Forget Starfield as 2023’s best space game gets a huge free update

pcgamesn.com:

If Starfield hasn’t satisfied your space cravings, a huge Everspace 2 update is on the way for free, making it a great time to get into or return to one of the most fun interstellar games of the year. The Armed and Dangerous update arrives at the start of October, and it’s packed with new features, improved ship customization, and some welcome quality-of-life changes.

For those of you who haven’t tried Everspace 2, it’s a fast-paced, single-player space game following the tale of a clone pilot trying to escape the tangle of clashing factions in the war-torn star systems of Cluster 34. It blends space combat and planetary exploration, having you hunt loot to upgrade your ship like a Borderlands or Diablo game. It offers arcadey, approachable systems out the gate that can be tweaked for those of you who prefer the challenge of a more in-depth, hardcore space flight simulation.

Everspace 2 Armed and Dangerous is the first free major update from developer Rockfish Games, who has been teasing hints of what’s to come over the past several months. Now they’ve lifted the lid on everything coming with the patch, and it’s a lot. There are ten new item sets, which break out into a total of 34 new item variants, along with four new catalysts, 40 new item attributes, and two perks. The ability to reroll attributes on an item has also been introduced.

If you’ve been wanting more ship customization, 15 additional tier four wings are being introduced, along with new randomizers for your ship color and modules if you’re looking to experiment. There are also some very nice quality-of-life additions, including on-the-fly quicksave and quickload, improvements to the auto-save system, and customization for the inertia dampeners (by