Explore the Stars: Everspace 2 Comes to Xbox Game Pass This August - Xbox Wire (2024)

Our story in Everspace 2 begins with Adam, an escaped clone pilot seeking his way in a cold and dangerous universe. What he’ll soon discover is that the events of his past self are on a collision course with the ambitions of many of the region’s corporate bosses and outlaw overlords. To survive and buy his way free of the demilitarized zone of Cluster 34, he’ll need to team up with a new crew while exploring relatively uncharted star systems.

As a studio, we wanted to write a love letter to the games that inspired us — the gameplay of space shooters like Freelancer and Wing Commander can very much be seen in the DNA of our games, but with modern conveniences and game features meant to bring something new to players. Fans of the first game in the series will have a deeper understanding of the world and characters of Everspace 2, but we’ve crafted this story so that newcomers will have little difficulty getting up to speed.

Cluster 34 is a hostile place for a lone pilot. Though there are pockets of civilization where traders make port and settlers call home, Outlaw attacks are common and it takes skills to survive. The arcade-style combat of Everspace 2 is fast-paced, but easy to pick up so pilots new to the game can take off and destroy their first enemy drone within minutes. When a challenge becomes too great, escape, explore, level up, gear up, and try again.

Adam isn’t in this entirely alone though! Over the course of the story, players will gather together a rag-tag group of mercenaries, aliens, outcasts, and adventurers who will help out by providing ship upgrades, navigation support, and other perks at Home Base. A few companions will even help out in battle, showing up to distract and destroy enemies when the going gets tough.

The first Everspace made gravitational waves in the roguelike community for its fast-paced combat and innovative use combining die-and-repeat gameplay with storytelling. In Everspace 2, we hop genres, taking space game fans into the realm of semi-open world RPGs where exploration, leveling up, crafting and managing equipment, buying new ships, and upgrading perks become nearly as important as a player’s piloting skill. With this new focus on RPG mechanics comes a wide range of options for pilots as combinations of new gear, ships, and perks unlock all kinds of ways to create and accommodate different play styles.

Everspace 2 is huge. The team here at Rockfish has created more than one hundred handcrafted areas in space and on planets to explore spread across six star systems. Each star system has its own distinct personality and while you may explore a variety of asteroids and debris fields over the course of your adventure, each is packed with secrets to find and enemies bent on hunting you down. From ruined space stations orbiting decaying stars, to space storms surrounding ancient structures, to space jellyfish haunting the bones of a starfaring Leviathan, there are so many sights to discover.

With nine different ship types, each with different available perks, there are all kinds of ways to destroy attacking outlaws. Want to play a sneaky sniper? The stealth cloak of the Scout and a long-distance charged coil gun makes for a powerful combo. Players who prefer to be able to take and throw big punches may enjoy the Gunship with its auto turret ultimate attack, multiple weapon hardpoints, and high armor value. Others may prefer the Vindicator, a heavy fighter that reanimates battlefield wreckage to repair or replace its fleet of drones. The “unlimited power”-style lightning special attack of the Sentinel that strikes multiple nearby enemies is a fan favorite.

As with many RPGs, equipment is central to a player’s survival and with all the weapon types and gear modifiers in Everspace 2, you can tune your build to your preferred playstyle. Primary weapons such as the Autocannon, Pulse Laser, and shotgun-like Flak Cannon deal kinetic and energy damage while a myriad of secondary missile and mine secondary weapons can inflict status effects or simply hammer in to deal massive damage. More defensive equipment like plating, generators, thrusters, sensors, and storage increase survivability by providing more energy, speed, armor, item detection range, and more. And don’t forget one-time use items — the healing, damage amplification, and other effects they can provide are frequently handy for getting out of a tight spot.

Xbox space pilots can prep their engines for departure on August 15 when Everspace 2 launches on Xbox Series X|S with Xbox Game Pass. Can’t wait? Everspace 2 is already available for Windows with PC Game Pass with support for Xbox Play Anywhere, allowing you to start your adventure on PC today and continue it on console later. Game Pass members can also make Everspace 2 their own today with a 20% discount.