Everspace Nintendo Switch Review

Roguelikes have become a popular genre within the indie gaming scene, with titles such as 20XX and Dead Cells gaining a lot of general acclaim. Now developers have to try something unique or eye-catching to make themselves stand out from the competition. Everspace uses space exploration and combines it with rogue-like mechanics that makes for an intense and exciting adventure. The story is stale but Everspace more than makes up for this for exciting space combat.

Players take control of clones modeled after a dying scientist naled Adam Roslin. After being poisoned you're tasked with entering demilitarized sectors of space populated by outlaws, loosely regulated companies, and black market merchants. The plot helps build the world around you and push the story forward but its basic and forgettable.

Many of the characters are what you would expect. A merchant willing to sell you illegal items in exchange for favors, an AI unit that helps you with important information, and other uninteresting characters. It's not that the story that makes Everspace fun to play, its the incredible space combat and beautiful environments.

During each new run, the clone is tasked with rushing through 7 sectors with the aid of the AI named HIVE. You'll collect credits, basic necessities such as fuel and ammo, and raw material to survive the onslaught of hostile enemies while upgrading your ship. Resources are limited, making each fight a calculated strategy of whether sacrificing the items you already have is worth the payout. Since everything is procedurally generated there's no way of knowing if the enemy base is carrying powerful variants of your current weapons or resources you desperately need.

Dying, while constant, does open new opportunities. You can upgrade the pilot, which increases the likely hood of better items, or your ship for better health, shielding, and weapon damage. If you hate your ship other options exist with different strengths and weaknesses for that extra customization. With so many options it can become overwhelming to invest into. The game does a poor job explaining the vast amount of customization options to the point it can become frustrating, a more simplified system would've been ideal.

Everspace is not an easy game, expect to die a lot. Enemies are formidable and constantly gang up on you but if you play smart and effectively these situations are manageable. Everspace gives you the basic but expects the player to properly use the knowledge to survive the harsh difficulties ahead. If you still need a challenge a hardcore option is available that will test the most experienced pilot's mettle.

Everspace looks amazing and the frame rate is constant, however, expect sacrifices from the PC version. The texture models and beams of light look blocky, which shouldn't come as a surprise considering the Nintendo Switch's power. However, the game runs smoothly and when in intense battles against multiple ships smooth frame rate is definitely more important than graphics. Regardless if you play in handheld mode or docked Everspace runs wonderfully but those seeking a better experience should invest into a pro controller. The Joy Cons small thumbsticks and buttons don't provide the precision needed to survive on the harder difficulties.  

Everspace has a lot of great qualities thanks to its impressive visuals and outstanding space combat. The difficulty will likely frustrate a lot of players as the game doesn't provide any wiggle room for failure and instead encourages the player to learn from their mistakes. Everspace doesn't try to reinvent the rogue-like genre but it does it well.
 

Adam Siddiqui, NoobFeed
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