Everspace 2 (PC) Review: The Space RPG I Didn’t Know I Needed

Every now and then a game shows up, quietly nails exactly what you’ve always wanted, and then steals entire weekends.

Everspace 2 did that to me.

It’s the best kind of genre mashup, arcade-grade space dogfighting fused with a loot-and-level action-RPG ,and it clicks immediately.

You explore, you fight, you gather shiny parts, you upgrade a dozen little systems on your ship, and suddenly you’re charting routes to side activities just to try a new build “for one more contract.”

I put in 80+ hours and loved basically all of them.

The loop is breezy but deep; the sense of forward momentum is constant; and the sheer variety in ships, devices, and encounters kept me tinkering the entire time.

light & Combat: Battlestar Galactica-Style Thrusters, Pure Control

Let’s get to the magic trick: the flying feels incredible.

Everspace 2’s 6DoF model gives you precise control of thrusters in every axis, so you can flip, drift, vector, and re-engage instantly.

There’s none of that old-school “swoop past the target, loop for 15 seconds, overshoot, loop again” nonsense.

Think Battlestar Galactica (remake): hard rotate, burst thrusters, and you’re immediately back on target. It’s the most responsive dogfighting control I’ve played, ever.

Enemies play by the same rules, which makes fights feel like aerial chess at triple speed.

You’re tracking lead indicators, bursting shields with the right damage type, swapping to armor-melters, timing device cooldowns, dumping power into boosters to slip a missile lock, then cutting thrust and snap-turning into a counterattack.

The HUD does a great job surfacing information without noise, so even chaotic battles remain readable.

It works beautifully on keyboard/mouse or controller, but the precision of KB/M really shines when you’re threading a needle through debris fields to shake a tail.

RPG Systems & Progression: Level, Spec, Upgrade, Tinker

Under the hood, Everspace 2 is a full-on action RPG. You level up, unlock perks, slot devices, improve ship components, and chase better affixes on weapons, shields, sensors, and engines.

You’re not just getting “+3% damage” forever; you’re assembling synergies. Maybe a railgun that hits harder on slowed targets paired with a device that slows on demand, or a shield that refunds energy on kill so you never stop firing. It’s a satisfying climb where every couple of upgrades changes how you approach a fight.

A few tips from my playthrough: don’t try to 100% every zone early.

Some areas are sprawling, and the “find every secret” mindset can become a chore when you’re missing late-game conveniences.

You’ll eventually unlock perks that highlight secrets or make collectible hunting easier; save the true clean-up for then.

Also, remember that loot is RNG, you’re not missing a unique quest item by skipping a frustrating cache.

If a location stops being fun, move on. There’s a whole galaxy of content waiting.

Ships & Builds: Distinct Frames, Distinct Playstyles

Ships are frames, not just skins, and that distinction matters.

Different frames bring different ultimates, passives, hardpoint layouts, and stat baselines.

Some are nimble glass cannons; others are bruisers with fortress-grade shields; some excel at device uptime and crowd control.

Because weapons and modules drastically alter behavior, swapping from one frame to another can feel like switching classes in a traditional RPG.

That’s the addictive part: buildcraft.

Try a sniper-style craft that hangs back with railguns and mines; or run a brawling shotgun ship that teleports on top of targets, dumps heat, and vaporizes a cluster before blinking out.

A device build with short cooldowns can juggle EMPs, decoys, and stasis orbs, turning dogfights into your personal light orchestra.

And later, in Wrath of the Ancients, you unlock a new ship as an end reward, an absolute blast that opens yet another playstyle.

It’s hard to overstate how much variety the ships and gear create; experimenting is half the joy of the game.

World, Visuals & Encounter Design: The Prettiest Space You’ll Fly Through

Everspace 2 is gorgeous.

If your happy place is “staring at nebulae and ringed giants while drifting through a minefield of glittering rocks,” welcome home.

The art direction is painterly without losing realism; nebula clouds billow, asteroid belts glint, planetary rings slice across the sky, and starfields feel deep enough to fall into. It’s the best-looking ‘flying through space’ game I’ve played, screenshots basically take themselves.

The game doesn’t rely on empty backdrops, either.

Each zone is a small adventure kit: derelicts to explore, pockets of pirates to clear, environmental puzzles to solve.

One of my favorite ideas involves flying near a sun, where you must hide behind asteroids or station struts to shield yourself from radiation and heat between bursts of movement.

It’s clever, tense, and it forces you to read the terrain like a stealth level, except you’re hiding from the star.

Story, Characters, Sound & Music: A Fun Ride with a Sarcastic A.I.

The story won’t rewrite sci-fi, but it’s engaging and well-paced with a roguish heist/merc vibe with enough mystery to pull you along.

What really sells the narrative are the characters, especially your A.I. companion, who specializes in sarcastic commentary and snappy banter. Those conversations add warmth between firefights and help anchor the broader plot beats.

Audio-wise, the package is spot-on.

Voice acting is solid across the board; SFX give weapons and impacts the right sense of snap and heft; and the soundtrack knows when to pulse for combat and when to lay a dreamy synth bed under exploration.

Soaring through a purple cloud seam while the music drops into a melodic drift, that’s the good stuff.

DLC Verdicts: Leviathan vs. Wrath of the Ancients

I played both DLCs and had a good time with each, just for different reasons.

Leviathan is a short, cheap add-on that introduces a handful of missions you can later repeat as gear farms.

They’re fun loops, but once I realized the intention was mostly repeatable runs, I didn’t feel compelled to grind them endlessly.

Still an easy recommendation for the price; it’s snackable content that slots nicely into the midgame.

Wrath of the Ancients is the meaty one.

It expands the lore around the Okkar, adds memorable regions to explore, layers in meaningful challenges, and culminates with that new ship I mentioned, a fantastic end reward that meaningfully expands your build options.

If you loved the base game, Wrath is basically more of what you love with sharper teeth and better toys.

Endgame, Performance & Final Thoughts

After the credits, Everspace 2 offers Diablo-style rifts: randomized battle arenas with modifier debuffs, enemy waves, and escalating rewards.

It’s a smart way to give your builds an infinite playground, but I’ll be honest, the random debuffs can sometimes feel more annoying than interesting.

I dabbled, enjoyed a few runs, and ultimately preferred dropping back into the handcrafted map to finish side content and experiment with ships in the wild.

Performance was excellent for me.

I ran 4K/60 using DLSS and stayed locked 99% of the time.

The handful of stutters and drops I ran into were weirdly in interior areas (hangars, bases, caves) where you’d expect fewer draw calls.

But those hitches were rare, and spacefaring itself remained butter-smooth. When a game looks this good and feels this good, stable performance seals the deal.

Final Verdict: Everspace 2 absolutely soars.

It’s a genius hybrid (pure, high-control dogfighting married to RPG depth) and it nails both halves.

The ships are varied, the builds are rich, the galaxy is beautiful, and the moment-to-moment flying is the best in the genre.

The story is a fun ride (anchored by a great A.I. buddy), the DLCs extend the experience in smart ways (especially Wrath of the Ancients) and even the endgame offers a treadmill if you want one.

If you’ve ever wished for a space game that lets you fly like a maniac while still feeding you that loot-tuning dopamine, this is it.

I adored my 80 hours, and I could easily see myself coming back just to try a new frame and a weird build in a corner of the map I haven’t scoured yet.

Everspace 2 isn’t just good, it’s special.

Strap in.

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View our full playthrough of the game with the YouTube playlist below.

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Images in this post are from the Everspace 2 page on Steam and used under Fair Use.