Greetings, pilots!

Winter is here and it’s time to get some holiday gaming in! Before you all lock in on crushing backlogs, let’s take a look at a few things we’ve been up to at ROCKFISH Games over the course of the second half of 2025!

But first, our Community Manager, Garry, has put together a fantastic video summary of the year, touching on top moments from the reveal and launch of EVERSPACE 2: Wrath of the Ancients, events, and beyond.

Tokyo Game Show was our last event of 2025 and it was a big one! As part of the German Game Pavilion, we saw hundreds of space game fans and newcomers to the series check out our small section of the show while visiting one of the biggest video game conventions in the world. Players got hands-on with EVERSPACE 2: Wrath of the Ancients and a few lucky Japanese fans won real world copies of The Art of EVERSPACE 2 just for sharing pictures of the booth on social media. Congrats to all you lucky winners!

Also, we were alarmed when our resident space pilot and community manager Garry revealed he had never had ramen before. You’ll all be pleased to know that has now been remedied multiple times. 

While we don’t currently have event plans for the near future, we can’t wait to see all you space game fans when our next project is ready to show.

It’s no secret that the ROCKFISH Games team loves space games and indies—so it only made sense to create cross-studio bundles on Steam to help introduce fans of space games to new experiences. Owners of one game in a bundle get a 10% discount on the other.

Explore the Stars - EVERSPACE 2 + X4 Bundle

Egosoft has been making space games in the form of the X franchise for as long as we can remember. X4 is the latest in this super immersive series, allowing players to live out their dreams as space station designers, star fleet commanders, trade empire builders, and more. 

Shoot and Scrap - EVERSPACE 2 + Hardspace: Shipbreaker Bundle

Our friends at Blackbird Interactive love space games as much as we do! In Hardspace: Shipbreaker, you’ll be busy scrapping ships while navigating life under corporate Indentureship. Every ship is a puzzle to disassemble using tools, tethers, explosives, and knowledge earned on the job. Turn hard earned cash into tool upgrades to take on bigger challenges.

Combat and Crew - EVERSPACE 2 + Void Crew Bundle

Void Crew caught our eye early on as a cool way to enjoy a different kind of space game experience where players work together to survive. Running from one situation to the next, whether it’s piloting the ship, blasting away at enemies using the ship’s guns, making emergency repairs, or being launched out of an airlock to scavenge resources off a derelict ship, crew members get to experience different kinds of encounters every time they play. With our roguelike roots, we love this kind of thing!

Our Community Manager, Garry has been busy these last few months sourcing team interviews for EVERSPACE fans to enjoy. If you haven’t watched them yet, check out interviews on game PR, communications, and marketing with PR and Communications Director Lee Guille, Sound and music design with EVERSPACE Audio Director and series Composer Gero Goerlich, Game Design with Senior Programmer Thies, and more.  

We’ve also recently published an in-depth interview with ROCKFISH Games Senior Sound Designer Lukas Deuschel on processes and inspirations behind the EVERSPACE 2: Wrath of the Ancients sound design and soundtrack. Head on over to Steam to give it a read!

For more interviews, gameplay, and behind-the-scenes content, check out the ROCKFISH Games YouTube channel for VoDs of our monthly livestreams. 

With EVERSPACE 2 wrapped up and the development team looking to next projects, we’ve put together an official Player Experience Survey[forms.gle] for our community of space game fans to provide feedback on EVERSPACE 2 and DLCs. 

As a thank you for those who take the time to fill out the survey, space game fans who have completed the form will be entered into a draw. Five winners will be drawn at random from survey entrants and receive their choice that it is currently available, or a physical copy of The Art of EVERSPACE 2. Winners will be drawn January 30, 2026 and will be contacted in the week after via the email address provided through the survey.

Work and study becomes a lot more chill with the right soundtrack. Over the last few months, we’ve released a selection of 1 hour loop tracks using music from the EVERSPACE 2 Official Soundtrack and EVERSPACE 2 Official Soundtrack - Expansion Tracks albums for pilots who just need to vibe. Find them all on the ROCKFISH Games YouTube channel.

Also, if you missed it, EVERSPACE 2 base game and expansion music can now be found on Spotify[open.spotify.com], Apple Music[music.apple.com], YouTube Music, and many other streaming platforms. Enjoy tracks created by Gero Goerlich and Lukas Deuschel wherever in the universe you may be.

Looking for a holiday treat? Complete your EVERSPACE collection! Find deals on everything EVERSPACE on these fine stores:

Steam Winter Sale

• EVERSPACE 2 - 80% off

• EVERSPACE 2: Titans - 30% off

• EVERSPACE 2: Wrath of the Ancients - 30% off

• EVERSPACE 2 Supporter Pack - 20% off

• The Art of EVERSPACE™ 2 - 50% off

• The Art of EVERSPACE™ 2 - Ancients & Titans - 30% off

• The EVERSPACE 2 Official Soundtrack - 50% off

• The EVERSPACE 2 Official Soundtrack - Expansion Tracks - 30% off

GOG Winter Sale

• EVERSPACE 2 - 80% off

• EVERSPACE 2: Titans - 30% off

• EVERSPACE 2: Wrath of the Ancients - 25% off

• EVERSPACE 2 Supporter Pack - 20% off

• The Art of EVERSPACE™ 2 - 50% off

• The Art of EVERSPACE™ 2 - Ancients & Titans - 30% off

• The EVERSPACE 2 Official Soundtrack - 50% off

• The EVERSPACE 2 Official Soundtrack - Expansion Tracks - 30% off

Humble Bundle Holiday Blowout Sale

• EVERSPACE 2 - 70% off

• EVERSPACE - 90% off

PlayStation Holiday Sale Part One

• EVERSPACE 2 - 75% off

• EVERSPACE 2: Titans - 25% off

• EVERSPACE 2: Wrath of the Ancients - 25% off

• EVERSPACE 2 Supporter Pack - 20% off

Xbox Countdown Sale

• EVERSPACE - 80% off

That’s a wrap for ROCKFISH in 2025! EVERSPACE 2: Wrath of the Ancients was an incredibly fun expansion to reveal and launch in 2025, and we can’t wait for what comes next for the studio. While we’ve been quiet on our current project, all we can say at this time is we’ve got something very exciting in the works, but it’s going to be a while until we can speak about it. 

Until then, support ROCKFISH Games by sharing screenshots online, telling friends about your favorite EVERSPACE moments, posting reviews on our games and DLC, and following EVERSPACE social accounts for the latest news. 

See you in 2026!

Lee and the ROCKFISH Games team

Greetings, Pilots!

EVERSPACE 2: Wrath of the Ancients is a callback to the expansions of yesteryear, a massive addition bringing new story, sprawling locations, dynamic player ship, exciting mechanics, and new gear for players to challenge the Ancient threat. Using new tools, bespoke solutions, and clever design, the ROCKFISH Games audio team, Audio Director Gero Goerlich and Senior Sound Designer Lukas Deuschel pushed past limits to bring exciting alien worlds to life.

Today we’ve got an in-depth interview with ROCKFISH Games[rockfishgames.com] Senior Sound Designer Lukas Deuschel! Lukas joined the team for development of EVERSPACE 2: Titans, and put his talents to the test working hand in hand with Gero to develop new sounds and music for EVERSPACE 2: Wrath of the Ancients.

First, let’s talk about the soundtrack. ROCKFISH Games Audio Director Gero Goerlich is known for his rock, synth, and EDM influences on the EVERSPACE soundtracks, it seems you’ve brought your own ideas to the table in some of the more cinematic tracks.

The score carries the soul of the EVERSPACE series’ established sound as shaped by Gero Goerlich, while introducing a more modern approach. We recreated classic, nostalgic 1980s sci-fi synthesizer aesthetics - think Blade Runner, The Terminator, and Tangerine Dream - using a custom sound-design process, then refreshed through hybrid orchestration. In this approach, orchestral instruments meet contemporary synthesizers, arpeggiators, electronic drums, and sound-designed transitions, bridging the familiar with something new. This keeps the soundtrack true to EVERSPACE while giving the new music a richer, more cinematic scope.

For the fully animated and illustrated cinematics, I composed original music tailored to the mood, pacing, and emotional nuance of each scene. Every cue was mixed individually for maximum impact, from the punch of low drums to the airy clarity of ethereal high voices, drawing inspiration from the depth and punch of Alan Meyerson’s blockbuster mixing style.

As the Okkar feature so heavily in  the narrative of the expansion, how did you explore that on the audio side?

We wanted the Okkar to feel ancient, alien, and powerful, unlike anything else in the EVERSPACE universe.

A major touchstone for this direction was Hans Zimmer’s Dune soundtrack, especially its sense of ritualistic intensity and monumental scale. Inspired by that approach, I built a bespoke audio palette through extensive sound design in Phase Plant, Vital, and modular/custom processing chains. Most of the Okkar instruments were created from scratch: aggressive synth drones, bowed-metal textures, deep percussive hits, processed string instruments and Tuvan-inspired vocals, crafted with automation-heavy FX chains to create timbres that feel both organic and otherworldly. This included not just synthesizers but also unique sampled instruments captured from rare sources with alien timbres to define the Okkar’s sonic identity.

From the start, the Okkar and cinematic music introduced in EVERSPACE 2: Wrath of the Ancients evolved in close collaboration with the studio’s creative leads, ensuring it stayed aligned with the story and visual direction. This kept the score faithful to the narrative vision while allowing it to evolve naturally during production. The Okkar, an alien race EVERSPACE pilots have encountered many times in the series, have their own leitmotif, woven into both gameplay and cinematics, refined until it captured the “essence” of the faction, and resolved in the outro cutscene. Key characters, like Prime-Leader Ulthark, also received distinct instrumentation and motifs.

What kind of instruments and inspirations were you pulling from for the new Okkar themes?

Significant time went into collecting and refining reference tracks and rare instrument recordings, from Tibetan throat-singing monks to the elusive octobass, to establish a clear emotional and sonic blueprint before full composition.

For a more mystical edge, classic Balkan and Middle Eastern female vocals were mixed with the Armenian duduk and layered them over expansive, space-inspired soundscapes designed specifically for this project. In faster scenes, electric arpeggiators intertwine with tight string spiccatos to bridge modern synth drive with classical articulation.

We also incorporated frame drums, bowed and scraped metal textures, and processed brass-style drones to create the raw, alien timbres we associate with Okkar culture. Epic low-end instruments such as large brass sections sit alongside more unusual timbres like brass-style synth drones and the rare, ultra-low octobass - a massive bowed string instrument that is notoriously difficult to sample and recreate. To use that character throughout the score without compromise, we built a playable synthesized octobass in Phase Plant.

Like Gero, your role extends beyond composition and into the more technical side of audio design. What kind of techniques and systems were used in the expansion?

Beyond composing the cinematic score, I also contributed to the technical side of the in-game audio systems together with Gero. The in-game music uses our custom adaptive setup implemented directly in Unreal, without middleware. Exploration stays atmospheric and open, alert phases introduce tension through added layers, and combat builds into a high-energy mix. We spent a lot of time making these transitions feel seamless while working within strict CPU and voice-count limits.

Most sounds were created from scratch using modular synthesis and custom processing chains. For ambiences, sessions often contain dozens of layers: a subtle noise floor to simulate the physical space, low space rumbling from outside stations or ships, and ventilation shafts built from modulated noise sources combined with custom-recorded impulse responses from metal tubes and containers, blended with self-recorded rattling-metal layers. Every UI sound - from console beeps to button presses - was built from analog oscillators with custom LFO and envelope shaping.

To support the expansion’s varied environments, especially for the new systems in Rhak Homeworlds and Khaït Dominion, we implemented atmospheric audio systems that enable seamless transitions between environmental sound levels and zones, so immersion is never broken by abrupt changes. The modular architecture maintains consistent quality across the world while still allowing fully handcrafted, highly detailed soundscapes for narrative-critical locations. This lets each environment “breathe” with its own sonic identity.

Speaking of identity, were there particular places in Wrath of the Ancients that inspired you and the sounds of the expansion?

Many of the new locations in Wrath of the Ancients strongly shaped the sound identity of the expansion. On the desert planet Khormot Cenotap, the wind can carry the distant, haunting calls of massive exotic creatures, rare enough to spark curiosity. Flying over open dune fields surrounds your ship with wide, barren wind textures. Threading through sand canyons adds the tactile patter of fine grains cascading across the hull and wings. Inside ancient temple ruins, the outside winds become filtered and hollow, blending with faint rustling, stone crackles, and the whisper of shifting sand.

The Ghareth Refinery, provided an entirely different sonic contrast. Over the viridium lakes, the surface churns with thick, molten-like bubbling, while the towering refinery structures groan with deep metallic resonance when the wind gusts. Near tunnel entrances, the wind carries a heavy industrial hum. Deeper inside, the soundscape becomes sterile and claustrophobic, electric drones, metallic reverberations, and faint low-frequency hums define the space. At the lowest levels, slow water drips into still pools, creating a quiet, almost eerie counterpoint to the mechanical chaos above.

You and Gero worked closely with ROCKFISH Games Senior Cinematic Designer Alexander Junghans on the cinematics of EVERSPACE 2: Wrath of the Ancients. Can you speak to that part of development?

In Wrath of the Ancients, the cinematic work was split across two parallel pipelines. Gero collaborated closely with Alex on the in-engine narrative sequences, while I focused on the fully animated and illustrated cinematics together with the art team and an external studio.

Every cinematic was treated as its own self-contained piece of art, with bespoke linear sound design tailored to the scene’s narrative beat and pacing. Original compositions were created specifically for each cinematic, integrating thematic motifs where relevant while leaving space for fresh tonal shifts. Custom sound elements designed in Phase Plant and Vital give key moments a distinct, memorable sonic fingerprint.

Complex scenes grew into large soundscapes. The arrival at Prescott , for example, included around 50 layers: close and distant chattering, weeping refugee crowds, custom take-off and landing effects for ships, flyby drones, police sirens, PA announcements, and synthesized station voices. I also recreated alarms from scratch, inspired by the MU-TH-UR 6000 system in Alien. For the Okkar Ceremony, I built a custom bowed-bell instrument by shaping noise through specifically recorded metallic impulse responses. This allowed the instrument to be performed in perfect sync with the action rather than relying on fixed samples.

Close collaboration with the narrative and art teams ensured that every sound reinforced the visual storytelling and emotional pacing of the scene. These layers do not just fill space; they make each cinematic feel alive, grounded, and part of a larger, believable world.

Thanks so much for taking the time to share these insights into the development of EVERSPACE 2: Wrath of the Ancients! 

As the ROCKFISH Games team work behind closed doors, we’ll occasionally share lookbacks at the development of EVERSPACE 2 and DLC to showcase developer stories here and during our monthly livestreams. Join our Discord[discord.com] to find out about upcoming interviews and to post your questions for the team. 

If you missed it, we recently launched a special EVERSPACE 2 + Hardspace Shipbreaker bundle. Check it out and all the discounts on EVERYTHING EVERSPACE in the Steam Winter Sale.

Lee and your ROCKFISH Games team