I had my eye on Everspace ever since it was announced last year during one of the numerous nindie focuses. I don’t know what it was specifically but the idea of exploring space has always fascinated me. The idea of endless space really appeals to the inner Star Wars lover in me, fortunately, the endless is quite literal in Everspace. It’s a rogue folks! Woah, wait! Don’t run to the hills! I really love the gameplay loop, and the fact this is ‘endless’ is everything I could wish for!

Developer: Rockfish Games

Publisher: Rockfish Games

15 Hours Played // Review Copy Provided // $39.99

I sympathise with people who are wary of rogue games. I am too! Sometimes you see an awesome looking game, and then you realise it’s a rogue. You clamour for a story, a defined tale for you to playthrough with a beginning and end. Don’t worry, I get you guys! And some rogues are mean enough to stop you from having any progress from run to run. Fortunately, this isn’t the case with Everspace. I want to spend a good portion of the review focusing on the execution of the rogue elements to positive effect. I don’t think there any many better examples on the Switch of this genre being so well implemented within a game.

Naturally, the main feature is the random space environments which are generated at the beginning of each run. The map terminal is divided into sections that you’re tasked with exploring. You can choose from at least two different options, which contain specific resources and locations. The places themselves are beautiful, even on the Switch’s 6-inch screen. Stars, planets, spaceships and mining areas are all contained within these mini-galaxies. And you will be getting up close with these places because resource gathering is a major part of Everspace‘s gameplay.

The generated landscapes are stunning at times.

It isn’t as simple as flying around though. Wherever you go, enemy ships are hunting you down. I mean, what the hell guys? Why does everyone have to be trying to kill each other nowadays, such a cliche! Thank the lord some of these damn ships are nice to you, imagine! In which case you could choose to be a dick and attack them instead. All is fair and well in the world of space. I would 100% recommend going all out offensive if you want to access some pretty awesome guns and salvageable materials from other ships.

As a result of this mix of gameplay, you always move between the two cycles. And so I never felt tired of either. It makes for a gameplay cycle that constantly mixes up exploration and battling, and it really makes for a good time. For every tense fight with enemy ships, there is the aftermath of gathering the resources and then moving on. This is extenuated even more when you consider the vastness of the areas you travel in, it really does feel vast even though you know it really isn’t.

Combat and exploration are balanced perfectly.

Of course, the random generation will sometimes throw up similar looking areas, but crucially, it doesn’t break the immersion of the adventure. Immersion is aided by the living world that Everspace generates, with character interactions and trading ports, for example, you never feel truly alone. Seeing a trading outpost in the distance whilst you are battling hostile ships is such a small, but awesome feature.

I believe the controls deserve a mention just because of how weird, but good they feel. ‘L’ and ‘ZL’ control your forward and backwards thrusting, which took me a while to get used to. I assume this was mainly because I was playing StarLink at the time, but binding options would’ve been awesome. Although I must stress, the controls felt good for me, just that I have seen other people having an issue with it. Regardless, the experience feels smooth and the controls don’t inhibit you once you master them.

Fights hold a steady frame rate 99% of the time. This port performs well!

Speaking of smoothness, the Switch version is relatively good at holding 30FPS, with some drops occurring at stress points. I believe dynamic resolutions were at play in helping maintain this. This leads to some ropey sections in terms of visuals but RockFish have done an awesome job at making the sacrifices work. Playing in handheld makes most of these texture problems a non-issue and for me is the best way to play Everspace on the Switch.

When all is said and done. I enjoyed my time with Everspace with little to complain about. However, I can’t justify giving it a golden heart because I played most of my experience in docked mode. In which case I don’t think the Switch version is the best way to go. If you can get this game on another system and will play it very little in handheld there is no point in buying the Switch edition. It is great fun, just lacking the polish of its siblings on more powerful systems. Only wanna play in handheld, go for it!

Want some more awesome games? These reviews should do the job! Almost There: The Platformer is a neat new platformer and Aragami is a stealthy release.To keep the conversation going go follow us on Twitter and join our Discord. Our Youtube channel has become a recent project of mine so go check it out for guides, games and more!