Aside from that, Niagara really brought our particle effects to the next level in EVERSPACE 2, especially compared to the predecessor which used the older system, Cascade. The amount of control artists have over the behavior of the particles is simply amazing. Making the switch from Cascade was intimidating at first but soon we realized how much more powerful Niagara would be and now we wouldn’t have it any other way.The game has been in Early Access for more than two years. How has it evolved over those years?

Schade: When we launched into Early Access in January 2020, EVERSPACE 2 had around twelve hours of story content spread across the first two star systems. Early Access launch was a very polished build that showed much of what we wanted to do. Over the last two years, we’ve added six major updates bringing new areas, ships, gear, cinematics, quests, characters, voiceover, languages, and more for Early Access players.

The feedback we’ve had from the community has been incredible and, in many cases, we’ve made significant changes to the game based on what we’ve heard. The most recent, and probably the largest change, is our switch from static leveled enemies to storyline-based level scaling enemies—providing greater challenge to already explored areas.

Why did you decide to officially launch the game in April and what will that mean to players and the title?

Schade: EVERSPACE 2 was originally planned to release in 2022. We delayed the launch to continue expanding the scope of the game and to polish already created gameplay and content using additional funds from our PC GamePass deal. While it’s tough to let go of a project we’ve been working on so long, we believe our April build meets our high quality standards.

Will the game continue to evolve post launch and if so, how?

Schade: Launch day is not the end! We have a massive free update being planned for later this summer that will include new gameplay features, customization options, and perhaps new voiceover languages. For all you Xbox and PlayStation fans, EVERSPACE 2 will launch on consoles later this summer—watch for dates on that release in the months ahead.

Earlier this year, the German government gave ROCKFISH Games a very generous 1.65 million euro grant for development of the first expansion for the game. We want this paid DLC to be not only more gameplay areas, but also have significant story content. Our creative team has already started concepting what this is going to be and I look forward to when we can share more!

Source: Unreal Engine Blog