When I bailed on Everspace 1, I remember saying that it felt like a great game trapped in the confines of a roguelike that it just didn't belong in. While I do think I was correct in that since I have several times as many hours in Everspace 2 as I do in the first game, neither game managed to hold my interest for long enough to see it through.
The main crux of the issue for me has to be how, similar to ES1, ES2 seems to want to drag itself on much longer than it has any right to. Where ES1 had you dying and retrying to build up incremental stats, ES2 has you grinding to build up individual stats using a handful of different systems. This does freshen things up considerably, but once the initial appeal wears off, you're essentially doing the same thing. It isn't helped by the fact that getting better gear feels less like gaining power, and more like sprinting to keep up with your opponents.
As the Steam reviews show, that has an appeal to some people but not to me. The whole numbers game to me just makes improving your shift devoid of any surprise. Sure, you could argue different weapons and abilities do give some degree of shakeup, but even that doesn't last too long (especially when a lot of the abilities aren't that exciting to get).
It doesn't help that the story is far from anything to write home about. I expected as much after my time with ES1 and it's something I can generally forgive, but when paired with a gameplay loop that doesn't excite me, the lack of interest erodes any reason for me to keep playing. Adam continues to be impossible to connect to, given he can swap between showing compassion and being an ass at the drop of a hat.
Again, I have to give credit where it's due. ES2 did hold my interest for around 20 hours or so this time around and I made it just past the Zharkov system in my time. It's once again a beautiful game, paired with some well-done music (albeit songs that get old quickly) and a combat flow that initially feels great. However, the result for me is still the same.
Only reason I'm putting this on shelved is cause I may come back to see it through at some point. It never frustrated me, just bored me to the point of not wanting to return
The main crux of the issue for me has to be how, similar to ES1, ES2 seems to want to drag itself on much longer than it has any right to. Where ES1 had you dying and retrying to build up incremental stats, ES2 has you grinding to build up individual stats using a handful of different systems. This does freshen things up considerably, but once the initial appeal wears off, you're essentially doing the same thing. It isn't helped by the fact that getting better gear feels less like gaining power, and more like sprinting to keep up with your opponents.
As the Steam reviews show, that has an appeal to some people but not to me. The whole numbers game to me just makes improving your shift devoid of any surprise. Sure, you could argue different weapons and abilities do give some degree of shakeup, but even that doesn't last too long (especially when a lot of the abilities aren't that exciting to get).
It doesn't help that the story is far from anything to write home about. I expected as much after my time with ES1 and it's something I can generally forgive, but when paired with a gameplay loop that doesn't excite me, the lack of interest erodes any reason for me to keep playing. Adam continues to be impossible to connect to, given he can swap between showing compassion and being an ass at the drop of a hat.
Again, I have to give credit where it's due. ES2 did hold my interest for around 20 hours or so this time around and I made it just past the Zharkov system in my time. It's once again a beautiful game, paired with some well-done music (albeit songs that get old quickly) and a combat flow that initially feels great. However, the result for me is still the same.
Only reason I'm putting this on shelved is cause I may come back to see it through at some point. It never frustrated me, just bored me to the point of not wanting to return