Greetings pilots!
As 2024 comes to a close, the ROCKFISH team is headed out for the winter break. Our end of year gift to the community is a little peek at what we've been working on for EVERSPACE 2 plus a killer discount on EVERSPACE games and DLC! Skip down to the end of the post to check out the teaser, otherwise read on for our recap of the year!
We began 2024 with looks at content coming in the free Incursions update as well as insights into the Unreal Engine 5 migration we released along the same time. Incursions brought a new horde mode event, legendary gear, and reliquaries, as well as even greater endgame challenges. A tremendous amount of work went into this update, giving players more to do and our developers tools to create expansion content for EVERSPACE 2.
We also celebrated the 10 year anniversary of ROCKFISH Games! Our CEO and Creative Director sat down to chat about their experiences working together since the studio was started. We’re a small team and many of our developers have been working together for years, even previous to the founding of the studio. Here’s to another decade of space games!
Shortly before the release of the Incursions update, EVERSPACE 2 was awarded Best German Game at the 2024 Deutschen Computerspielpreis (German Computer Game Awards)!
We couldn’t be more proud as this is Germany’s biggest game developer event. Winning this was recognition for the incredible work done during the team’s six year journey on EVERSPACE 2 and gave us renewed motivation to continue crafting quality space games on PC and consoles!
Along with Incursions came many engine changes under the hood that brought improvements and a few challenges that have largely been solved. We released a fun blog showing many of the more amusing visual bugs that popped up early in the project. If you’re curious about some of the hurdles we faced, check out this article on the Unreal Developer Blog outlining some of the work the RFG team tackled in the update.
Alongside the Incursions update, we also released the EVERSPACE 2: Supporter Pack. The community of space fans had been asking how they could support ROCKFISH while we worked on future content, and this was our answer. The team packed this full of ship skins and customization features, including a cool cybernetic glow look inspired by a bug shown in our Unreal Engine migration bug blog, this optional cosmetic DLC.
We also released a physical print edition of The Art of EVERSPACE 2. Originally, this book was supposed to be a much smaller volume, but with all the amazing concept art created for the game, we got away from ourselves. This fantastic 280+ artbook is still in stock on Amazon and makes a great gift for space and sci-fi fans *hint hint*.
Alienware has supported us at events during our launch journey, so we developed a special free Alienware Ship Skin as a way to say thanks to their team and the PC space game community. The ship skin is still free on Steam! Grab it today to give your ships a sleek white, black, and green look.
EVERSPACE 2: Titans is our first gameplay DLC for EVERSPACE 2 and amongst the team, we’re calling it our smaller one! Teased on the ROCKFISH Games stream shortly before Gamescom, Titans brings two exciting mini-adventures with replayable encounters and a whole armory of new weapons and gear to the table. These new repeatable experiences brought plenty for space fans to do while we focused on more story-based adventures and locations for our upcoming expansion.
As part of the Titans reveal, our Community Manager, Garry voiced a fantastic deep dive into the inner flora and fauna of the Leviathan. Perhaps we should get him in the V/O booth as a character someday! Like the idea? Let us know in the comments!
As a German studio, Gamescom is our home show and the Indie Arena Booth is one of the best places to see upcoming games at the event—There’s no better place to see a sheer amount of creativity per square meter in the whole show! We surprised space fans at the show with a hands-on demo of a mission from the Dreadnought mission chain from Titans. It was great seeing familiar faces and new space pilots from all over Europe. Truly, this is one of our favorite events and we can’t wait for the next time we have something timely to show there.
While we were at Gamescom, we met a bunch of incredible indies to give shoutouts to, many of whom were also from our Studio’s hometown, Hamburg! If you haven’t yet watched our ROCKFISH Shoutouts video, check it out! All these developers were excited to share their creations with gamers—you might just find your next favorite indie!
Funny how we always seem to be placed right next to our friends at Egosoft!
Meeting fans from Japan, China, and all over the world at Tokyo Game Show was an exciting time as well! We frequently join the German Games Pavilion at events to showcase some of the best games created in Germany to fans around the globe. If you ever hear of us at an event, please drop by to say hi. It’s always appreciated!
The team has been quiet about what we’ve been working on, but that’s going to change next year! As part of a new adventure, space pilots will return to Aethon, just one of the star systems coming in an all-new EVERSPACE 2 expansion launching in 2025. That’s just the tip of the asteroid, we don’t want to give too much away—Stay tuned for the full announcement, expansion title, and more info in the new year!
Also, that cool BOB shirt Garry was wearing on stream is available on the IGN Store. The holidays are here, so treat yourself!
We wish all you space pilots a happy and safe holiday season. See you in the new year!
Lee and the ROCKFISH Games team