept but proven in popular sci-fi classics many times before, and yet endless possibilities for adding new ideas in EVERSPACE 2

Prescott Starbase
As revealed in production update #19, the star system Union is a bustling trading hub in EVERSPACE 2. While the newly-introduced and independent Freelancers run extremely profitable businesses in high-tech gear, medical supplies, and mining resources in the clouds high above planet Culver, the omnipresent Outlaws, already known from the predecessor, make a killing by selling loot of any kind from scavenger and piracy hunts for high profit to the highest bidder at the black market of Prescott Starbase.

Think of it as a highly condensed version of an entire city floating in space with various departments, ranging from the neon-light-flooded shopping and entertainment area, the jam-packed residential neighborhood, all the way down to the industrial and dirty space harbor districtyou know the gist of such sci-fi megacities because humans and aliens are alike when it comes to basic individuals needs and business.


Around Prescott Plaza (concept art overpaint), travelers will be able to delve into all the human, as well as alien, guilty pleasures you can think of; as an antipole to the grim reality of living a harsh life in the DMZ, far, far from Earth, moral and ethics have no home in this place, especially in the uptown district.


Concept art of the casinos bar from a story campaign cutscene; this is where experienced shooters hang around when on the hunt for challenging high stakes assignments.


Concept art overpaint of the space docks at Prescott Starbase, a rather dark and filthy place. While officially under the control of the Prescott Port Authority, opposing mafia clans call the shots, literally. Even though these families live by different morals and conducts of doing business, unconditional loyalty is non-negotiable. If you need it, we have it is the mantra at this infamous black market within the DMZ; just dont ask where the goods came from. Greed for profit and deep loathing towards the Colonial Fleet and the Okkar Authorities is what holds this sizzling melting pot of questionable human and bizarre alien individuals together. For anyone good at operating under the radar and willing to play by a different set of rules, this is yet another place where to look for risky but very profitable business opportunities.

While it is still under development and far from being complete, were excited to announce that Prescott Starbase will be explorable on day #1 and that well add more functionality and opportunities to interact over the next year during Early Access.

Enemy Caster
Using an analogy from the movie industry, NPCs in video games are somewhat like actors that have to be cast for each role from a pool of talents and show up on set at the right timedefinitely not all at once, except for the inevitable cast photo, maybe.

Our systems were designed to populate locations with the occasional visit from different NPCs for both friend and foelike background actors, to make a scene lively and convincing that there is more going on in a given fictional world than what you can actually see.

No matter if watching a movie or playing a video game (especially in RPGs), its all about triggering that amazing Kopfkino to make you believe you are actually present in that fictional world of your choice. If not done right, you may not be able to put your finger on it, but you can tell something is off, immediately making you realize you are just sitting in front of a screen.

Obviously, in video games, especially in open-world looter shooter RPGs, you can interact with NPCs in many different ways. At the same time, your current loadout and stats add yet another dimension of complexity to the scene. This requires both careful level and combat design to prevent immersion from breaking, no matter what players do.

Most of the time, weve worked with groups of enemies sufficient for compelling encounters in the Alpha and Beta. However, as the game world of EVERSPACE 2 will grow a lot over the next 12+ months, so will the need for more encounter variety.

While it seems that were off to a good start with the closed Beta, keeping you guys and hopefully many more space pilots hooked in EVERSPACE 2 for tens if not hundreds of hours during Early Access and beyond is by far our biggest challenge. This is why we focus on making each location worth visiting beyond exploring and looking at new stuffwhich can get old quickly, no matter how pretty the vista might be.

To get a tighter grip on things, we established a new in-house tool (aka Enemy Caster) to help our designers in trying out different combinations of enemies within seconds and playtesting if they make an exciting challenge without leading to any unfair resultsprovided players engage within a reasonable level. That said, there's nothing wrong with feeling lucky and testing your skill boundaries against lvl +5 enemies if you so wish (Erik didn't know that we changed the tool's name to Enemy Caster as the original one was misleading).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fha5CuXiYEA
Generally, every enemy ship has its individual stats (hit points, damage output, speed, agility, etc.), all sorts of equipment as well as specific attack and retreat behaviorits almost as complex as designing for the player and can easily turn out being an even deeper rabbit hole than what it looks like on paper. However, the more shortcuts game designers are willing to take by limiting what enemies can do and which items they can use compared to whats at the player's disposal, the shallower the overall combat experience, the weaker the immersion, and the less fun overall.

Thanks to the comparatively simple player progression through the predecessors linear game world, plus not being able to back-travel made things even easier, we were able to balance all enemy stats within long spreadsheets. However, due to the much higher complexity in combat design for our ambitious vision of a top-notch open-world looter shooter RPG with spaceships, we already reached the limits of this method within the first star system of EVERSPACE 2which is why were pretty excited about our new tools. Imagine how nasty it would be if you get pinned by a bunch of pesky Webber Drones and before you even had a chance to stun them with an EMP blast and free yourself, a group of self-destructing drones or a squadron of enemy fighters would appear right next to you... Oh, wait!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6bj0HIhBuaw
Long story short, for the Early Access release, we already have quite a few more enemy types than in the Beta, and more to come over the next 12+ months. Thanks to our new in-house tools, well be able to offer you guys an even broader gameplay-variety in combat on your journey through six or eight star systems, plus endgame. To ensure that these combat encounters are properly balanced and fun for as many pilots as possible, well heavily rely on everyones feedback during Early Access, so keep it coming and share your thoughts on our discord or in the forums on Steam and everspace.game.

HOTAS/HOSAS Support
Due to popular demand from EVERSPACE players, we added rudimentary HOTAS support post-launch to the predecessor, even though it had never been a promised feature because we believed it wasnt a great fit for fast-paced 3D space shooters in general. The implementation did work but required some fiddling to assign input parameters for each model, which led to some frustration and quite a few negative user reviews on Steam. Now, to create a better experience for HOTAS fans in EVERSPACE 2, were putting more emphasis on this feature right from the beginning.

For initial test purposes, we already implemented experimental HOTAS support in the closed Alpha/Beta, which still requires some tweaking depending on your hardware and is not as robust as you can expect from an officially released product. After analyzing feedback from test pilots using HOTAS, we decided to overhaul the entire implementation completely and also add presets for the most common setups on day #1 of Early Access for the models below:

• T.Flight Hotas X
  
• T.Flight Hotas One
  
• T.Flight Hotas 4
  
• Hotas Warthog
  
• T16000M (Single)
  
• T16000M (Dual Config)
  
• Logitech Extreme 3D Pro
  
• Logitech/Saitek X56
  
• Logitech/Saitek X52
  
• Logitech/Saitek X52 Professional
  

Greetings, pilots!

Lets get the cyber elephant out of the room right away: The Cyberpunk 2077 release has just been pushed back to December 10, which is a major blow to our planned EVERSPACE 2 Early Access release in mid-December. Not only will every media outlet and content creator cover the arguably most-anticipated AAA game in history throughout the entire holiday season (and not much else), we also know that theres quite a bit of audience overlap within our community (and our team), so...

After a quick consultation with our marketing friends at Evolve PR, Plan Of Attack, and Swordfish PR, weve decided to push back the EVERSPACE 2 Early Access release to January. We know that sucks, but hear us out! Theres actually some good in this.

Closed Beta Access For All Eligible Backers
To ease the pain for backers who dont have access to the closed Beta, weve decided to send out pre-release keys to all eligible backers on November 2nd. Yes, you heard right, instead of waiting until mid-December, everyone who pledged for a digital copy will be able to delve into the closed Beta this Monday and start experiencing the first 10ish hours of what we have planned for Early Access. Of course, theres no time constraint, so feel free to melt your PC as long as you want to and share some pretty screenshots with our awesome community on our discord.

Just do us one favor: please make sure to check your spam folders before sending us messages on all channels and dropping comments all over the place if you havent received your key within 24 hours. In case you are still missing your key, the fastest way for us to serve you is by sending us a direct message on Kickstarter so we can look you up in our database with only one click and reply with your key swiftly.

Also, in case anyone is wondering, all(!) pre-release keys will be revoked when we hit Early Access, as we will send out new keys for each platform. Everyone who pledged on a digital copy for PC, will be able to choose between Steam, GOG, and the Epic Game Store (provided Epic Games accepts EVERSPACE 2 on their store, were working on that) a few weeks before full release.

Last but not least, opening the Beta to all backers who pledged for a game copy means we will get even more quality feedback from up to another 6K backers. It also gives enough time for us to evaluate and make improvements for the upcoming Early Access thanks to an extra four weeks of development time. Our entire team will have their much-deserved winter holidays to recharge their batteries and spend time with their loved ones without making a single mouse click on the project.

Crafting
With this news out of the way, lets delve into our plans for crafting in EVERSPACE 2. We have been teasing this major feature in our weekly streams for quite a while, and were excited to finally share some snippets with you guys (big disclaimer: everything about crafting is SUBJECT TO CHANGE).

In EVERSPACE 2, everything revolves around flying, shooting, and looting. To help with combat against tougher enemies, better equipment is much-needed. To give us better control over player progress in a narrative-driven RPG as well as overall difficulty balancing within each star system, we chose to have player and item levels. Accordingly, items and enemies scale in strength based on their level.

So, when you level up, you should hunt for better equipment by shooting down slightly stronger enemies or completing higher-level activities providing more powerful equipment as reward - so far, so good, RPG business as usual.



Every open-world RPG player knows, defeating opponents and completing activities at lower-than-player level might be inevitable to progress in the story campaign, but it can also be fun - who doesnt enjoy ripping through a bunch of low-level mobs every now and then? However, loot drops from lower-level opponents and activities will mostly be underwhelming. Here is where crafting comes into play, supplementing that good shoot-and-loot feeling by providing a convenient way to turn trash loot into valuable gear. This approach helps when tackling issues that especially come with the looter-shooter genre:

• Enabling players to turn otherwise worthless loot into better gear
  
• Encouraging players to try out different weapon types, especially in the early- and mid-game, before settling on a few favorites (going Beam laser only e.g.)
  
• Preventing players from hoarding items or crafting resources, so inventory management doesnt become a chore
  
• Preventing players from being under-equipped in case of RNG unlucky or them not bothering about side quests or certain activities that (might) provide much-needed powerful gear to beat the next boss
  

Greetings, Pilots!

Time is relative, indeed. For us developers, it is flying because the next major milestone is always just around the corner. But for you all it probably feels like forever until you can get your hands on the next pre-release version of EVESPACE 2, right? Well, weve got some great news.

Closed Beta Drop
We have just updated the official EVERSPACE 2 pre-release build on Steam. Alpha backers can simply fire up Steam to receive their update. Beta backers (Early Adopter Edition reward tier and higher) will find their brand new Steam keys in their email inboxes. If you dont see your key, please be patient as keys are sent out in batches. Also, make sure to check your spam folders!


Unfortunately, the new animated main menu background did not make it into the stable Beta build on Steam. We wanted to give an early look at this improvement with you here because it adds a sense of the deep exploration that all of you can look forward to when EVERSPACE 2 launches with the additional Union System and even more new stuff in Early Access this December.

So, what has changed since the previous production update, you might wonder? Well, apart from new content in the Ceto system that we want you to discover for yourselves, we made further UI/UX improvements based on the much-appreciated feedback from Alpha backers. We implemented cockpit view featuring fully functional instruments, improved the visual quality of several environmental assets and the overall performance of the build, and, of course, fixed a ton of bugs. More side missions, job variations and enemy types, points of interest, and puzzles have been added as well. Last but not least, Gero, our Sound Director, has been tweaking and adding sound effects and in-game music tracks. Basically, the Beta is a heavily revamped Alpha with a few content additions as well as more and better LOOT!

Pre-Release Key Giveaways
Now, anyone who feels bummed out because of not having access to the closed Beta, there are still a few days left to participate in a massive giveaway contest at the PC Gamer Forums with 5 (five) chances to win an EVERSPACE 2 pre-release Steam key; one of which will come with a slick Alienware gaming PC - yup, no joke!


You can win THIS just head over to our dear friends at PC Gamer before the contest ends in a few DAYS!

There are quite a few entries already, but when has an EVERSPACE pilot ever let the odds get them down? In the case you are not a lucky star on this one, there will be another run with even better starting conditions - hm, where have we heard that before?

Narrative Deep Dive
If you havent already checked it out, our Creative Director Uwe Wtherich, dropped a deep dive into EVERSPACE lore on The PC Gamer forums with a few tidbits about companions and the story of EVERSPACE 2. Give it a read! Wed love to hear what you think.


Spoiler Alert: The Okkar trader Tareen from the EVERSPACE - Encounters add-on will have an important come back in EVERSPACE 2. You'll find out more about his role as another companion in our narrative piece on PC Gamer.

Make sure to join todays official Beta reveal stream on Twitch and YouTube, from 8:00 pm to 10:00 pm CEST / 2:00 pm to 4:00 pm EDT / 11:00 am to 1:00 pm PDT, where Erik will walk you through the overhauled story campaign in Ceto and give away 3 (three) more pre-release keys of EVERSPACE 2.

The hype is real, see you in the Beta...
Michael and your dedicated ROCKFISH Games Team

Greetings, Pilots!

For any of you who might have been hiding under a rock in a galaxy far, far away, we would like to get the following major news onto your radar.

Steam Early Access Announcement
We are sticking to our promise of bringing EVERSPACE 2 to Steam first (duh!) and have officially announced Early Access in December 2020: A few minutes ago, we dropped a dopamine-rush gameplay trailer, followed by a snazzy dev commentary video by our infamous ace pilot, top streamer, and beloved community ambassador Erik Schrader, on IGN during the opening day of gamescom 2020.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XIAIXXJYmV8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lMWcd4kcgiE

RFG Studio Spotlight on PC Gamer
You may have noticed that this production update is a bit shorter than usual, and there is a great reason for that: Weve partnered with the awesome dudes and dudettes from PC Gamer for a massive ROCKFISH Games Studio Spotlight on the PC Gamer Forum, centered around an in-depth piece about the story and companions in EVERSPACE 2 as well as an AMA with some of our lead developers.

The spotlight will start on Monday, August 31, and we highly recommend that you register at the PC Gamer forum ASAP because you wouldn't want to miss out on some awesome loot dropping during the coming 30 days. Especially for those who have missed on getting into the imminent closed Beta program - hint, hint, nudge, nudge, wink, wink!

Ok, enough goofing around! Make sure to swing by tomorrows stream on Twitch and YouTube, from 8:00 pm to 10:00 pm CEST / 2:00 pm to 4:00 pm EDT / 11:00 am to 1:00 pm PDT, where Erik is probably gonna ignore my instructions once again and spoil some hot stuff for you, dang it!

The hype is real, see you in the space clouds...
Michael and your dedicated ROCKFISH Games Team

What. A. Blast! The EVERSPACE 2 alpha beat has been our biggest marketing event ever in terms of media coverage and user engagement. IGN reported over one million live viewers on their streaming platforms during the block when EVERSPACE 2 was on, and while we dont have any stats from PC Gamer, we can tell by comparing the number of Wishlist additions during those two days, the PC Gaming Show must have been absolutely bonkers.

Then there was also the amazing charity stream by Cohh Carnage, raising some mind-boggling $232K in funding for a great cause.




With over 14K viewers, EVERSPACE 2 was on the Twitch front page and drove a similar number of Wishlist additions compared to when EVERSPACE 2 was featured on the Steam front page during last years Gamescom - thanks a ton, Cohh!

If that wasnt crazy enough already, when the EVERSPACE 2 Prototype launched as a free demo during the Steam Summer Game Festival, the number of Wishlist additions went through the roof, peaking at 13K+ Wishlist additions on the first day alone, putting us at 155K+ outstanding wishes in total, which makes us quite optimistic about the upcoming Steam Early Access release in December.


Eriks weekly EVERSPACE 2 game dev and community stream also became the #1 Steam Game Festival Broadcast on that day, clocking 2.8K concurrent live viewers.

Its not just the sheer volume of new Wishlist additions though! What has blown us away the most is how many space game enthusiasts actually played the free Steam demo: we have seen well over 90,000 downloads to date, with a 70% attach rate and median playtime of 14 minutes. The daring test pilots have left us a lot of positive feedback, and also some constructive criticism for us to take forward into the Early Access game.

[h2]Alpha Highlights & Improvements[/h2]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JYOAYabEycQ
Undeniably, marketing & PR was firing on all thrusters and exceeded our expectations by far. Now, those of you who dont have access to the closed Alpha forum on Steam and didnt have time to watch any of our game dev streams might wonder how the feedback from eligible backers has been so far. Well, lets hear what Cohh had to say about the closed EVERSPACE 2 Alpha:

https://clips.twitch.tv/ManlyAmazingWalrusDendiFace
https://clips.twitch.tv/DirtyDeliciousLobsterBatChest
https://clips.twitch.tv/VainSuavePlumberOhMyDog

Needless to say, those clips are music to our ears, and browsing through tons of praise from Alpha backers on the closed EVERSPACE 2 Steam forum has also been super rewarding for us. However, constructive feedback on where we could make the game better is why we are doing all this primarily. Here are a few examples of improvements and additions that we have already implemented based on community feedback so far:

[h2]Lateral Thrusters[/h2]
The arcade-y flight physics featuring inertia dampeners are a core pillar of the EVERSPACE franchise. However, quite a few pilots have been criticizing a lack of immersion even though they understand that EVERSPACE 2 is not meant to be a classic space flight sim. To fix this, we not only allow die-hard space sim enthusiasts to disable inertia dampeners, we even implemented a visual effect for lateral thrusters on all player ships.



[h2]Display Options[/h2]
Having additional Display Options was probably the biggest wish from test pilots, so we prioritized quite a bunch of features that we had on our list anyway.


While we were at it, we also added Toggle Boost in Gamepad Options.

Of course, we are not only working on topics that were brought up by the community. We also constantly re-evaluate our own design decisions and try out new things. For instance, we felt that the game menu, the Ship Dealer screen, and perk system could be more streamlined so we made some further UI/UX changes:

[h2]Main Menu Navigation[/h2]
Based on internal feedback, we redesigned the navigation and usability of the different tab menus. You can now navigate within a screen using specific keys, which is much faster than using WASD to emulate arrow key navigation or clicking on buttons. Due to this significant change, the root button navigation and its home screen no longer exist, and you are right at the hangar when docked. Another advantage of the new design is that you can now launch into space without having to make the detour via the home menu.


The icon bar on top has also disappeared, and were now working with labels for better clarity. Were still undecided about this change as we really liked the look of sub menu icons and localizing labels into French and German might become an issue - zut alors and verflixt nochmal!

[h2]Tracking Perk Resources[/h2]
Another community request and something that has been on our list is the possibility to track investment requirements of any perk at the touch of a button: You can now have a small tracking icon for items in your inventory, so you can see which resources can be used to upgrade selected perks and by what degree such requirements are met.


Dr. Delia Wendo, the third companion you will meet during your journey, introduces another set of perks affecting Nanobots, Energy Orbs, and something else (mysterious!) that you can invest in. Basically, think of her being a doctor for the well-being of your spaceship.

Other than these, we are working away on finalizing the Alpha and heading towards the closed Beta release, scheduled for September. This includes balancing (always balancing!), bug fixing (always bugs to squash!), adding more polish to System 01 aka Ceto, among other things.

[h2]Introducing Star System 02 aka Union[/h2]
While we are working on bringing all Alpha content and features to Beta level, we have also been busy creating new content for Union, the second star system in EVERSPACE 2.

As some of you know from our weekly streams, Ceto serves to introduce pilots to the basic gameplay mechanics and set the tone for the story campaign. It already offers quite some freedom of how to progress through the first ten or so hours of the game, but Union is where the game world of EVERSPACE 2 really opens up.


Our vision of a bustling mega trading station within a massive formation of space clouds.

With trading playing a bigger role in Union, smuggling opportunities arise. Whether you are involved in transporting illegal goods or looting a freighter, criminal acts against the local authority will result in the Okkar jumping in and handling the situation as they see fit. Gear yourself up for a hard fight as the Okkar might chase after you if you manage to jump away. Or maybe you deliberately provoked them so that your wanted level increases. The Okkar will eventually send in their biggest battleships for you to challenge.


...still work in progress, but we think you can feel it already.

Lore-wise, this system is controlled by all sorts of freelancers who are organized in various sub-factions and individuals specialized in interstellar trading. Union is the bustling hub of Cluster-34 with numerous space stations, trade routes, and even a vibrant port city. It is also an area of rising conflict between different factions clashing in their attempts to shape the future of the DMZ (demilitarized zone). Adam will get caught in these struggles while trying to figure out his own role in it all. New side missions await, new challenges and lots of new secrets just wait to be discovered.

If you are as excited about Union as we are, make sure to join todays stream on Twitch and YouTube, from 8:00 pm to 10:00 pm CEST / 2:00 pm to 4:00 pm EDT / 11:00 am to 1:00 pm PDT where Erik will give you a taste of some of the new stuff that we have been working on. Did we mention there will be giveaways of pre-release keys, too?

The hype is real, see you in the space clouds...
Michael and your dedicated ROCKFISH Games Team

Greetings, Pilots!

After the closed EVERSPACE 2 Alpha was rolled out to eligible Kickstarter backers just a few days ago, our community ambassador and ace pilot Erik Schrader aka @Giraffasaur will take the latest version for another spin to show you a few more missions, discuss the first round of community feedback and share some gorgeous fanart as well as a few things that we are currently working on.

We also got good news for avid test pilots who missed the deadline for getting into the closed Alpha and Beta program as we will giveaway three EVERSPACE 2 pre-release Steam keys during today's stream on:

https://twitch.tv/rockfishgames
https://youtube.com/rockfishgames
https://mixer.com/rockfishgames

In case you cannot make it today, don't you worry: we will continue running this kind of events every Friday, 8:00 pm to 10:00 pm CET / 2:00 pm to 4:00 pm ET / 11:00 am to 1:00 pm PT.

See you in space
Michael and your dedicated ROCKFISH Games Team

After some back and forth with a few of our most important media partners, the roadmap for the EVERSPACE 2 Closed Alpha release finally stands - WOOHOO! While our team is still working hard on some final touches, you can start getting excited about the awesome online events that we have lined-up.

Before we get into details of the roadmap, let us share a high-level overview of the already included features: the Closed Alpha will give eligible backers access to approximately 10 hours of gameplay including a story beat and free exploration, culminating in the first star systems boss fight. In addition to new Ship Devices and Ultimate Abilities, you will be able to explore the all-new pilot and companion perk system.


While pilot perks are level-based, companion perks can be unlocked through various resources you gather along your journey.


Through main storyline content, scripted side missions, and various jobs, you will be able to reach the Closed Alpha cap of level 10. New ships, NPCs, and equipment have also been added for you to discover as you explore even more regions in space, planetary locations, and cave systems in the games first solar system.


There are lots of handcrafted locations to discover in the first solar system; some wont even be on your radar until you stumble across them.


The Closed Alpha is English-only, with plans to localize in French, Italian, German, Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese, Polish, Russian, Simplified Chinese, Japanese, and Korean at full release. Quality narrative cutscenes and text-to-speech mission dialogues will serve as placeholders until Steam Early Access.

[h2]Alpha Drop Roadmap[/h2]
In a few hours from now, Erik, our dedicated Community Ambassador, will have the pleasure of kicking things off with a tasty sip of that First Flush backer reward with the revamped tutorial and one or two missions of the main campaign. Same place and time as always later today. The stream will be featured on the Mixer front page, so please give everybody on Mixer a warm welcome to our great community.

Later today, around 11:30 pm CEST / 5:30 pm EDT / 2:30 pm PDT, we will have a big appearance on IGN dropping our first(!) Alpha gameplay trailer, followed by a 15 min interview, hosted by Brian Altanao aka @AgentBizzle, at IGNs Summer Of Gaming with some Alpha gameplay footage spliced in.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WYJ3t9PT6bg


On Saturday, June 13 at 9:30 pm CEST / 3:30 EDT / 6:30 pm PDT, youll be able to watch a 30 min hands-on demo of the Alpha with Erik on The Escapist Indie Showcase before the official Alpha Gameplay Trailer will drop on PC Gamer during the PC Gaming Show at 8:58 pm CEST / 2:58 pm EDT / 11:58 am PDT sharp. Keep your eyes peeled for yet another teaser that will drop on https://twitter.com/everspace_game right after we had our gig on IGN, later tonight.

After all that teasing, Alpha pilots should be well-prepared to find their pre-release Steam key in their inbox (make sure to check your spam folders!) Monday evening CEST / afternoon EDT / morning PDT, on June 15.

Now, if some non-Alpha pilots are having second thoughts and would like to upgrade their pledge, shoot us an email to info@rockfishgames.com, and well see what we can do for you. Mind you, as soon as we have rolled out the Alpha keys, doors will be shut for buying into the Alpha and Beta program due to Valves Terms of Service for Steam.

We also have good news for all those who missed backing the game or could not afford it for one or another reason: There will be several giveaways over the summer, made possible by some of our media partners. We are excited to announce that top streamer and EVERSPACE superfan Cohh Carnage will kick-off our EVERSPACE 2 giveaway campaign with 10 pre-release keys during his upcoming charity stream on this Twitch channel on Monday, June 15, starting at CEST 2:00 pm / 8:00 am EDT / 5:00 am PDT.

Also on Monday, our German-speaking pilots can look forward to a 60 min live interview on GameStar with our a-gazillion-tasks-juggling project manager Caspar, hosted by Christian Schneider aka @GrummelFritz, starting at 8:00 pm CEST.

Now, there is only one thing left to do: Join us for todays Alpha reveal stream on Twitch, YouTube, and Mixer from 8:00 pm to 10:00 pm CEST / 2:00 pm to 4:00 pm EDT / 11:00 am to 1:00 pm PDT!

The hype is real, see you in space...
Michael and your dedicated ROCKFISH Games Team

[h3]The rumors are true: planet exploration is coming to EVERSPACE 2[/h3]

Keep your peeled for our planetary combat gameplay trailer at PC Gaming Show on PC Gamer, June 6

Also, the closed Alpha will be starting very soon! So, last chance for sending us an email to info@rockfishgames.com to get involved before program doors will be shut for any further test pilots until Early Acces in December 2020.

Fly safe!
Michael & dedicated ROCKFISH Games Team

Greetings, Pilots!

We hope everyone is doing alright during these challenging times. Fortunately, the entire ROCKFISH team and our loved ones are safe & sound. We are incredibly grateful that we can work from home, and for the fact that we are still in a financially comfortable position so we can continue working on EVERSPACE 2. Sure, we're losing a bit of steam as up- and downloading tens of gigabytes of graphic assets and test builds to and from the cloud is no joke. What used to take minutes can now take several hours. Our communication is also a bit slower, but considering the situation the world is currently in, we can be very pleased with the progress we're making.

As we dont expect this crisis to be over any time soon, we decided to run more Prototype code giveaway campaigns like we currently do on Bleeding Cool, LogitechN, Critical Hit Gaming, PCGamesN to compensate for missed opportunities to demo the alpha and beta version of EVERSPACE 2 to our fans, content creators, and the media. Make sure to also follow us on Twitter, so you won't miss out on any future goodies.

New Concept Art
As we promised a much bigger game world in EVERSPACE 2, we have been hard at work producing a lot of new concept art pieces. Some of you have already seen them in our weekly dev & community streams on Fridays, but wed like to share them here, too, so none of you fine space pilots miss out on anything.


The Outlaw Viper fires corrosion missiles from afar. When closing in on its target, it switches to drone behavior and folds out its armor to fire with a battery of scatterguns while orbiting around its prey - snakey!


Armed to its teeth and heavily plated, the Outlaw Dreadnought is the Frigate-style capital ship of the Outlaws. Because of its massive armor, it is almost impossible to destroy it from afar. Pilots need to dodge its high-frequency output of barrel bombs and horrifying plasma thrower turrets to find a weak spot, fly inside and take it out with a critical hit deep down in its belly and get out without being caught in the nuclear blast.


The Colonial Light Cruiser is a true masterpiece of high-tech in sci-fi warfare: It is equipped with rapid-firing rail gun turrets that do not overheat as well as EMP bombs with an enormous blast range. Thanks to its fighter hangar, the capability of making several consecutive long-range hyper jumps, and sneaking up on its target in almost undetectable stealth mode, it is perfectly suited for taking on expansive spec ops missions.


The Carrier is the pride of the G&B Fleet. To compensate for its low mobility, it not only features a super durable hull underneath massive plating, but a small fleet of fighters and drones can also launch from openings in the hull on each side to keep attackers at bay. Those hangars also serve for mining and supply vessels to land. Consequently, security measures and defense systems are extremely sophisticated to prevent any introducers from sabotaging the carriers supralight energy coils and its plasma turbines.

Hi-Res Player Ships
As you already know from a previous production update here on Steam, all player ships in EVERSPACE 2 are based on a modular component system that allows for a large number of different combinations of hulls, wings, sterns / rear engines, cockpits, and attachments.



To prevent having just a bunch of generic-looking player ships, we spent a lot of time and effort in defining distinctive design rules for main and sub ship classes, as well as for all the ship components, so you can easily tell which sub-class a certain ship model belongs to.



But thats not all! Thanks to our new texturing and modeling techniques, using floaters, decals, and emissive materials, you will also feast your eyes on much higher per-pixel details on the exterior and interior ship surfaces in addition to customizing your vessel by choosing primary, secondary and tertiary colors, which will impact the color of your ships glowy bits, too. We have even more ideas for further customization features and will share more when they are fleshed out.



Ship Devices And Device Modes
Devices in the original EVERSPACE were items that would drop as loot from various sources and could be installed into your ship's device slots. They came in two flavors, active and passive. While active devices needed to be activated in order to apply their effect, passive devices would provide permanent stat bonuses or other benefits while they were installed.

The similarity to skills you know from traditional RPGs has not escaped us, of course. That's why we want to take this idea further in EVERSPACE 2 and have decided to link the devices directly to the player progression. That means that once found, devices will remain unlocked and can be accessed and installed at will. Passive devices were replaced by the equipment items you install into your ship, such as platings, energy core, etc.


New Devices and Device Modes offer a variety of combination possibilities and synergy effects for pilots who want to get the most out of their spaceship.

A further novelty over the predecessor are the so-called Device Modes. These are passive extensions that alter the function of a device to varying degrees. A maximum of three modes can be unlocked per device and only one of them can be active at a time. To unlock device modes, you will need special tokens that can be obtained, for example, through level-ups or as a reward for missions. The idea behind Device Modes is to allow you to tailor your build to your taste through complex synergies with other devices, perks, items, etc.

For example, there is a new device called Annihilator Virus that infects targets with a system virus that spreads to nearby enemies and causes a massive explosion once the timer ends. One of its device modes causes it to deal increased damage for every debuff active on the target. Now, if you use your EMP Generator right before the virus explosion, the target will receive extra damage for the EMP debuff. The EMP Generator, on the other hand, has a device mode that causes affected targets to lose shield hitpoints over time. Since this is another debuff, the explosion will deal even more damage.

This is the kind of decision-making we're aiming to promote with these systems, and we would love to hear your thoughts about it on our Discord server, our EVERSPACE forum, or in the comments below.

Planetary Locations
Being able to explore new and strange planets has always been one of the biggest dreams for many space game enthusiasts. In space simulations, where exploration for hundreds or even thousands of hours is the main pillar of the game, there is no way around procedural world generation, and weve already seen some great examples for this concept. However, there are some fundamental downsides to it.

For starters, working with high-quality, pre-baked global illumination solutions in procedurally-generated environments is not possible, especially if the game world is truly seamless. Secondly, game designers have much less control over gameplay and environmental design in procedurally-generated game worlds, which only gets worse when trying to implement a proper story campaign, featuring cutscenes and scripted events. In fact, we spent a lot of effort and time managing randomization and player frustration in the original EVERSPACE.

Since we dropped the roguelike formula in favor of a persistent open world with fixed handcrafted locations in EVERSPACE 2, we can now take the overall experience to a whole new level, especially on planetary locations as you can see in this (too large to upload here).

However, having handcrafted planetary locations with super hi-res height maps, high-quality illumination solutions, large set pieces featuring lots of surface details as well as lots of interesting activities going on in the sky and on the ground, comes at a price: They not only take a lot of time and effort to create, they are also very memory-heavy.

To manage your expectations: We really want to prioritize those features mentioned above. What it means though is that we're not able to implement a large number of explorable planets, rather, we're focusing on a few that are most important to the story and the overall game experience. Also, there is no way around the fact that these sections will impact load times by a few extra seconds but hey, we like to think seamless atmospheric descending is totally overrated anyway.

So, if you want to see more of the all-new planet locations in-game as well as Ship Devices and Device Modes in action, check out our dev & community stream:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OJUCI_kuP5M

Take care and stay safe!
Michael and your dedicated ROCKFISH Games Team

Cockpits
Fast-paced combat in open space as well as inside of interior locations will remain the main pillar of the EVERSPACE franchise, so location awareness in 3D space as well as strafing quickly in any direction is key to survival. This is a reason why playing in 3rd person view is advantageous. However, we know from the predecessor, there is also an avid group of space pilots who put game immersion above everything else so were spending quite some effort on designing detailed cockpits with fully functional instruments for each player ship subclass. Lets have a look:


Early concept art of light fighter cockpit interiors focusing on maximal FOV and minimal obstruction by display panels.


With its focus on forward-oriented combat at high speed, cockpit interiors of the medium fighter class resemble the layout with centralized instruments in military jet fighters of the 21st century.



At the price of a partially constrained view, ships of the heavy fighter class will feature sturdy cockpit interiors equipped with large displays, making pilots feel always comfy and not lose control even when taking a few frontal hits...



3D modeling of the Interceptor cockpit.

You can see in the early concept art above that each cockpit interior is based on the exterior geometry of each subclass, so when swapping views the transition between exterior and interior looks accurate. The distinctive cockpit designs will also make you immediately aware of which subclass you are currently piloting.

As the cockpit system is modular, it even allows us to display certain parts of the geometry based on the ships tier, class or subclass. So are the positions of the display panels, whereas the interior materials will be based on the color scheme of the ship.
Similar to the original EVERSPACE, we'll have special effects displayed on the cockpit's windshield based on the status of the ship, like the current damage and shield level. We also plan to display vital information on the cockpit displays so that you can even play without any HUD elements for the ultimate immersion of space piloting.

State Of VR
Now, before some of you ask: We still havent decided if we will support VR at some point. All we can say is that based on the experience from the predecessor, supporting VR is a ton of work for many reasons (like overhauling the UI, rebalancing the game, optimizing to demanding VR specifications) for a total addressable market of presumably close to 35 million on PC and console.

At first sight, that number doesnt look too shabby. However, the technical requirements for VR, as well as significant fragmentation issues and major marketing challenges, have to be factored in.

To elaborate a bit further, optimizing for PSVR on a regular PS4 all the way to the brand new Valve Index with its proprietary VR controllers takes even more effort than porting a typical PC game designed for mouse + keyboard input to also run console with proper gamepad controls from last-gen to current-gen and even to the next-gen.

On the marketing side of things, we have seen non-VR players who ignore or hesitate to buy games with a VR tag. While on the other hand, quite a lot of VR players miss or have trouble altering graphic settings in games with optional VR support, resulting in negative reviews and complaints about performance issues in VR, which of course hurt overall sales. Last but not least, it would actually be hard to justify to our entire community if we spent a lot of development resources exclusively on a feature for a comparatively small group of players.

Therefore, we decided to look at VR as a separate platform that requires a solid business case to make it worthwhile to support. Long story short, EVERSPACE 2 for VR is currently not on our list, but who knows what kind of deal might happen in the future?

Assault Fighter Redesign
As you have probably seen in our vlog about player ships, we also spent a lot of time and effort on making sure that our modular design approach does not lead to a pool of generic-looking ships. Our mantra is that every model has to look slick and distinctive but also fit in its subclass. While we were very pleased with the community feedback on our ship designs so far, we felt the original bi-wing design of the Assault Fighter was underwhelming if not a bit awkward, so we decided to come up with a redesign.


Aero spikes on spaceship engines? Yes, please!

Apart from that, the redesigned Assault Fighter is our new favorite player ship, and we would love to hear your feedback in the comments below or on Discord.

Ultimate Abilities
Whats a looter shooter without a devastating superpower attack that you can unleash to gain back the upper hand when under great pressure...? Exactly! Think of your class-based Super in Destiny or Ultimate in Anthem, Overwatch or any MOBA.


The ULT ability Static Overload temporarily turns the Sentinels primary weapons into lightning guns, firing arcing electricity at enemies and everything around them - annihilate by electrocution, that is.

For those who are new to this, here is how itll work in EVERSPACE 2: Ultimates (ULTs) are special ship abilities that can be activated to unleash a mighty offensive or defensive power. They need to be charged by shooting down enemies, or, later in the game after the right perk has been unlocked, they can also be charged by other means, e.g. by collecting energy orb remains or getting hit by lightning.

Each Ultimate is tied to a specific ship subclass, designed to exploit its full potential. For example, a certain heavy subclass might have an energy shield that reflects incoming shots back to the attackers, while one of the light subclasses unleashes a power that allows the ship to quickly teleport between targets, leaving behind a shredding energy trail, corrosive mines or web fields.

Sounds very exciting, right? Well, if you want to see more of the new cockpit interiors, how the Assault Fighter blockout looks in-game, and also get a taste of the Sentinels Ultimate electrocuting waves of enemies, watch the archived dev stream:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PzHvKydVhXY

Also, don't miss today's dev & community stream covering yesterday's EVERSPACE 2 production update about handcrafted planetary locations, hi-res player ships, RPG-style ship devices & devices modes, and new NPCs on Twitch, YouTube and Mixer from 8:00 pm to 10:00 pm CEST / 2:00 pm to 4:00 pm EDT.

See you online,
Michael and your dedicated ROCKFISH Games Team

In this production update, weve got cool new drones, hot UI improvements, and some scalding concept art pieces for you to look at. But before we move on to those, wed like to give you an update where development of the Early Access version is currently at and how the Prototype was received by some four thousand test pilots and the press.

Given the positive feedback, we had received on the early demo version at various gaming conferences, we were quite optimistic about releasing the Prototype out in the wild. However, letting our superfans take it for a spin on all sorts of hardware setups and without us being able to watch over your shoulders is another thing, so were extremely happy that we have received nothing but overwhelmingly positive feedback from our fans and the gaming press alike.

Anyone who missed out on pledging on the Prototype, go check out the #gallery channel on our Discord! There are some truly amazing screenshots from the community as well as yet another awesome fanvid from lol_bye on our YouTube channel:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JNxe5zL5oC4

While the Prototype was rolled out a while ago, weve been busy cracking on the Closed Alpha, which is still scheduled to be rolled out to eligible backers around the end of May. Were making good progress on creating the game world and implementing the main missions. We already had a lot of fun during the first internal playtest last Friday and plan to share some gameplay footage in future development updates for your viewing pleasure.

New Drones
If you have played the original EVERSPACE you may have noticed that drones were more of a thing than in any other (space) game. Due to our limited budget back then, we could not afford to create a plethora of high-detailed enemy spaceships. However, having a lot of opponents with a broad range of behaviors was paramount to keep things interesting, especially for a roguelike. So, coming up with many types of different drones was the way to go.

While we now have a bigger budget for EVERSPACE 2, we still like the concept of throwing even more enemy types with all sorts of capabilities at you while keeping our production costs at bay. So, without further ado, say hello to our latest drone family members:

[h2]The Advanced Outlaw Sniper Drone[/h2]


The Outlaw Sniper Drone uses a targeting laser to focus on enemies from afar. If the line of sight is not interrupted for a couple of seconds the target will be hit by a deadly rail gunshot. If you are quick enough you may be able to evade the shot, but your main strategy should be to take cover before the drone fires. Close in on the drone while avoiding being in the open for too long in order to take it down or turn the tables and snipe it with a rail gun yourself.

[h2]The Outlaw Detonator Drone[/h2]


This drone is packed with devastating explosives, and it only has one goal: to close in on a hostile unit and crash into it, triggering a huge explosion. Luckily, the Detonator Drone is quite noisy once it settles for a target, so you will at least hear that its about to annihilate you if you do not initiate countermeasures immediately.

UI Improvements & Novelties
In our previous update, we already had a sneak peek of some UI tweaks for item management. Today, we are excited to share even more improvements as well as some entirely new screens with you.

[h2]The Station Home Screen[/h2]


A top-level screen that offers specific menus depending on the pilots specific docking situation. It serves for quick navigation for both mouse and gamepad users. You can see at a glance which interactions and services are offered.

[h2]The Storage Screen[/h2]


Storage and Inventory are now separated for more clarity and better item management. There is also a revised Item Info window with current stats showing more details than before.

[h2]The Ship Dealer Screen[/h2]


Some stations or traders will offer to purchase ships. This interface was designed to have maximum screen real estate for showing off your new object of desire in all its beauty. Ship details are available in two modes, simplified and detailed. This is the simplified version.

[h2]The Job Board Screen[/h2]


The job board is a job board is a job board. Pilots can get jobs here, who would have thought? The purple highlight marks jobs that are above the player's level and therefore potentially difficult. On the right side, you can see the rewards for the job as well as a small preview of the standing of the respective faction you're doing the job for.

[h2]The Ship Screen[/h2]


Similar to the inventory screen, you can modify your ship on this screen and view the vessels properties. However, elements such as upgrades, extensions, appeal, and perks are still subject to change. Again, ship details are available in two modes: simplified and detailed. This is the simplified view - take it with a pinch of salt.

Cinematics Teaser
Another area where we had to make some compromises for the predecessor because of budget limitation was lore and storytelling. That said, we still take pride in having innovated by introducing a proper story campaign including event-based exposition to the roguelike genre for the first time ever. We highly encourage any space pilot to play through the very end of the story in the original EVERSPACE as there is more to its plot as you might think at the beginning.

Thanks to your fantastic support, we are now able to work with Joshua Rubin, some of the finest in video game storytelling, to tell an even bigger story within a world full of exciting lore in EVERSPACE 2. Of course, we dont want to unveil any secrets or spoil major plot points, but we think it is ok to tease you a little with some gorgeous looking concept art for the cinematics, right?

[h3]Clone Chamber Concept Art[/h3]


[h3]Katopalace Concept Art[/h3]


[h3]Penthouse Concept Art[/h3]


[h3]Control Room Concept Art[/h3]


So, we hope you like what you see. If you want to know more, especially about everything that comes with the new screens, check out our latest game dev stream where Erik, our fabulous Community Ambassador, shares more details and gives a sneak peek of the first mission, too: https://youtu.be/YKEAK2tWUTk?t=4022

Enjoy, and see you in space!
Michael and Your dedicated ROCKFISH Games team

Catching up with the state of development: In the full version EVERSPACE 2, there will be at least eight star systems, each divided into zones with different threat levels and featuring numerous hand-designed locations to discover, between which players can travel freely. Further surprises await daring space pilots in the form of procedurally generated locations styled after those in the first EVERSPACE title, offering even greater variety for player pilots.

The combination of fixed, hand-designed and procedurally generated locations and events with ingenious design rules offers the best possible gaming experience while allowing a vibrant and stunningly beautiful game world with countless trading stations, shipyards and secret locations in a visual quality that is not possible with purely procedurally generated game worlds.

One of the biggest fan wishes to be able to fly down to planet surfaces is now also fulfilled in EVERSPACE 2. Planetary levels are designed by hand for maximum visual quality and gameplay control. Differences in gravity and air resistance as well as new types of enemies put the skills of pilots to the test, and provide further variety before players tackle new missions on ground stations, equip their ship or trade. Watch our game dev vlog below for more:

https://youtu.be/n-9fBi0uWNw

Enjoy, don't forget to wishlist, and see you in space!
Michael and Your dedicated ROCKFISH Games team

A common critique about our previous game was that there were not enough enemies and other alien creatures to encounter. This can be explained by our limited budget back then but also due to the fact that not too many pilots made it to later sectors where more baddies and other surprises awaited (yes, normal difficulty in a roguelike can be tough, especially for players who are new to the genre, but there really is no shame to play on "easy").

In EVERSPACE 2, we want to take things a lot further. Not only will we improve the visual quality of the established NPCs and alien creatures of the predecessor with the aid of the talented folks at Volta, Streamline Studios and Liquid Development. We also want to have new types of enemies and more wicked wildlife in space that might freak you out, make you smile or just scratch your head

https://youtu.be/AxxRcCRo4GA

Dont want to wait until late 2020 to play EVERSPACE 2 on Steam Early Access?
Support us on Kickstarter and play the demo later THIS YEAR!
https://www.everspace.game/go/kickstarter/es1steamnews

Due to our limited budget for the predecessor, we only had three vessels in the base game to choose from and added one more in the Encounters expansion, but we took great care that each of them offered unique play styles, much like classes in an RPG.

While the gameplay diversity of player ships in the original EVERSPACE was much appreciated by our fans, having a much bigger pool of spaceships with deep customization possibilities was in high demand by the community for our next space game. Well, we heard you loud & clear, so check out our latest vlog!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Sf320epLNg

Dont want to wait until late 2020 to play EVERSPACE 2 on Steam Early Access?
Support us on Kickstarter and play the demo later THIS YEAR!
https://www.everspace.game/go/kickstarter/es1steamnews

With EVERSPACE 2, we're making a big leap from a roguelike to an open-world space shooter RPG with a 20-30 hour story campaign. Check out our first vlog giving you a glimpse of the expanded game world and the story of our upcoming game. Our creative director, Uwe Wtherich, will lead you through the beginning of the story in EVERSPACE 2 and the in-house production of the animated cinematics:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uA8YM8dGDdc


Kickstarter:
https://www.everspace.game/go/kickstarter/es1steamnews

Everspace 2 on Steam:
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1128920/EVERSPACE_2/

We're very excited to announce that the Kickstarter campaign for Everspace 2 just launched! The sequel to Everspace won't be a roguelike, but an open-world space shooter with deep exploration, tons of loot and classic RPG elements.

Your invaluable feedback helped make Everspace the success it was, which is why we'd like to get you on board as soon as possible. With your support we will be able to stay in full creative and financial control and increase the overall quality of the game. So please have a look at our reward tiers and maybe help us unlock a few stretchgoals as well. We would also like to point out that anyone backing on a digital game copy of Everspace 2 will receive a playable Demo Version before the end of this year!

Kickstarter:
https://www.everspace.game/go/kickstarter/es1steamnews

Everspace 2 on Steam:
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1128920/EVERSPACE_2/

Along with the launch of our Kickstarter campaign for Everspace 2, we've just released a new patch for the original Everspace featuring a number of tweaks and bugfixes.

Here's the complete list of changes:

Tweaks

• Show energy allocation of passive devices in ship stats screen
  
• VR: tweaked the display of some HUD markers
  
• Linux: Added missing option to change the size of the HUD markers
  
• Added button in main menu advertising the Kickstarter campaign for Everspace 2. Will automatically remove itself on January 8th, 2020 (Windows, Mac)
  

• Fixed using Drone Disassembler on own drones not decreasing current drone count
  
• Fixed splitter glyph additional projectiles having incorrect range/lifetime
  
• Fixed life support damage sound still playing during game credits when winning a run with damaged life support system
  
• VR: Fixed that the scatter gun didn't have additional projectiles on max. charge
  
• VR: fixed that combat drones were lost to the player after a jump
  
• Fixed a bug where ore from mining drills would fly away out of reach right after being spawned when having tractor beam installed and being within pull range
  

We've just released a new patch with some bug fixes and one small quality of life improvement that came with the Nintendo Switch port - you can now increase the HUD marker size.

Here's the complete list of changes:

Features

• Added an option to adjust the HUD marker size
  

• Fixed time speedup bug that occured when having Time Extender activated and either destroying Okkar frigate turrets or Outlaw Snipers or scrapping a Shock Rifle Pro that is floating in space
  
• Make sure Okkar Corvettes don't flee outside of level area
  
• Fixed a handful of hardcore mode handicaps carrying over from sector 6 to sector 7
  
• Fixed that disabling TrackIR without changing anything else in the game options would break freelook until restarting the game
  
• Fixed nano injectors not working while emergency shield is active
  
• Fixed black holes not being framerate independent
  
• Fixed enemy sentinel sometimes still firing discharger while dying/already dead
  
• Fixed that a new run couldn't be started in the hangar, if the player was on the codex tab
  
• Fixed that rotating the ship in the color selection screen with gamepad would also change the color selection
  
• Fixed that the health of the player's drones could go above 100%, and that they sometimes weren't spawning again when loading a savegame
  
• Fixed being able to use drones while "no consumables" hardcore mode handicap was active
  
• Fixed deadlock when a progress bar success type message was removed from viewport while equipment selection wheel was opened
  
• Fixed localization issues of some ship wreck logbooks
  
• Don't offer additional primary weapon slot at tuning stations when having ancient weapon glyph equipped
  
• TrackIR: fixed that the crosshair was positioned and clamped incorrectly on ultra-wide resolutions
  
• VR: fixed rendering artifacts on the cockpit in some orbits
  

We've just released a new patch with some smaller tweaks and a number of bugfixes. We've also added a special "retro graphics" graphics mode that you can unlock as a reward for finishing a hardcore mode run! Have fun!

Please note that there's a delay for the Linux version, we'll hopefully be able to release the patch on Linux later this year.

New Features

• Added special "retro graphics" option that is unlocked after finishing a hardcore mode run
  

• Encounters: Nerfed Engine Booster MK2 and MK3 efficiency
  
• Increased camera range in action freeze
  
• VR / TrackIR: Unified Crosshair behavior in gamepad and keyboard mode. "Centered Crosshair" option works again in all cases.
  

• Fixed Splitter glyph additional projectiles not homing in on targets anymore
  
• Fixed blueprint drop probability for higher tiers being too low if no more tier one blueprints are available
  
• Potential fix for Okkar Corvettes and Outlaw Drone Carriers occasionally bouncing away when destroyed
  
• Fixed a bug where it was possible to accidentally overwrite normal mode perks with hardcore mode perks
  
• Fixed Grey Goo damaging player from greater distance if player has a tractor beam installed
  
• Fixed hardcore mode "Anti Consumerism" handicap carrying over from sector 6 to sector 7
  
• Fixed that the "Unarmed" challenge could be exploited by using Headstart enhancement
  
• Fixed that the gamepad icons for aiming weren't displayed in the tutorial
  
• Fixed using cloak while in cockpit view hiding clouds, plasma fields and holograms.
  
• Fixed destroying an Ancient Splitter or Ancient Warden not counting as a player kill
  
• Fixed destroying objects like flood lights counting as kill for Berserker glyph,
  
• Fixed Colonial Station turrets occasionally being able to shoot through walls
  
• Fixed Beeline subroutine also affecting NPCs targeting NPCs
  
• Removed obsolete and non-working "Select Control Scheme" which somehow was there and is only relevant for consoles, as controls can be freely configured on PC/Mac/Linux
  
• VR: Fixed that the "Back to Hangar" button on the Game Over Screen could not be clicked
  

Today's Deal: Save 70% on EVERSPACE™!*

Look for the deals each day on the front page of Steam. Or follow us on twitter or Facebook for instant notifications wherever you are!

*Offer ends next Thursday at 10AM Pacific Time

Well, it turns out that along with one of the the fixes of the latest patch (1.3.1) we created a much more serious bug (game hangs when dying during a jump with not enough fuel) which is why we've been forced to quickly patch the patch...

While we were at it we also managed to squeeze in a few more other fixes:

Bugfixes

• Fixed game hanging when dying during a jump with not enough fuel
  
• Fixed a possible crash in release version when random secondary weapon slot is cleared due to selected hardcore mode handicap
  
• Fixed checkbox click sound and factory repair sound not being affected by sfx volume
  
• Fixed that when starting a new hardcore mode run before ever starting a normal run, quit to the main menu and then started the first normal run the hardcore run save was overwritten with incorrect data
  

We've just released a small patch for PC (Win) and Mac adding missing installation prerequisites for Windows and fixing a few smaller bugs.

Here's the complete list of changes:

Tweaks

• Controller sensitivity is now also applied when input smoothing is switched off
  
• Improved target locking and auto-aiming behavior
  

• Windows: Fixed missing installation prerequisites
  
• Fixed being able to navigate to and select next/previous ship buttons with controller in perk screen
  
• Fixed a very rare bug where jump suppressors could be spawned inside level geometry
  
• Fixed weird bug while dying right before jump gate jump was triggered
  
• Fixed "Denied" sound being played when using Drone Disassembler on G&B Mining Drones
  
• Good chance to have fixed rare Time Extender "speed-up" glitch
  
• Fixed that you couldn't use free-look when not using headtracking
  
• Encounters: Fixed bug in Tareen mission where items would get lost when transferring amounts of zero
  
• Encounters: Fixed that one of Karlie's missions could still be triggered even if she jumped away due to G&B being hostile
  

We've just released another update fixing a few issues and adding two quality of life improvements - A gamma correction slider and an option to hide the Everspace logo in our Action Freeze photo mode.

Here's the complete list of changes:

New features

• Added the possibility to toggle the visibility of the game logo in Action Freeze mode
  
• Added a gamma correction option
  

• Fixed player wreck retrieval not working at all
  
• Fixed "G&B Container" and "G&B Tech Container" not being localized
  
• Fixed clipping of localized "no target" text in cockpit
  
• Fixed Gunship turret shooting at targets after cutscenes although not being activated
  
• Fixed time still being slowed down if opening compare menu while shock rifle pro is charging and swapping shock rifle twice
  
• Possible corrupted save game fix: Only write real save game if backup savegame could be written and loaded
  
• Use a different sound for Colonial Warship laser turrets to possible fix sound issues on a few systems
  
• Additional save game corruption measures: Write a second player save file as backup when player dies
  
• Encounters: Fix scanning task markers showing in hardcore mode although scanning is not possible
  
• HTC Vive: Fixed that menus could be at the wrong positions / orientations in room-scale mode.
  
• VR: Fixed an Unreal Engine issue causing WMR devices to not render correctly (note that we still don't officially support WMR devices). This should also fix rendering issues when playing on SteamVR using an Oculus headset.
  
• VR: Fixed that you couldn't reset the camera in the main menu when playing with a controller and the menu wasn't focused first.
  

We're happy to announce a new patch as well as the official Linux release today! The patch includes more than 40 tweaks and bugfixes, quite a number of them are VR related. HOTAS/Joystick players will be pleased to hear that we've added an option that disables any in-game input smoothing.

See the complete list of changes below:


Tweaks

• Extended the range of the non-VR screen percentage setting to 10-300
  
• Don't spawn old player wreck after current run was won
  
• Make sure generic repair mission can only be finished after task was received
  
• Made the PlayStation controller icons more legible
  
• HOTAS/Joystick: Added an option to disable smoothing of gamepad input (recommended, set in controls options)
  
• VR (Oculus): Set the mirror mode to be full-screen
  
• VR: Pause Menu can now also be entered via the "change camera" button (default: Y on Gamepad). This is due to SteamVR now opening the Steam Overlay when pressing the Start button.
  
• VR: jumping into a new system is now a lot smoother
  
• VR: disabled any life support / sensor damage post-processing during cutscenes
  

• Make sure Ancient Wardens teleport back towards the level center after having left level bounds
  
• Fixed Gunship turret not being able to fire after a cutscene was triggered
  
• Fixed Outlaw station turrets and Colonial station turrets having no collision
  
• Fixed Mainframe Override cooldown getting set to max after overriden target dies
  
• Fixed player sensor drone not receiving shield and hull enhancer when having unlocked the respective Gunship perk
  
• Fixed that the launch button could not be triggered with a gamepad while being on the codex tab in the hangar
  
• Fixed not being able to scroll hardcore mode handicap screen with gamepad
  
• Fixed some problems with jumping during cutscenes
  
• Fixed wrong natural hazard dialog being played and Okkar being able to jump in if there is a cloud field hazard during a story mission
  
• Fixed artillery turrets in last sector showing up as friends when close to them though they had not been activated
  
• Fixed a key remapping issue that appeared when switching bindings of two axis extremes
  
• Fixed a key remapping issue that appeared when toggling alternative bindings for key actions
  
• Fixed that you could be stuck in the selection wheel if opening it while jumping into a new zone
  
• Fixed a bug where hardcore mode perks and blueprints could be transferred to normal game mode
  
• Fixed final mission bug where the mission logic would not advance if the missile was fired too early
  
• Fixed being able to use the jump target marker while in free-look mode
  
• Fixed that the audio output in non-VR mode switched to a connected VR headset, depending on Oculus/SteamVR settings (resolved by an Unreal Engine update)
  
• The screen percentage in non-VR mode is now also applied in the main menu
  
• Encounters: Fixed Randomize Mod usage on Goo Gun
  
• Encounters: Fixed that enhancing a plasma thrower could result in a freeze
  
• Encounters (VR, TrackIR): Fixed difficulties with scanning lifeforms
  
• Encounters: Fixed sound problem when hitting Okkar Fighter Mk2 frontal shield with plasma thrower
  
• Encounters: Fixed receiving credits bonus for scanning Green Goo before finishing the quest
  
• Encounters: Fixed a problem with Karlie mission 2 when reaching mining laser before the waypoint task is spawned and player is already inside check radius)
  
• Encounters: Fixed Throng achievement not immediately being triggered when returning with grey goo data (achievement was triggered after going back to hangar or main menu)
  
• Encounters: Fixed mod indicators showing for Energy Diverter although there are no mods for it
  
• VR: Fixed that HOTAS / Joystick axis inputs couldn't be assigned in VR mode
  
• VR: Fixed that the ship selection buttons in the hangar couldn't be clicked
  
• VR: Took out emergency shield effect that was distorted in stereoscopic view
  
• VR: Fixed that you could open the system menu during a cutscene, which rendered it invisible
  
• VR: Fixed that in some configurations, the screen percentage setting was reset after each jump
  
• VR: Fixed that players couldn't confirm a destination on the travel map by hitting the keyboard confirm key (F)
  
• VR: Fixed small aiming offset in mouse mode
  
• TrackIR: fixed a small offset of the crosshair with mouse controls
  
• TrackIR: "aim with headtracking" can now also be changed from the gamepad options menu
  

Our weeklong Steam Spring Sale is here!
Save 40% on the base game and the Encounters expansion and 49% on the Ultimate Edition bundle. The deal ends on Apr 2, 2018, 10:00 am.

Upcoming Patch 1.2.3
You can also look forward to an upcoming patch featuring several tweaks and bugfixes as well as improved joystick support. We’re still not quite there, yet, as we had to migrate to Unreal Engine 4.18 in order to fix several VR related issues, but we’re approaching the finish line and should be ready to release in about two to four weeks. We also hope to announce the official Linux release, then!

Stay tuned!

Cheers,
Michael

Today's Deal: Save 40% on EVERSPACE™!*

Look for the deals each day on the front page of Steam. Or follow us on twitter or Facebook for instant notifications wherever you are!

*Offer ends Monday at 10AM Pacific Time

We've just released a small patch. Here's the list of changes:

Tweaks

• Don't allow energy consumption mod on energy discharger
  
• Encounters: When dying in the Okkar homeworld, you will not be able to retrieve your wreck
  

• Fixed some issues with offline play
  
• Fixed invisible Encounters button being selectable in ingame pause menu
  
• Add more safety to preventing Okkar Forces from jumping in during cutscenes
  
• Fix Okkar Gunship MK2 occasionally hitting itself with own projectile
  
• Encounters: Fixed voice audio not being audible on Linux
  
• Encounters: Fixed re-engineering removing 3 Viridian Energy instead of 2
  
• Encounters: Fixed Coalition not attacking the Okkar
  

We've just released a new patch with quite a few tweaks and bugfixes. See the list of changes below.

Linux users please note that the update is slightly delayed on Linux and will most likely be released tomorrow.

Tweaks

• Decreased drone disassembler resource drop quality and quantity, added fuel drop probability
  
• Slightly increased energy consumption and decreased effect of target decelerator
  
• Outlaw Snipers can no longer be affected by Mainframe Override
  
• Encounters - Removed Sentinel class restriction for Seeker missile battery
  
• Encounters - Engine Boosters no longer affect ship steering sensitivity
  
• Encounters - Reduced Engine Booster MK2 and MK3 efficiencies
  
• Encounters - Randomize Mod now has a higher tendency to yield beneficial values
  
• Encounters - Highlight freight containers in Eleks second mission
  
• Encounters - Changed Viridian Energy drop chance of Okkar Corvettes from 80% to 100%, also reduced drop amount in hardcore mode
  
• Encounters (VR) - Adjusted HUD element positions in the Colonial Sentinel
  

• Fixed player wrecks neither having names nor any loot
  
• Fixed some base game voice audio missing (accidentally wound up in Encounters package)
  
• Fixed missile warnings sounds and hud markers still being present after missile lifetime expired
  
• Fixed camera being too close to ship after cutscenes when playing the game in wide format with bigger aspect ratios than 16:9
  
• Fixed flashback videos not correctly fading out when watching and skipping in hangar
  
• Fixed G&B freighters sometimes having no loot at all
  
• Fixed player drone count not decreasing when destroying player drones with drone disassembler
  
• Fixed Drone Disassembler being able to destroy drones that were not targeted
  
• Fixed player jumping out of cutscenes if jump beacon was targeted beforehand
  
• Fixed broken aiming with gamepad when "centered crosshair" was switched off in the options menu
  
• Fixed unspent credits warning sometimes showing even though there were no perks available to spend credits on
  
• Fixed incorrect display of turret mod values
  
• Fixed some mods not working properly on missile turret
  
• Hopefully prevent Ancient Wardens from teleporting outside of level bounds
  
• Fixed Mine Cluster recharging Okkar Corvette shields
  
• Fixed drones occasionally straying too far from drone owner
  
• Fixed Sensory Overload enhancement sometimes not uncovering everything
  
• Made some minor adjustments in the Polish translation
  
• TrackIR: Fixed that the cursor was invisible after cutscenes if "aim using headtracking" was active
  
• Encounters - Fixed being able to one-shot kill ancient splitters with shield-piercing weapons
  
• Encounters - Fixed being able to use plasma powered jump in Okkar homeworlds location (leading to a freeze)
  
• Encounters - Fixed a gamepad focus problem with Tareen's transfer items menu
  
• Encounters - Fixed shield generators not being damaged by Plasma Thrower and Goo Gun
  
• Encounters - Fixed Outlaw Cargo Thief stealing non-existent resources
  
• Encounters - Fixed Outlaw Marauder Mk2 turrets not getting overridden by Mainframe Override
  
• Encounters - Fixed that if factory stations were present in a sector they would always appear in the first location of that sector
  
• Encounters - Fixed Coalition spawning in hardcore mode
  
• Encounters - Fixed Device Charger not working on active devices other than the first one installed
  
• Encounters - Corrected false Italian translation of Shield ST MK2 and MK3
  
• Encounters (VR) - Fixed the player camera position in the Colonial Sentinel
  

Encounters is the first major expansion for EVERSPACE™, enriching the game world with new story characters and questlines, a brand-new player ship, freighter-loads of novel equipment, additional enemies, and much more.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qnsgKxKrvBI&feature=youtu.be

A NEW RIDE
Impress your peers with the new Colonial Sentinel, a medium fighter craft, and make use of its powerful shield and advanced electronic warfare capabilities. Mileage may vary.

NEW FRIENDS?
Play five new quest lines and meet new characters, each with their own motivations and agendas. Ever met a robot bounty hunter with a French accent who would rather create than destroy? Of course not. Or an alien scientist who sends you on a hunt for space creatures? That's right. Creatures... in space.

EXTRA FIREPOWER
Six new primary and secondary weapons, such as Lightning Guns and Plasma Throwers, will ensure continued enjoyment when dispatching your opponents. Ever wanted to barrage multiple foes at once with projectiles? The Seeker Missile Battery aims to please. You deserve this.

TOOLS OF THE TRADE
EMP Generators? Decoy Holograms? Why, yes! More than ten additional devices and consumables will make surviving Cluster 34... as hard as before. But even more fun.

THE FINAL TOUCH
If you're not too busy dying, the new G&B factory stations are well worth a visit. Here you can upgrade your ship, refine resources, and delay your inevitable fate by means of repairs.

WAIT... THERE'S MORE?
If a simple paint job didn't do it for you, why not fly in style with one of the five new fashionable ship skins? And if your journey isn't challenging enough already, we've got you covered with even more achievements. Happy hunting, pilots. Try not to die.

We've just released a new update. It comes with a few tweaks and bugfixes as well as two new devices and one new consumable. It also makes our first major expansion "Encounters" available for purchase.

New Features

• Made Everspace Encounters expansion available for purchase
  
• Added new device: Drone Disassembler
  
• Added new device: Target Decelerator
  
• Added new consumable: Plasma-Powered-Jump
  
• Added "target nearest hostile" functionality (not bound to a key by default)
  

• Outlaw Drone Carriers will no longer override player drones
  
• Outlaw hangars will no longer spawn ships if there are too many outlaws present already
  
• The ARC-9000 will no longer damage friendly units
  
• Improved Gunship turret accuracy
  
• Increased Gunship Loadout B Light Missile amount from 10 to 20
  
• Increased dark matter spawn chance around black holes
  
• Slightly increased G&B freight container loot chance
  

• Fixed a bug where the Ancient Warden would not blind the player
  
• VR: Fixed that VSync / Smooth frame rate could be set and locked to active
  
• VR: fixed that the scale and hover detection of HUD markers was based on the resolution of the mirror window
  
• Fixed Admiral Gorc codex entry not unlocking
  
• Fix currently craftable blueprint list of normal run being visible in hardcore mode hangar
  
• Fix launch problems of 32bit version
  

Today's Deal: Save 33% on EVERSPACE™!*

Look for the deals each day on the front page of Steam. Or follow us on twitter or Facebook for instant notifications wherever you are!

*Offer ends Sunday at 10AM Pacific Time

Attention, Pilots!

A major expansion is approaching fast (scheduled for end of October). It will feature a new player ship, the Colonial Sentinel, a medium fighter class ship, which will impress with some sophisticated electronic warfare capabilities and a special shield, featuring twice as much capacity as the standard model. You will also be able to use a plethora of new weapons, devices and consumables to fool, distract, and defeat enemies in new ways.  
 
https://youtu.be/oK-GoqsGKmk

All-new factory space stations add further gameplay mechanics to the game experience, by offering special on-the-fly services, like refining and converting resources, upgrading ship capabilities or minor repair jobs. Furthermore, you will even be able to pay the Okkar Homeworld a visit. Along your journey, you will also encounter new story characters, who will offer individual questlines.

More details about the content and the pricing will follow soon.

Cheers,
Michael

This will probably go down as the month of patches... Here's another small one for you:

Tweaks

• Adjusted sector 2 environment colors
  

• VR: adjusted the mouse crosshair position to be properly centered
  
• VR: fixed that the aiming could be offset in gamepad mode after using the mouse
  
• Berserker enhancement: Do not interrupt jump focus when boosting, reset kill timer when destroying shield generators
  
• Fixed "Handle with Care" handicap not having any effect
  
• Fixed player drones having full health after each jump regardless of any perks
  
• Mac: Fixed German audio not being available during flashback movies
  

We've just released yet another quick patch, most notably adding sensitivity sliders for all axes.

Here's the small list of changes:

New Features

• Added sensitivity sliders to the axis settings in the controls menu
  

• VR: changed standard mouse control mode to be independent of device orientation
  
• Set LOD scaling to less agressive values
  

• Fixed problems with rebinding the Pitch and Hover axes in one go when using an Xbox Controller
  
• Fixed wrong ship banking values in Action Freeze Mode leading to jumpy contrails
  
• Fixed that the game would switch to gamepad mode when a gamepad / joystick device was detected even though it wasn't used
  
• Fixed some issues with HOTAS/Joystick bindings that were not recognized, notably those emulated by Thrustmaster T.A.R.G.E.T
  
• Fixed Okkar Corvette Energy Discharge firing if player is cloaked
  
• Fixed Okkar Frigate not dealing collision damage when destroyed
  
• Fixed that after loading a pre-1.1.0 savegame, some default keys were mapped to MiddleMouseButton that shouldn't have been
  
• Fixed warships not appearing in Hardcore Mode after having defeated Gorc
  

We've just released a mostly HOTAS related hotfix, a few other issues also found their way into the following tiny little list of changes:

Bugfixes

• Fixed menu navigation issues that occurred when some HOTAS devices were connected
  
• Gamepad / HOTAS: decreased yaw/roll threshold, making it easier to do both at the same time
  
• Hardcore runs now also count towards the "Fast and Fragile" and "Slow and Sturdy" achievements
  
• Prevented opening the pause menu while the player is jumping via jumpgate
  

We've just released a new update. Highlights include the promised Hardcore Mode, TrackIR support and fully customizable controls for HOTAS, Joysticks and Gamepads.

Here's the complete list of changes:


New Features

• Added Hardcore Mode
  
• Windows (64bit): Added Joystick and HOTAS support
  
• Windows: New controls menu to freely configure Mouse/Keyboard, Gamepad and other input
  
• Windows: Added TrackIR support
  
• VR: Added mouse / keyboard support
  
• Added new languages: Chinese (Traditional), Japanese, Korean
  
• Added a spectator camera that can be activated during Action Freeze mode
  
• Added basic colorblind option affecting HUD marker colors
  
• Added option to select the anti-aliasing method (Off / FXAA / Temporal AA)
  
• Added option to change the screen percentage in non-VR mode
  
• Added option to toggle Motion Blur
  
• Added option to toggle Chromatic Aberration
  
• Mac: Steam Achievements and backer rewards (via Steam) now working on Mac
  

• Buffed Gunship: Starts stronger (more hitpoints, more armor, more energy regeneration, increased boost) but ends up with same values as before when fully perked
  
• Slightly reduced enemy accuracy on "Hard" difficulty
  
• Increased HUD visibility when sensors are damaged
  
• Slightly reduced Okkar Drone burst duration
  
• Slightly reduced Coil Gun spread
  
• Destroyed ships no longer deal collision damage while tailspinning
  
• Show message when fuel limit is reached
  
• Show current cooldown of devices, secondary weapons ammo and consumables amount in selection wheel
  
• Increased Temporal Anti-Aliasing sharpness
  
• Updated tonemapper and color grading to work with UE4.16
  
• Added a "fully mined" indication sound
  
• Used a special warning sound for silo missiles
  
• VR: You can now reset your camera orientation via the gamepad by holding down [Select]
  
• VR: Decreased the size of the mission markers
  
• VR: The Oculus Rift mirror window is now undistorted
  
• VR: Added "aim with headtracking" option to keyboard options menu
  
• VR: Disabled VSync and FOV options in the display options menu, since they should never be modified for VR
  
• VR: Enabled monoscopic far field rendering, which should improve performance a bit
  
• VR: The sensor damage screen effects are now disabled while the player is in a menu
  
• VR: You can now reset the device orientation during cinematics playback
  
• VR: Added some missing UI animations
  

• Fixed a bug where clones would not spawn again if once killed and then exited out of the run and continued
  
• Fixed infinite loop bug when selecting previous consumables if there is an empty slot at the end
  
• Fixed Okkar Corvette Mk2 plasma cannons not becoming friendly when Corvette gets mainframe-overridden
  
• Fixed Missile Turret device not all stats being displayed
  
• Fixed thermal beam not being affected by sound fx volume settings
  
• Fixed wrong Gunship device slot amount showing in perks screen
  
• Fixed "Scanning..." message occasionally not being removed
  
• Fixed Okkar forces and Warships jumping in with Low Profile Glyph equipped during story missions
  
• Fixed fuel being restored after a jumpgate jump when having the Fuel Conservation glyph equipped
  
• Fixed teleporter device wall hack
  
• VR: Fixed an issue with some HUD widgets still being visible in menus
  
• VR: Fixed that you could apply the resolution/FOV in the display options which would then get loaded in non-VR mode
  
• VR: Fixed that you could enter the action freeze mode via the keyboard, resulting in a black screen
  
• VR: Fixed the positioning of the aiming assist marker
  
• VR: Fixed a slightly offset crosshair when "aim with headtracking" was selected
  
• VR: Fixed that the crafting list widget didn't scroll correctly
  
• VR: Fixed wrong positions of main menu / intro video when launching the game with an HTC Vive. This is a workaround for a SteamVR plugin bug that slightly increases loading times with HTC Vive headsets.
  
• VR: Fixed that the game would lose input focus when Alt+Tabbing out of the game window or clicking anywhere else
  
• VR: Fixed a hanger that could occur when resetting the run or game from the options menu
  
• VR: Fixed invisible health bar of the final boss
  
• VR: Fixed that you could open the system menu while jumping
  
• VR: Fixed a rare crash that could occur when approaching traders or service stations that are about to jump away
  

We're currently busy migrating the game to Unreal Engine 4.16, adding more controls options for VR and implementing the long-awaited Hardcore Mode. While doing so we received a few alarming reports about a problem with the very last mission of the game. It must have found its way in with the last hotfix - so we decided to branch to the old code base and hotfix the hotfix.

Here's the tiny little list of changes for this patch:

• Fixed very last mission not progressing correctly
  
• Fixed Predetermination glyph incorrectly removing all jump suppressors
  

We've just released a quick patch, mostly VR-related. Here's the list of changes:

Tweaks

• VR: Made the key to reset the VR camera orientation rebindable in the controls settings.
  

• VR: Fixed some missing tutorial prompts
  
• VR: Fixed problems to launch the game with SteamVR running
  
• VR: Fixed several crashes that could occur in the crafting/upgrade/equipment menus
  
• VR: Fixed an issue with the perks screen, where you couldnt select perks anymore after switching between ships
  
• VR: Fixed a crash that could occur in the repair screen of the service stations
  
• VR: Fixed a crash that could occur when changing keyboard bindings in the options menu
  
• VR: Fixed wrong display of Chinese and Russian HUD marker fonts
  
• VR: Fixed crosshair having the wrong rotation after checking and unchecking "Aim using headtracking"
  
• Fixed not every location having a jump suppressor when having "Low Profile" enhancement equipped
  
• Fixed flight sticks occluding cockpit displays at high FOV values
  
• Fixed cutscenes and flashback videos not displaying correctly in widescreen resolutions
  
• Fixed some dialogues not being affected by voice volume settings
  
• Fixed exploit that containers could be opened through walls with Energy Discharge device
  
• Fixed warships occasionally blocking jumpgates
  
• Fixed ARC-9000 not working correctly while Splitter Glyph equipped
  
• Fixed a rare crash when generating random trade offers
  
• Fixed Shadow Strike enhancement occasionally damaging ship subsystems
  
• Fixed Drone Carrier not being resistant to Mainframe Override
  
• Fixed "Interrupted Jump" cutscene that sometimes would hang in an endless jump scene when using the Gunship
  
• Fixed music not playing in "Interrupted Jump" cutscene
  
• Fixed "Ancient Splitters" damaging players during ingame cutscenes
  

EVERSPACE is Now Available on Steam!

EVERSPACE combines fast-paced combat with roguelike elements, great visuals and a captivating story. It takes you on a challenging journey through an ever-changing, beautifully crafted universe full of surprises. Shoot, craft and loot your way to victory while the odds are stacked against you.

The big day has come! We've just released version 1.0! We hope you've had as much fun during Early Access as we've had!

Next to a whole bunch of tweaks and bug fixes the biggest highlights are the addition of the story, VR support, more points of interest as well as steam achievements and trading cards.

A change that might need some explaining is the removal of scanning probes. Please read our thoughts on this right below the list of changes.

New Features

• Added the story
  
• Added more points of interest
  
• Added achievements (version dependent)
  
• Added new device: Sensor Relay
  
• Added new ship colors
  
• Added VR support for Oculus Rift and HTC Vive
  
• Added option to switch Yaw and Roll mapping for controller
  

• Removed scanning probes from the game.
  
• Added "radar memory": scanned objects will now remain on the HUD indefinitely
  
• Increased spawn chance of comm hubs
  
• Changed "Low Profile" glyph negative effect: Instead of increased jump cooldown there is now a jump suppressor in every location
  
• Changed "Predetermination" glyph positive effect: Instead of no jump suppressors G&B and Okkar are now hostile to each other
  
• Decreased "Bullseye" glyph shield regeneration percentage from 20% to 10%
  
• Increased "Leech" glyph hull hitpoints regeneration from 10 HP to 20 HP per kill
  
• Changed "Devastator" subroutine values from 50% / 30% to 40% / 40%
  
• Gunship turret kills and player drone kills will now reset the kill timer while using the Berzerker glyph
  
• Spawn superior loot with high enhanced weapons chance behind locked doors of derelict colonial stations
  
• Give a credits bonus for each sector reached
  
• Show total cost of perks with sub levels and credits already spent on level
  
• Added more codex entries
  
• Added illustrations to codex entries
  
• Okkar Interceptors will now occasionally use teleporters
  
• Replace Gatling Turret with Front Shield Generator in Gunship Loadout C
  
• Reduced energy consumption of some weapon mods
  
• Reduced energy consumption of device mods
  
• Reduced Damage Booster bonus
  
• Reduced Shield Booster Mk2 and Mk3 bonus
  
• Damage Limiter consumable reduction is now calculated separately after armor damage reduction instead of adding it to the armor damage reduction
  
• Increased Missile Defense System duration
  
• Balanced Ancient "Teleporter" alien: Less damage but better accuracy
  
• Set maximum number of ARC-9000s per secondary slot from 2 to 1
  
• Further increased Time Extender cooldown durations
  
• Increased speed at which plasma is collected in plasma fields
  
• Decreased Ancient Weapon damage bonus
  
• Increased Nano Injector repair amount to match the required Nano Bots
  
• Grey Goos are no longer affected by ARC-9000
  
• Performance optimizations, especially on medium and low settings
  
• Prevent black holes from spawning close to ancient structures
  
• Do not show missile lock warnings if Beeline enhancement is installed
  
• Increased Flak Cannon 5-5 damage
  
• Increased Sensor Drone hitpoints
  
• Increased Elite Access Key drop chance from 40% to 75%
  
• Made a few UI changes to the cockpit displays
  
• Changed spacing, colors and positions of a few UI elements
  
• Added run duration to hall of fame
  

• Fixed Splitter Glyph not forcing a start with only one empty secondary weapon slot when having loadout B or C selected
  
• Fixed Equalizer Glyph not affecting Health after very first jump (start of game) and after using jump gates
  
• Fixed Leech Glyph not regenerating hull hitpoints when destroying turrets
  
• Fixed Bullseye Glyph falsely recharging the shield when hitting non-NPC objects
  
• Fixed splitted "Ancient Friends" being hostile and damaging the player
  
• Fixed tooltips showing on locked ships loadouts
  
• Fixed some navigation issues in setup screen
  
• Fixed being able to escape from system map before jumping away by pressing next/previous tab
  
• Fixed large ships (e.g. Okkar Corvettes) receiving huge amounts of collision damage
  
• Fixed "Colonial Interceptor" always being displayed in end of run screen, even if Colonial Scout or Colonial Gunship were chosen
  
• Fixed visual upgrades for ships getting mixed up
  
• Fixed spread mod not affecting energy
  
• Fixed charge duration of weapons which was affected by energy consumption reduction
  
• Fixed Corrosion Missiles stop doing damage if Outlaw Drone Carrier brings up shield
  
• Fixed ship geometry not being hidden in 1st person no-cockpit view when playing with a high FOV
  
• Fixed freighter jump charge effect not being displayed
  

Exciting news! We'll be leaving Early Access and going into Full Release on May 26th!

The Full Release version will add the story elements with missions, cutscenes and video sequences, as well as full VR support. Next to many tweaks and bugfixes, version 1.0 will also add Steam Achievements and Trading Cards.

The promised Hardcore Mode did not make it in time and will get added post release as a free update. We'll also start working on Joystick support right after release.

The Full Release version will support the following languages: Chinese (Simplified + Traditional), English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Portuguese (Brazilian), Russian, Spanish (Latin America). Voice Overs will be available in English and German.

Here's our brand-new teaser trailer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MRy04FdwTLk

We've just released a new update. Highlights include functional cockpit displays and the addition of a mysterious alien race, referred to as "The Ancients".

You can see the complete list of changes below.

We're able to offer this update on Mac as well, however with a slight delay of about 8 hours as something went wrong during build process. Sorry for the inconvenience.

Version 0.5 and 0.6 fell off the back of a gigantic space truck, if you're wondering. Kidding aside, a lot of comments indicated that version numbers were often being associated with completion percentage (though they're really just numbers to us), so we've decided to play along and go with version 0.7 - as the inclusion of the functional cockpits, the Glyphs and the Ancients are all big additions and we're fast-approaching full release.


New Features

• Added mysterious alien race, referred to as "The Ancients"
  
• Added ancient structures, which work as shortcuts
  
• Added Glyphs, the second kind of Enhancements
  
• Added functional, animated cockpit displays for all player ships
  
• Added option to hide HUD in cockpit view
  
• Added new device: Missile Turret
  

• Tweaked derelict colonial stations to get better performance and avoid crashes
  
• Containers carried by freighters now have individual looks (Credits, equipment, fuel...)
  
• New animated Jump Suppressor Mesh
  
• Reworked Missile Defense System to have an active duration rather than requiring manual activation
  
• Prolong time until Okkar forces arrive after alert is shown and don't let them have jump suppressors
  
• Removed Collision Damage subroutine and added it as positive effect for Infinite Drift subroutine
  
• Changed sensory overload subroutine so that hull and shield bars are not shown anymore instead of okkar forces arriving earlier
  
• Further decreased inertia dampening for Infinite Drift subroutine
  
• Changed weapon names and descriptions of all primary weapons that had a 'II' suffix
  
• Renamed a few subroutines
  
• Okkar forces and Colonial warships now won't be able to track you down in cloud field locations
  
• Shields now start with 0 hp and immediately regenerate when picked up
  
• Increased Plasma Mine life time and prevent triggering by user
  
• Increased Front Shield Generator cooldown duration
  
• Increased Time Extender cooldown duration and decreased Mk2 & Mk3 effect duration
  
• Increased Beam Laser II charge duration
  
• Let pursuing Okkar forces drop inferior loot with a tendency towards fuel
  
• List backer names in credits
  
• Use backer-penned names for players and most wanted criminals
  
• Included backer corporation names in codex and equipment descriptions
  
• Reduced Scout hitpoints - starts with 250 (instead of 300) and can only go up to 355 with hull hitpoints perk now
  
• Reduced colonial station laser trap hull damage
  
• Forcefield generators are no longer affected by area damage
  
• Optimized overall performance
  
• Some minor UI changes
  
• Tweaked color grading to work better in some environments
  
• Outlaw Chief is now called Outlaw Bomber
  

• Fixed Drone Override that was not working
  
• Fixed bug where the Shield Booster would actually increase the Shut Down Duration and Recharge Delay instead of decreasing it
  
• Fixed some dialogs not being spoken and not being affected by voice volume change
  
• Fixed a bug where it was possible to navigate out of the item action box with in equipment screen
  
• Fixed a bug where the game crashed when looting devices with installed mods from your old shipwreck
  
• Fixed Grey Goo not spawning
  
• Fixed subroutine spawner not disappearing if all subroutines have been collected
  
• Fixed subroutine Beeline not removing homing ability from player's missiles
  
• Fixed subroutine Jump Repairs not restoring the correct amount of health
  
• Fixed not being able to scroll perk description box with right stick
  
• Fixed some perk values falsely rounded to integer values
  
• Fixed deadlock when pressing tab before selecting jump destination
  
• Fixed freighter wrecks not being affected by scanning
  
• Fixed crafting list focus jumping between entries while crafting multiple items
  
• Fixed weapon charge sound still playing when switching weapons while charging
  

We've just released a new update. Highlights include enhancements that can be equipped in the hangar, derelict colonial stations, ship color customization and alternative loadouts.

See the complete list of changes below. Please note that Drone Overrides won't work in this version.

Unfortunately we are unable to offer this update on Mac due to several severe issues that popped up after migrating to Unreal Engine version 4.14. We're still working on solutions, but chances are high that we will have to wait for a new Unreal Engine version before we can release the update on Mac.



New Features

• Added enhancements that can be equipped in the hangar
  
• Added new points of interest: Derelict Colonial stations
  
• Added player ship colors: Some are unlocked from the start, more can be collected during runs
  
• Added alternative ship loadouts
  
• Replaced voice actor for protagonist
  
• Added new consumable: Distress Beacon
  
• Added new consumable: Nano Extractor
  
• Added new consumable: Sensor Drone
  
• Added new challenge "Survive a Warship attack"
  
• Added 1st person view without cockpit
  
• The three most crafted blueprints in the current run will now be listed at the top of each crafting list
  

• Reworked Colonial Interceptor model and cockpit
  
• Consumables will now be activated after holding down the button for a short time to prevent accidental activation
  
• All device Sub-Routines have been turned into enhancements. Players who had any of these blueprints unlocked will automatically unlock the respective enhancements.
  
• The Devastator Sub-Routine Enhancement is now Gunship-exclusive
  
• Shield Disruptor is now Interceptor-exclusive
  
• Energy Discharger can now also be used on the Interceptor
  
• Front Shield Generator can now be used on the Gunship and is even Gunship exclusive
  
• Increased Gunship armor by 10%
  
• Added and additional device slot for Gunship
  
• Increased Gunship energy core recharge rate and added a few perk levels
  
• Drones will now always travel with you, the ability is not Gunship exclusive anymore.
  
• Added a level to the Gunship's drones perk theat regenerates hull of drones after jumping.
  
• Increased distance of deployed drones to player ships
  
• All sorts of Okkars, not only Interceptors can jump in before the Warships arrive
  
• Okkar Interceptors are now a common, though rare, enemy in later sectors
  
• The effects of previous perk levels are now displayed for perks that have unique descriptions per level
  
• Hull repairs at service stations are now limited but can be increased with the trading perk
  
• Enhanced turrets can now be found
  
• Increased energy allocations of Mk2/Mk3 Shields and Adaptive Armor
  
• Removed cooldown for Missile Defense Systems
  
• Energy Discharger now won't damage friendly units
  
• Don't deal or receive damage when colliding with friendly units
  
• Outlaw Drone carrier will now only re-override its own link drones if they got overridden, not all player drones
  
• Time Extenders will now leave the player ship unaffected while active
  
• Freighter in generic repair mission will now ask for all kinds of resources, not only nano-bots
  
• Sensors now need crystals instead of processors to repair which makes finding the needed resources easier without radar
  
• Reduced sensor damage radar impairment
  
• Show amount of deployed drones in HUD
  
• Only show "New ship available" message once
  
• Added new message when unlocking Enhancements, Colors, Loadouts and Blueprints
  
• Yellow marker colors are now only used for neutral units. Pickups, asteroids and other objects are now drawn in light blue.
  
• Added jump suppressor markers
  
• Added service station marker
  
• Traders will sometimes offer Access Keys
  
• Added Access Keys to Bonus Gear Offers
  
• Increased alert log font size
  
• Removed challenge "Kill 5 Okkar Interceptors in a single run"
  
• Added possbility to remap "P" key for opening the system menu
  
• Thermo Gun II will now fire bursts rather than bundles of projectiles
  
• Tweaked skybox generation to allow for more variation
  

• Fixed generic minefield mission automatically succeeding
  
• Fixed player deploy drones not having shields when respective perk level was reached
  
• Fixed some loot being spawned way outside of level bounds
  
• Fixed a bug where the game would hang when the last secondary weapon of a slot was fired while the others were set to "skip when switching"
  
• Fixed turrets of Okkar Corvette and G&B Fighter not turning friendly if ship's mainframe gets overridden
  
• Fixed camera stuttering when flying in third person
  
• Fixed codex screen in hangar being unresponsive when using controller
  
• Fixed a bug where game could freeze when firing last secondary weapon of a kind
  
• Fixed a bug where drone carriers could be mainframe overridden
  
• Fixed black hole alert sounds and lightning sound not being affected by volume settings
  
• Fixed a bug when trying to collect previously excess nano bots after crafting nano injectors
  
• Fixed Okkar Swarm Fighters speaking with Outlaw voices
  
• Fixed ships not colliding with crystals
  

Dear Pilots,

It's been a while since you’ve heard from us, but we’re breaking the radio silence now. We recharged our batteries over the holidays and we’re ready to tackle the last remaining challenges that lie ahead of us before the full release. Because we had a couple of moving targets on the technical side of things, it was hard for us to announce anything concrete earlier this year.

However, a major task has been completed: we migrated the whole project to Unreal Engine 4.14, which enables us to simultaneously release all upcoming patches and the full version across all current platforms. We’re still waiting for NVidia/Epic to fix the major graphical glitch under Linux, but we will keep you posted on that.

Releasing simultaneously on Steam, GOG, Xbox, and the Windows Store is quite a task, particularly for a small team like us. Plus, we got several parties involved at the same time which makes communication even more challenging. We ask for your understanding if we area little less responsive than usual during our last few Milestones.

With all of that being said, we would now like to give you a sneak peek of what you can look forward to in our next major update, which is not that far away.

Derelict Colonial station wrecks: You will be able to explore the large wrecks of Colonial stations. Some security mechanisms like turrets, laser barriers, sentry drones, and secure doors are still intact. There may also be dangerous plasma discharges that will harm your ship and push it away. As you might have expected, there is a new type of precious loot hidden inside these wrecks...

Enhancements: Enhancements can be found in Colonial station wrecks, and work like runes that can be equipped before a run. Some give small bonuses to various ship stats, while others can change the playing style completely and have both positive and negative effects, e.g. “All enemies and loot are visible on the radar, but alien forces and warships arrive twice as early.”

Ship Colors: Ship colors can be collected just like blueprints by shooting down powerful enemies. Colors can be applied to any ship in the hangar, and you can change the look of the ship’s body and markings. The more colors collected, the more variations possible.

Alternative loadouts: Can be unlocked for each ship by reaching new sectors. There are two additional loadouts for each ship to unlock, changing the starting equipment drastically and thus allowing new playing styles, especially in the beginning of a run.

Gunship balancing: The Front Shield Generator is now available and even exclusive for the Gunship. Furthermore, its armor and energy core recharge rate was increased and a new device slot was added.

Of course, there is much more coming with this update but we'd like to keep some surprises for you.

That's all for now and thanks for bearing with us.

Cheers,
Michael


PS: You can find some fresh screenshots coming along with this news on Kickstarter.

Pilots, not sure which ship to pick, next? Watch the new gameplay trailer and see the Colonial Scout as well as the Colonial Gunship in action:
https://youtu.be/GdtbmA2qlRM

We've just released a new update. Highlights include the 3rd player ship and an overhaul of the perk system. Have fun playing!

New Features

• Added new player ship: Colonial Gunship
  
• Added new enemy: Outlaw Drone Carrier
  
• Perks overhaul: Divided into pilot perks and individual ship perks
  
• Added new perks: Trading and Diplomacy
  
• Attacking G&B can result in them reporting your attack and them being hostile in the current and next location
  
• Added two new natural hazards
  
• Added new point of interest: Freighter Wreck
  
• Added more structures
  
• Added option to set a flag for equipment to ignore it when switching to next/previous equipment
  
• Added hall of fame that keeps track of your completed runs
  
• Added backer-written logbook entries
  
• Added new planet type
  

• Interceptor and Gunship now have armor which reduces hull damage by 10% and 20% (what the Hull Enhancer used to do, but doesn't require a device slot)
  
• Renamed "Hull Enhancer" to "Adaptive Armor"
  
• Service stations now only offer one option unless perked with Trading perk
  
• FOV is now being slightly increased while boosting
  
• Slightly tweaked threat levels
  
• Slightly decreased Stasis Missile effect duration
  
• Added Weapon Overdrive blueprint to startup blueprints
  
• Introduced a drone limit of 1. Can be perked to 3 for gunship.
  
• Reduced ore pickup amount
  
• Reduced explosion impulse strength
  
• Increased grey goo NPC speed
  
• Slightly reduced Coil Gun spread
  
• Removed all shield related perks
  
• Removed "store credits" perk
  
• Made sensor range perk scout exclusive
  
• Made jump charge duration perk scout exclusive
  
• Tweaked perks for stronger differentiation between ships
  
• Added more ship class restrictions for equipment
  
• Proximity mines will no longer react to ships of their own faction
  
• Tweaked Mine Cluster behavior
  
• Tweaked jump drive animation
  
• Damage indicator vignette and camera shake strength now depend on the amount of health left
  
• Okkar Corvettes MK 1 can now come with jump suppressors, Okkar Corvettes MK 2 now won't always carry jump suppressors
  
• Prevent more than 2 jump suppressors being active at the same time
  
• Nano Injectors will now consider the nano bot efficiency
  
• Increased Flak Cannon II damage
  
• Increased Weapon Overdrive efficiency
  
• HUD equipment slot tweaks: Display currently active devices with green glow, give currently non-usable equipment red shading
  
• Energized Boost Mk1, Mk2 and Mk3 now have the same duration but increased boost multiplier
  
• Slightly improved Shock Rifle II stats
  
• Added warning and alert sound when close to black hole
  
• Aim assist now works with proximity mines and missiles
  
• The "Devastator" sub-routine now reduces the energy recharge rate rather than allocating energy
  

• Fixed a bug where wrong consumable icon was displayed in pickup compare screen
  
• Fixed wrong consumable and secondary weapon amounts being shown in player equipment slots of compare screen
  
• Fixed devices with 4 pre-installed mods being spawned
  
• Fixed sun flares not affecting cloaked ships
  
• Fixed sun flares pushing bigger ships out of level bounds
  
• Fixed spread mods not being available for Coil Guns
  
• Fixed premature uncloaking while charging weapons
  
• Fixed pilot seat clipping/blocking view when playing in 1st person view in ultra-wide
  
• Fixed inverted mouse x and y not working when playing with centered crosshair
  
• Fixed perked critical hit chance not being regarded for right-hand item in compare screen
  
• Fixed trader not offering credits anymore (but needs a perk now)
  
• Fixed ships sometimes having damage in hangar
  
• Fixed current ship name not correctly displayed in ingame menu
  
• Fixed Outlaw Sniper not uncloaking when attacked with explosive weapons
  
• Fixed nano bots not being removed in generic freighter repair mission
  

We've just released a new update. Highlights include a new player ship and a difficulty selection. Have fun playing!


New Features

• Added new player ship: Colonial Scout
  
• Added difficulty selection before each run (Easy/Normal/Hard)
  
• Added a few codex entries
  
• Added chance of finding enhanced weapons (weapons with random stat bonuses)
  
• Added new enemy: Okkar Scan Drone
  
• Added new consumable: Nano Injector
  
• Added centered crosshair option for mouse controls (drag mouse to aim, could be useful for custom joystick controls)
  
• Added equipment info tooltips to equipment stats screen (PC / Mac)
  
• Added new "large" asteroid
  
• Added new nebula textures
  
• Added new structures
  
• Added option to switch between Xbox and Playstation style button icons
  

• Replaced Energized Boost with Weapon Overdrive as starting device for Colonial Interceptor
  
• Introduced player ship class restrictions: Cloak is now only available for Colonial Scout, Weapon Overdrive is only available for Colonial Interceptor
  
• Consumables floating in space can now be used directly
  
• Added swappable equipment slots to compare screen for better overview
  
• Game now pauses when using the selection wheel instead of just slowing it down
  
• Jump gates are now activated automatically after some seconds when close
  
• Automatically use surplus nano bots when nano bot limit is reached, health is not full and new nano bots are collected
  
• Slightly increased ship component damage chance
  
• Slightly increased sensor range for containers
  
• Decreased max speed perk effect and added one more level
  
• Increased Plasma Torpedo and Shield Breaker missile damage radius
  
• Slightly reduced Heavy Missile damage radius
  
• Slightly reduced Shock Rifle I & II charge damage multiplier
  
• Added spread to Coil Guns
  
• Increased energy allocation of Mk2 and Mk3 passive devices
  
• Downgraded fire rate mods to put them on par with damage mods
  
• Reduced Energized Boost energy consumption
  
• Increased pickup pull range + pull range for all tractor beams
  
• Increased amount of dark energy needed to craft ARC-9000
  
• Increased Teleporter energy consumption and slightly reduced teleport distance
  
• Slightly increased outlaw sniper aim and doubled uncloaked duration
  
• Okkar Corvettes now travel through the location and are faster
  
• Okkar Corvette Mk1 will now call reinforcements when low on health.
  
• Okkar Corvette Mk2 now fires plasma cannons and uses an Energy Discharger when enemies are close. It also uses combat drones instead of shield charge drones
  
• Freighters now come in different flavors: credits, fuel, equipment, resource and supply.
  
• Grey Goo will now do hull damage to ships that are very close
  
• Changed some consumable icons
  
• Challenges now have different credit rewards that are displayed next to them
  
• Tweaked lightning field VFX
  
• Tweaked sector colors
  
• Blueprints and "enhanced" pickups will now have a special particle effect
  
• Show signal strenghts of all jump suppressors being present, not only closest
  

• Fixed slowmo not being correctly ended when switching weapons
  
• Fixed bug with selecting an empty equipment slot with the gamepad
  
• Fixed damage not showing in Plasma Mine stats
  
• Fixed player wreck spawning outside of level bounds and if run was successfully finished
  
• Fixed missing Coil Gun weapon meshes
  
• Fixed some keymapping issues
  
• Fixed high frequency tone in a certain ambience track
  
• Fixed "Kill a drone by ramming it" challenge
  
• Fixed bug where failed challenges were achieved when continuing the game
  
• Fixed a bug where outlaw stations would not spawn enemies
  
• Possible fix for GPU particle related crashes
  
• Fixed occasionally wrong explosion impulse direction
  
• Fixed freeze when pressing tab while using jump gate
  
• Fixed hacking sound sometimes not stopping
  
• Fixed some generic missions related bugs
  

We've just uploaded a new patch. Here are the patch notes. Have fun!


New Features

• Added energy regeneration bonus when standing still
  
• Added option to adjust FOV (PC / Mac)
  
• Added option to unlock crosshair from screen center when using gamepad
  
• Added new device: Teleporter (icon still placeholder)
  
• Added new device: Missile Defense System (icon still placeholder)
  
• Added new weapon: Coil Gun (basically what Shock Rifle II was before, icons are still placeholders)
  
• Added new perk: Bonus resources
  
• Added option to not use system mouse position in-game (PC / Mac) (thus disabling mouse acceleration and having different speeds in-game and in menus)
  
• Added mouse sensitivity option on Mac
  
• Added functionality to make screenshots with F9 (PC / Mac)
  

• Improved gamepad controls
  
• Improved readability of dialog subtitles
  
• Ramp-up time progress of weapons are now displayed on the crosshair
  
• Secure containers now have special HUD markers
  
• Added list of completed challenges to stats
  
• Interceptor countdown no longer decreases with sector progression
  
• Changed "Bonus gear" perk unlock requirements
  
• Floodlight challenge: Reduced required amount to 30
  
• Increased asteroid field variance
  
• Increased Thermo Gun homing agility and energy consumption
  
• Increased Flak Cannon II damage
  
• Reworked Shock Rifle II to behave more like the base version
  
• Reduced Time Extender cooldown and energy consumption
  
• Reduced Cloak duration and cooldown
  
• Added ramp-up time of 0.5s to ARC 9000 so you don't accidentally fire it
  
• Shield Booster, Damage Limiter and Damage Booster effects are no longer stackable
  
• Pickups that are dropped inside the event horizon of black holes are now removed
  
• Fuel and resources bought from trader are now directly given to the player while in trading screen
  
• Nano Kits can no longer be used if no ship component is damaged
  Increased damage tolerance of Colonial Fighter, Light Fighter and Collector Drone for becoming hostile
  
• Reduced beam laser camera shake
  
• Increased Okkar Corvette loot quality
  
• Increased hacking radius for jump suppressor and comm hub
  

• Fixed some wrong buttons being shown during tutorial instructions
  
• Fixed removal of two access keys when opening a secure container
  
• Fixed neutrals not getting hostile when using plasma mines
  
• Fixed a bug where it was possible to get inifinite rerolls of bonus equipment offers
  

Get ready, pilots!

EVERSPACE will go live at 10:00 am PST / 7:00 pm CET. To make the last few hours of wait a bit easier we got a brand new launch trailer featuring gameplay at 60 FPS:
https://youtu.be/WlJrokiuSO4

See you in Space, in a bit!
Michael and your dedicated ROCKFISH Games Team

The wait is almost over!

We just published one more patch before we will hit Early Access on September 14. It features an all-new boss fight, some voice-acted dialogs, a new planet type and additional Outlaw stations. We also added the option to turn off v-sync, more granular graphic settings, and improved support for ultra-wide monitors among many other additions and improvements.