EVE Vanguard
CCP
EVE Vanguard is a brutal sci-fi shooter. Land on dangerous planets, complete missions, and extract what you can carry – or die trying. Use your resources to build weapons and upgrades to make your Vanguard your own.
Eve Vanguard is the in-development sci-fi sandbox FPS set within the EVE Online universe and currently in the midst of an early access public event where anyone can test the game. It will enter Early Access at some point in Summer 2026, and their Operation Nemesis event is expected to be the last chance to play the game before then.
Operation Nemesis is the name of the currently public test for the upcoming game, which anyone can download and play for free from September 16th to October 2nd. Unlike past tests, we now have a full tutorial system in place with “Resurgence” that streamlines the first steps in the game. This event does add a few new things to the game, including new weapons, a new enemy NPC and a host of quality of life improvements with new battlefield systems. It does give us a better experience of the game, and at this point, it’s clear that Eve Vanguard is going to be special.
Players control a purpose-built war clone, sent to fight in ground-based mercenary contracts across the stunning Star Map that covers the planets of New Eden. The story connects to the stories of other games from the EVE universe while also exploring themes such as consciousness transfer and the growing influence of the Deathless Circle. There’s no need to have played any of the other games from this series to understand the storylines or enjoy them. The story we’ve seen so far is a part of the EVE universe, but it also comfortably stands alone.
Operation Nemesis focuses on the player’s initial deployment as a newly activated vanguard and the moral complexities of their role within the perpetual, never-ending war across New Eden. Considering what past games from EVE have been like, we can expect the stories within the upcoming game to deepen over time, become more complex and keep improving for a long time.
Pros
New stories
Lots of gameplay freedom
Eve Online references are nice touch
PvPvE works great
Proximity chat
Squad up with friends
Cons
Limited playtest so get on!
Exiting menus can be fiddly
You’ll journey on deploying to harsh environments across different corrupted planets that are full of enemies and fallen debris. Each world is stunning but dangerous. Littered with warship wreckages, poisoned swamps, alien jungles and other difficult environments full of potential danger. Exploring these worlds allows you to collect resources and items that can be extracted after completing the mission. The resources can be used to craft new weapons, upgrade items and create gear to customise your gameplay style. While down on the planets, the main goal is to complete the expedition and the contracts you’ve accepted. Successful missions will give you rewards, and you can keep all the other goodies you discover. Each planet is full of enemy hordes, desperate to stop you from progressing. The new enemy added with Operation Nemesis is the Mordu’s Legion, an organised, ruthless group that uses squad tactics.
Thankfully, Operation Nemesis adds proximity voice chat and a Down but Not Out revival system. It’s giving us a much better co-op experience and was a desperately needed addition to improve the gameplay. Eve Vanguard now offers a much better multiplayer experience with these minor but essential additions.
Queenie and I spent 5 hours roaming different worlds completing contracts and side-contracts. With the 9v9 PvP combat experience with ended up with almost 30 kills and each fight was tense. With proximity voice there was a fun touch of taunting between teams. You can play solo but I definitely advise playing with friends. The servers are very good. We saw high FPS and every hit landed with no lag. It shows a lot of promise for the full release, and we can expect the team to expand this before then.
The Eve Vanguard: Operation Nemesis public test will end on October 2nd and I highly recommend checking this out if you like hardware sci-fi survival games!
Overall Rating
