I was playing some Everspace 2 and while it sure is pretty and feels pretty good there was something lacking that I couldn’t quite put my finger on. I’m only 20 hours or so into it but I just felt like it wasn’t quite living up to my memories of Freelancer.
Now I last played Freelancer over 15 years ago so I was sure that I was just seeing this through a heavy mist of nostalgia, so I reinstalled the old game, installed the HD mod and a few other user made tweaks and loaded it up. The opening scenes were definitely nostalgic but once I started to fly missions properly again it became crystal clear, nope Freelancer still kicks the shit out of every other space game I’ve ever played since.
Elite Dangerous, Rebel Galaxy Outlaw, Everspace 2, Spacebourne 2, EVE Online, (edit adding more I’ve played here: Chorus, Star Citizen, No Mans Sky) they all have strengths but nothing feels as good as the grand daddy Freelancer.
I don't think Everspace 2 is as expansive as Freelancer 2 was; for that time, that was a pretty big game.
E:D more than matches that but I think the problem is that its always-online massively multiplayer angle means that there's just no bones to build a strong single-player narrative and progression.
We can only dream of Freelancer 2
Everspace 1 & 2 are rogue-likes if I'm not mistaken? Which would explain why they aren't as large as Freelancer, since the game loop is supposed to be much shorter. I think a better comparison for Everspace would be Risk of Rain 2.
I think only Everspace 1 is a rouge-like. I just started playing Everspace 2 a few days ago and they seem to have removed the rogue-like game loop sadly.
Oh they switched genre? That's good to know. I liked Everspace 1 precisely because it was a rogue. I was considering picking up Everspace 2 during a sale but was not aware it's different, thanks.