Since its launch in 2003, EVE Online has been the space MMORPG that defines the genre, with thousands of star systems and an in-game economy so massive it requires an economist to oversee.
Few, if any, other games have matched its astronomical scope as EVE Online set several world records in player participation with its thousands-strong battles. It even earned a permanent exhibit at New York’s Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), a rare honour bestowed upon the greatest names in gaming history.
Yet EVE Online can be a daunting experience for new players, with complex systems and a byzantine web of player alliances. Now, you can finally explore the New Eden star cluster on your mobile device with the much more approachable but no less breathtaking EVE Echoes.
Right out of the dock, you’ll marvel at the game’s graphics, as your ship seems like a tiny dot among the vast expanses of space or the cavernous stations. Zoom all the way in to see the details on your ship as it bathes in the beautiful light of a nearby star, just before it warps to another system light years away, onto the next mission or trading station. It certainly feels like starring in your own big-budget space opera.
Just like in EVE Online, you can choose to be a citizen of four different factions: Amarr, Gallente, Caldari and Minmatar, each with its own distinct philosophy and starship design.
As a spacefaring Capsuleer, you’ll get to choose different paths to glory: being a military pilot who excels in space combat, an industrial pilot who extracts minerals and manufactures sophisticated equipment, or a business pilot who thrives in interstellar trading. You’re free to customise your pilot as you want, thanks to a sophisticated skill-training system.
Where there is risk, there are ISK credits. Alongside good old-fashioned mining and trading, you can earn ISK from Encounters, missions that require you to engage in hectic battles or deliver much-needed supplies to other planets. Solve enough of them, and you’ll unlock Storyline missions from the four major factions, which earn you powerful equipment to refit your ship.
And with enough ISK, you can upgrade from your humble starting frigate to the more powerful destroyers or cruisers, among more than a hundred unique ships to choose from.
The EVE experience truly comes alive when you join or create a Corporation with other players, which can side with other Corporations to become powerful Alliances. As you co-operate with fellow members to organise economic activities or wars on competitors, you’ll become part of the powers that shape New Eden too.
Whatever your actions are, they will echo throughout the stars.