The lack of a sequel to 2003's Freelancer is one of the biggest travesties in PC gaming: Digital Anvil's third-person space shooter threw you into the galaxy, and while the story was linear, there was plenty of freedom to trade and fight. PC Gamer gave the game a 90% rating, calling it a "cleverly crafted space adventure" and "one of the best examples of the genre. "Everspace 2 is no Freelancer; it's a game that's a little bit more than that. Better.

Rockfish's space sim is a similar third-person open-world interplanetary adventure. It's "Diablo" in space, an RPG where you play a collection of engines and lasers like a pilot. It differs from its predecessor, 2017's "Everspace," in one crucial respect. Death used to be inevitable and built into the game so that you could use credits earned during a run to buy perks or improve your character for the next run; in Everspace 2, this is not the case, and if you die, a reload checkpoint screen appears and you get a second chance to try again You only have a chance to try again.

The original Everspace game loop was apparently not that popular, and German developer Rockfish reverted to type. The studio's fish-loving founders are also behind Fishlabs, which created the Galaxy on Fire series (a third-person space shooter, in case you were wondering). The trilogy, one of the best games ever with a protagonist named Keith, included interstellar travel, pirate combat, trade routes between planets and space stations, and mysterious portals.

With Everspace 2, it would be tempting to make the old joke that Rockfish has made the same game again, but that would be unfair given the enormous amount of work and artistry that went into the creation of this latest installment. Released in a highly polished state after Early Access, this is one hell of a good-looking game, with floating rocks, wreckage, and the tracks left by other ships visible through the clouds of dust drifting between objects. Minefields glow red in the dark, and the radiation field is littered with golden particles. Stars explode in blooms and flares as they turn, planets have concentric ring systems, and automated facilities are all made of flashing lights and chunky metal.

There is no ray tracing, global illumination of screen space seems sufficient, and the RTX 3080 played fine in 4K, DLSS 2.0 is supported, as well as various flight sticks and HOTAS controllers, but mouse and keyboard, It also works with a gamepad. System requirements are relatively mild, but Steam Deck optimization was not included in the Kickstarter and is a low priority.

The universe is filled with loot. Shooting down pirates, opening treasure chests (cargo containers, since we're in space), and stumbling across random objects floating in the void as you wander around - perhaps the wreckage of a transport ship that exploded long ago - can yield a reward. It could be just scrap metal or trading goods, or it could be a new gun or missile refill. Maybe it's something amazing, something you've never seen before.

New ships can be bought from bases with ship dealers, but they require large amounts of credits. Most ship upgrades come in the form of new guns, secondary weapons like homing missiles, and special attacks like electrostatic surges that can knock out nearby ships. These must be recharged before use, like street fighter supers, and include recharge shields (some of which only recharge during boosts), armor plating, nanobots for repairs, damage limiting devices, and weapon modifications.

This is hard to grasp, and if you are enthusiastic about a mission and change weapons frequently, the short time delay between the new module being winched into place becomes something to watch out for as it becomes unfireable. Such delays do not affect the pace of the game, but they do make changing weapons a planned process rather than an on-the-spot one.

XP will be reflected in your level, and your level will determine the strength of your enemies as well as the equipment you can use. So when you find something new to install on your ship, you have to compare its prerequisites with your level and perk. Or, by investing a little time and resources at the crafting table, the level cap may be lifted and you may be able to go out guns blazing with higher level equipment. Tying the crafting system to progression in a way that is more attractive than collecting 10 mushrooms for the guild leader means it is much less likely to be ignored.

The ship's maneuvering is decidedly arcade-like, with full 3D movement and precise jetting up and down, which is very useful when slipping through tight gaps. Enemies are fast, and combat does not turn into a spinning race, as seen in "Freelancer," where you grab your opponent by the tail and chase him wherever he goes until he explodes. Fortunately, there is a generous amount of lock-on, guided fire indicator, and aiming assist (which is more powerful when using a gamepad). Combine this with homing missiles and it will be hard to miss, but checking your own shield charge, whittling down the ship's shields, and avoiding the impact is a skill in itself.

Filled with enemies, including bosses and elites, it sometimes feels as if the entire galaxy is the enemy. Enemies come in waves of about five, and when you defeat one group, another target will appear nearby, giving you the option of going after them or not.

Turning off inertial damping for a more Newtonian approach to propulsion and shifting to a first-person perspective makes Everspace 2 a trickier proposition. Magnetic field lines fill and distort the screen, making it graphically satisfying from the perspective of a tracking camera, but nearly impossible to use because they completely block the view from the cockpit.

You don't need to have played the previous game to pick up Everspace 2 and take off, as Adam Roslin, a cloned pilot with DNA donor memories and piloting skills (he blew a lot of stuff up in Everspace), you find yourself working for a mining company under a false name You find out. This zone, left over from the war with the aliens, is full of extraterrestrial life to be discovered, much of it based on aquatic life.

Your ship is a single-seat fighter with some cargo capacity, and you can swap modules and weapons on the fly. Cutscenes are voiced but drawn in a hand-drawn, stop-motion style. This is a bold stylistic choice, but it turns what could have been all stubble-faced, potato-faced Mass Effect types into something truly artistic and presentable. Support characters join the home base crew as they progress, bringing engineering and medical expertise in the form of perks that can be unlocked with credits and resources, as well as additional communication chat.

Elite: If you've played Elite: Dangerous as a bounty hunter offline, you'll recognize much of what's going on here. There are three ways to move faster than thrusters can handle, one for use within a star system, one for long distance travel, and an even longer distance jump gate. Zooming along, measuring distances at the speed of light, curious unknown signals appear and pull you off course to a pirate-infested rescue mission or a large ship languishing in a minefield. At least there is an autopilot and no need to perfectly time the descent from FTL navigation to avoid overshooting the destination.

Everspace 2 is a stubbornly single-player game, with no shared universe or even cooperative play. You jump into new areas, explore ruins, avoid mines and radiation, wait for the red dot to approach, shoot it, complete your objective, and jump out again.

But every system is full of interesting things, usually involving puzzles. It might simply be moving debris or fitting a power core into a socket to turn on some mechanism or a giant space mining laser. There are caves on the planet's surface where bandits nest (kind of like "Skyrim" without the fire wizard holed up in a lonely tower, but perhaps everyone in this game is a fire wizard), and you'll find something similar inside the asteroid. 3-D movement can be used to get into a crevice, another ship very useful here, such as chasing and jetting in circles around a column of rock.

In short, it's a cleverly crafted space adventure. Yes, it is. One of the best examples of the genre." Also true, but with the caveat that it is sadly underrepresented in recent gaming styles. The game's lack of heavy simulation elements and emphasis on combat make it ideal for both short and long runs, but the side missions make it a satisfying and truly long adventure that can keep you looting and shooting in space for up to 90 hours.