We’ve been keeping an eye on Everspace, the new VR-enabled space combat shooter from Rockfish, for a while now and it looks as if the company are finally ready to unleash the title on the world as the beta begins today.
As much as I tried my hardest to ‘get into’ the majestic Elite: Dangerous, my childlike attention span always left me feeling like my time spent with the title erred on the side of business rather than pleasure. This makes sense, as my favourite space-centric combat title to date is Freespace 2, for me the perfect blend of deep flight mechanics and arcade twitch instant gratification.
This is why when I came across Everspace, a new space combat shooter from developers Rockfish, I got a little excited as not only did it look to deliver the pretty (if unrealistic), epic spectacle of Freespace but it also promised virtual reality support too!
We haven’t heard much about the title of late, but today Rockfish have announced that an “exclusive beta” is due to start today, for those who request an access key early enough. to do that, heading over to the Everspace page here and pre-ordering the game for 40 EUR (around $44), doing so will automatically qualify you for a beta key. What we can’t guarantee right now is the current state of VR support. We can say though that alpha testers, who’ve had access to the title for a couple of months now state VR support is present and correct, at least for the Oculus Rift. We’re trying to confirm this right now so if you’re in any doubt here, perhaps hold off on the purchase. VR support was promised as part of their wildly successful Kickstarter campaign however and is listed on the game’s website for both Rift and Vive.
Update 29/07/2016 @11am ET: We reached out to Rockfish RE the current state of VR support in the current beta build, here is there response:
@RtoVR we got rudimentary support in for @oculus_rift and @htcvive w/o HUD and UI. This will be added after we don't expect changes anymore.
— ROCKFISH Games (@Rockfishgames) July 29, 2016
In the mean time, feast your eyes on the new gameplay trailer, as it’s one of the best looking titles of this type I’ve seen yet. Whether the gameplay holds up to the visuals is another matter of course. If anyone out there has had their hands on the alpha and has tried it in VR, we’d love to hear from you in the comments below.
