Dec 7, 2021

2022 Roadmap | Hottest FAQs | Drake System Teaser

EVERSPACE™ 2 - ROCKFISH Games

Greetings, pilots!

Where has this year gone? The end of December is nearly upon us! 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. 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 Khaït 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 they’re 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 what’s coming, let’s have a quick look at what’s 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, Khaït 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 won’t 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. We’ll also add more weapon types and sets, as well as more consumables and devices. I’d say we’re at 75% of the gear you’ll 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 let’s take a closer look at what content we plan to release and when:

EVERSPACE 2 — Rogue’s Debut, Spring 2022

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 we’ll 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, we’ll add a bit more story content with English voice acting and substitute all current TTS placeholder dialogues.

EVERSPACE 2 — Drake: Gang Wars, Summer 2022

In summer, it’s 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.

EVERSPACE 2 — Ancients Rifts, Autumn 2022

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. We’re 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, we’ll be head-down, working towards launch.

EVERSPACE 2 v1.0, Early 2023

Launch! Completing the game’s 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 (we’ll 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

We’re 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.

Will Save Games Wiped at v1.0?

We’re 99.99% sure that’s a yes! Sure, we haven’t 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 we’re still adding to the game in earlier star systems. Plus, there’s 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! ;)

Is EVERSPACE 2 open-world?

Yes! Now, I’m 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 that’s 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 wouldn’t 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

Making the leap from a linear roguelike to an open-world action RPG in space has been the very centerpiece of all our communication about EVERSPACE 2. While you cannot travel in any direction “forever” like in proc-gen space games, we have spent a ton of time and effort to make exploration of locations meaningful. We want you to roam and do your thing at your own pace and order mostly independent from progression through the campaign.

Putting quality over quantity, we went for a hand-crafted game world with high-quality assets and baked global illumination in EVERSPACE 2. Consequently, there are technical limitations because of this major design choice, like sending pilots back when reaching the boundary of a location and having brief loading screens between supralight travel and maps.

For one, streaming world data on the fly has never been UE4’s strong suit, so we had to divide our massive, hand-crafted(!) game world into chunks (EVERSPACE 2 is probably the largest, most versatile, and ambitious space combat game ever made NOT relying on procedural content generation). Secondly, even though it’s just a cluster of a galaxy, we’re using two separate game scenes to handle the vastness of open space and the high level of detail required even deep down in underground caves, while collision detection and hit-scan must still work at 10km away at the boundary of any location. Even if SSDs were 10x faster, there would always be a “loading screen” because your CPU is working hard on initiating the next new game scene when swapping back and forth between supralight and open space or planetary scenes.

Since it has been suggested a few times, playing some animation to hide the transition wouldn’t make any sense because in EVERSPACE 2 you can already see what’s right in front of you, making the experience arguably more immersive than hiding a hub-based open-world structure with wormholes and jump gates between hand-crafted maps like in other iconic space sims/shooters. And no, creating a sheer endless amount of animations for each possible approach to any given location is just not feasible for obvious reasons. Open space games are technical beasts. 😅

That said, we understand that some pilots have a very specific take on the open-world (space) genre, especially when certain areas are story-gated for obvious dramaturgic reasons, so we’ve changed our communication to semi-open-world to be more accurate.

Will You Get Rid Of Level Scaling?

Nope! While we understand that some pilots really hate any kind of level-scaling, we believe there are good reasons to adjust enemy difficulty when coming back to lower-level areas. Like, one-shotting a formerly mighty destroyer is just bollocks and doesn’t make any sense in terms of plausible world-building unless you want to throw any kind of immersion right out the window. Of course, pilots should feel much more powerful when going back to Ceto or Union because they earned it, so we only make subtle changes to enemy stats and their behavior, still tweaking the system along with the overall game balancing. Think of level ranges that enemies can adapt to. I mean, lore-wise, wouldn’t you expect enemies to improve their gear over time, too?

Drake System Teaser — Fire & Ice

The release of the Drake system will be our biggest beat in 2022, scheduled for June/July when the big online gaming events are happening. Following the two comparatively smaller star systems, Zharkov and the Khaït Nebula, Drake will not only be significantly larger but also our most extreme system yet! Look forward to mesmerizing locations featuring fire, ice, and everything in between!

Planet Mota is as dangerous as it looks: the entire place is like hell’s kitchen, with lava pretty much everywhere causing stacking heat damage, while erupting lava geysers can tear apart shields and armor with ease. For risk-takers, there’s a high-tech thermal power plant defying the ocean of lava that might be worth exploring...

On Gilbert, water can be your ally or your enemy! Dive underwater to escape from enemy attacks like a classic submarine, but fair warning: dive too deep for too long and the pressure warning will be the last thing you’ll see!

Set in a system of natural extremes, three rival factions fight for dominance over the rich resources of the Drake system. You will have to keep a low profile to not be caught in the crossfire, while also not becoming a victim to the harsh environment. Lucky for you, one of your companions will be able to pull some strings with one of the gangs to get a foot in the door while you wait for an opportunity to take advantage of the complex situation.

Surprise Trailer

Last-minute addition: While I was drafting yet another 2K+ words piece, ZeTeam worked on a surprise 2021 recap/2022 teaser trailer, awesome sauce!

Well, we hope everyone is enjoying the EVERSPACE 2 Early Access so far! Before all Felsenfische swim into their well-deserved winter holidays, we’ll hope to see you one more time in 2021 at the weekly ROCKFISH Games Show on Twitch and YouTube. Erik Schrader, ace pilot and beloved Community Ambassador, will take you on one more mesmerizing tour through the Khaït Nebula before signing off, too. Be there, or be square, this Friday from 8:00 pm to 10:00 pm CET / 2:00 pm to 4:00 pm ET / 11:00 am to 1:00 pm PT. 🚀💥🙌

Keep it civil on the forums, and have a wonderful winter holiday season!
Michael and your dedicated ROCKFISH Games Team, aka ZeFelsenfische

Nov 3, 2021

The Khaït Nebula: Stranger Skies Update Is Out | Changelog 0.7.22328

EVERSPACE™ 2 - ROCKFISH Games

Hey there, pilots!

BOOM shaka-laka-laka, dankeschön, auf wiedersehen! The 3rd major EVERSPACE 2 content update, Khaït Nebula: Stranger Skies has launched on Steam and GOG— WOOHOO! Check out the massive changelog of what’s 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 haven’t! It’s 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! I’m behind the keyboard and will answer everything Erik might not be able to cover.

The Khaït 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!):

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 Khaït Nebula seeking clues to The Ancient’s 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 Khaït 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 Khaït 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, we’ve added a slew of new Ancient puzzles in the Khaït Nebula. Now, instead of explaining how they work in detail—that would be super-lame—let 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 franchise’s iconic fast-paced loot & shoot gameplay to introduce new gameplay mechanics—phew, 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, you’ve been introduced to the first Ancient puzzle, set in a confined space with hard-to-miss-pointers to its solution. In Zharkov, you’ll find Ancient puzzles based on established mechanics which require further exploration to solve. In the Khaït Nebula, we’re 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, don’t 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 Alzheimer’s—crazy shit; isn’t it? Man, I can’t 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! We’ve 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 Vindicator’s 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 Vindicator’s 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 you’re 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

New Story Content, Companion, and Perks

Picking up where the story left off, Maddocks has caught up with Adam back at the base. He needs help finding his other companion Eduardo who has the last piece of information leading to the treasure Maddocks and Dax have been seeking for many years. An audio log will lead you on a merry chase through the Khaït Nebula where you’ll find many new areas, including a strange planetoid.

When you finally catch up to Eduardo, he’s not alone, and things are getting just even more complicated. Despite tension in the air, your new acquaintance proves to be a valuable addition to the team thanks to some impressive star navigation skills.

Khala the Navigator

Khala belongs to an alien species previously unknown to the crew. Her remarkable astro-navigation skills make her a valuable companion. Khala can create jump nodes for shortcuts through space—Woohoo, Fast Travel unlocked! Furthermore, by unlocking the Location Scanner perk additional information details will show on the map, like how many secrets are still to be found.

Khala has been stranded on the asteroid for years after crash landing during a battle with adversaries she describes as "The Greel". She’s been stuck with only Eduardo as recent company, time used to learn his language. She is extremely quick-witted and has an extraordinary knowledge of the galaxy, although much of what she describes seems to belong to a part of the galaxy unknown to anybody else.

Having nowhere else to go, Khala joins the crew at Home Base, putting her knowledge to use mapping and finding shortcuts between systems as the base navigator. Much of the surrounding area, however, is unfamiliar to her, and she uses her time, and newfound equipment, to seek geographical markers which will help her find home.

Khala’s brusque attitude occasionally may clash with the other companions as she finds her way amongst alien species. Though Adam’s other companions may initially distrust her, especially Maddocks, and Elek may fear she is going to eat him, Khala has a lot to offer to the crew.

Pilots will discover more about Khala’s background and species as she comes along as a companion. As one of the first new races introduced in EVERSPACE 2, Khala is just a tiny glimpse into the wider universe.

Changelog 0.7.22328 (Official)

Features

Added new main and side missions
Added new star system: Khaït 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

Tweaks

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 <select> 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

Bugfixes

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

Features (Exp Diff)

(Exp) Added new Redeemer Drone Beam Laser VFX

Tweaks (Exp Diff)

(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

Bugfixes (Exp Diff)

(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 Khaït 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 Khaït 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 Khaït 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 we’re aware that many of you also want to know what’s next. To be brutally honest, we haven’t 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 won’t feature any new story pieces as we hit about 70% of the campaign content with today’s 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.

Ok, that’s it for now. Make sure to join us for the official Khaït Nebula: Stranger Skies release stream on 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 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm CEST / 2:00 pm to 4:00 pm EST / 11:00 am to 1:00 pm PST! 🚀💥🙌

Oh, one more thing: In case you missed grabbing EVERSPACE 2 during the summer sale at 20% off, we timed another week-long 20% sale with the release of Khaït Nebula: Stranger Skies, so here’s another chance to get in the cockpit and save a few bucks. Note that we’ll raise the price at full release, so you won’t find a better deal to grab a copy of EVERSPACE 2 anytime soon. Unless you’re on Game Pass for PC, that is.

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

Oct 21, 2021

LIVE: 3rd Content Update Imminent | Experimental Build | Full Release 2023

EVERSPACE™ 2 - ROCKFISH Games

Greetings, pilots!

Gosh, I genuinely wanted to share just a short and snappy announcement about Erik, our Community Ambassador and Content Creator, sharing a new location of the Khaït Nebula in Friday’s gamedev & community stream on our Twitch and YouTube as well as here on Steam — I promise, you won’t regret joining us!

But when I playtested the latest build for the first time a few days ago, not knowing what to expect, I sincerely lost it when I entered the Ancient Citadel. This is even after I was already blown away by the new(!) Ancients puzzle mechanics, introduced earlier in the upcoming update.

In case anyone is shocked I don’t know what our team is working on in detail: a) my business partner and CFO/COO, Christian, and I trust our exceptional team knows what they’re doing as they’ve proved many times over the course of 15+ years; b) my main responsibility is to spread the word about our work and get the media, platform owners, and, most importantly, our fans excited for what’s next. I wait as long as possible until playtesting a new build to get that first impression from a player’s perspective, so I can be as nitpicky as any of you might be, while genuinely sharing my excitement about our game—still in the making—with our community.

Imagine, this is just an impromptu 1st-person-view screenshot taken in Photo Mode by Erik during our weekly Marcom chat to make sure we’re talking about the same location which will be revealed this Friday. It’s 100% undoctored except for me slapping the EVERSPACE 2 logo on it. Man, I really have the best job in the video games industry I could wish for...

When I explored the Khaït Nebula, I had some serious Uncharted vibes and I’m loving the (slight) shift from the EVERSPACE’s franchise signature core gameplay of fast-paced combat and hunting for loot to deeper exploration, with mystery taking center stage along with storytelling and more complex puzzle-solving in the new star system.

That said, action fans don’t worry! There’s still a ton of looting & shooting on the way! Get ready for an all-new faction featuring new enemy types you’ll encounter in the new star system—Erik will also show some red-hot concept art of the Redeemers on Friday. Also, to anyone not a fan of puzzles, most of them are optional, especially the tougher ones. I still haven’t figured out where that third Ancient Rune belongs to unlock the next step in one in particular… there’s gotta be a solution!

New Full Release Date: Early 2023

Alright, here comes the bad news: As some pilots might have read in yesterday’s big announcement, we shared that we decided to push back the full release on PC, Xbox, and PlayStation to early 2023. Yeah, we can feel your disappointment through the digital ether, but hear me out because it’s complicated and there’s also an upside for all pilots on all platforms. I know, it sounds like 101 sugar talk, but most of you should know me by now, so here’s the real deal:

First off, we’re super happy with where the game is currently at: EVERSPACE 2 is sitting at 91% positive overall on Steam, and SteamSpy’s owner estimate is pretty accurate—as in we’re doing fine thanks to 150K+ daring space pilots trusting us that we’ll deliver on our promises. That’s a huge compliment to the team, making us all feel fuzzy inside, so big thanks again for all your glowing feedback and for voting with your wallet to help us make a game that we couldn’t be more passionate about.

I know, I know… I must sound like a broken record to frequent update readers, but when I’m sitting behind the keyboard, working on yet another way-too-long news update, I’m thinking about what I, as a passionate gamer myself, would love to know from a developer and what our team would like me to share with our community. It always centers around us deeply appreciating the support and commitment from our fans. Sorry, where was I? Right, the new full release date… it sucks, we know. Here’s the meta...

EVERSPACE 2 Coming to Game Pass for PC

So, big news for the Felsenfische, huh? Yep, you bet, and I’m more than happy to share why this is great news for everyone. If anyone is not happy getting the most bang for their buck when backing us on Kickstarter or jumping in the cockpit during Early Access against the off-chance EVERSPACE 2 being added to Game Pass for PC while the game is still in development, we get it. Buuuut, there’s more to this.

Now, before anyone leaving an angry comment that if they had known that EVERSPACE 2 is coming to Game Pass for PC as Game Preview they would have not backed us on Kickstarter or bought the game on Steam, let me assure you, we genuinely didn’t expect that Microsoft would offer a deal too good to pass on and pick up the game before completion. For several reasons, we’re genuinely excited about partnering with our friends at Microsoft again to bring EVERSPACE 2 to the Windows 10/11 Store as Game Preview AND Xbox Game Pass for PC. And, as early backers, this should excite you, too!

First off, if one of the biggest platform holders decides to partner with an independent studio (again!); that alone is a huge achievement because a) such deals can be game-changers for independent studios like us especially since they are rare with so many other great titles competing for the spotlight worldwide; b) a handful of very knowledgeable individuals working at massive companies are putting their neck out by trusting that we will deliver on our promises even if things get messy; and c) thanks to significant license fees being paid without any strings attached regarding change of creative direction is arguably the very, very best that can happen to an independent studio. Did I mention there is NO exclusivity?

Anyone not familiar with our story, we’ve seen it all, like work for hire under tough terms, raising cash from VCs while putting the house on the line, to AAA publishers pulling the plug only hours after counter-signing a 2-year full-production agreement for a team of 30. No hard feelings, though, we wouldn’t be at the greatest spot in our careers without some vital deals falling apart, forcing us to reinvent ourselves and conquer new territories… Right! Full Release pushed back to early 2023, I’ll get to the point now, promise!

If the past few years (should have) told all of us anything, it’s Shigeru Miyamoto’s iconic statement never gets old: “A delayed game is eventually good, but a rushed game is forever bad!”

THIS right here is why partnering with Microsoft again is a blessing for everyone: Thanks to this major deal, we can afford to work another 6 to 9 months on the full release and make sure that the endgame of EVERSPACE 2 will be worth your while, too. We're also bringing additional external artists and devs to the roster, spending even more budget on final polish of all handcrafted locations and in-game cutscenes (watch for more details with the official release of the Khaït Nebula update) while avoiding the anticipated fierce competition from several major, delayed AA and AAA titles releasing in the second half of 2022. Long update short, you’re going to get an even better, even more polished game for the low, low cost of patience.

I cannot stress enough how grateful we are that nobody is breathing down our neck to ship a title to hit some arbitrary financial goals no matter if the game is finished or not, and I share nothing but my deepest sympathy for any developer, no matter if indie or AAA, being forced to make some very, very tough decisions around cutting content, compromising on quality, and/or putting their team under enormous pressure to meet a deadline.

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