First impressions written from a Freelancer fan's perspective. Early Access content — expect things to change.
Everspace 2 landed in Early Access ten days ago, and I've been flying it long enough to say something useful: this is the closest a modern game has come to Freelancer's combat feel. Not the whole package. Just the combat. But that part — the actual flying and shooting — is genuinely good.
The controls are the first thing. Everspace 2 supports proper mouse flight. Not a hobbled approximation, not a "controller recommended" situation where mouse is technically available but obviously second-class. Mouse flight works here, and it feels right. Responsive, readable, fast enough to be engaging without being chaotic. If you've been playing space games for the last decade and quietly resenting that none of them let you fly with a mouse the way Freelancer did, this is the one to pick up.
The environments are handcrafted. That matters. Every system you fly through was designed — debris fields with specific shapes, abandoned structures with things in them, lighting that communicates danger or safety without a tooltip. The exploration loop has the same quality that Freelancer's had: you are finding things, not generating them. It's a small distinction with a big payoff.
Here's where it diverges. Everspace 2 is a looter-shooter. The progression is built around equipment rarity tiers and stat upgrades — more Diablo than Freelancer. The economy is thin: you sell loot, you buy upgrades, there's no trade route system, no faction reputation web to manage, no sense that the universe has an economy you're participating in. You are a combat pilot with RPG stat progression, not a freelancer in the actual sense of the word.
The bar culture isn't there either. Each station you dock at is functional — a menu, a shop, a mission board. Nobody to talk to. No bartender hinting at a hidden jump hole in the next system. The universe is beautiful but not particularly inhabited.
For Freelancer fans specifically: if combat was the part you loved most — the jousting, the systems managing, the quick decisions in a dogfight — Everspace 2 is worth your time right now. If what you loved was the trading, the reputation system, the feeling of being embedded in a living universe, it won't fill that hole. It's a different game that gets the flight controls right.
That's still more than most.