EVE Online continues to improve the visuals of its game, with the EVE Evolved initiative still in full swing. Viridian, the upcoming expansion hitting the space MMO next month, sees more of these improvements, from volumetric nebula clouds to visual upgrades across ships.
The major news in today's announcement comes in the form of visual improvements across 68 Frigate-class ships in EVE Online. Ship visuals are being improved with added lighting effects, with some getting what CCP Games calls a "total VFX revamp," notably to the new headlights on each Frigate that help visually identify what state the ship is in currently.
Some of the new visual changes are reactive as well, such as dimming or flickering lights when hit during combat, as well as the inclusion of smoke emitting from vents in Empire hulls after warping. These small visual touches, especially one of the earliest ship classes you can fly when starting EVE are aimed at just adding to the immersion.
Frigates aren't the only ones getting into the party, though, as Bastion marauders are also seeing some changes to their look. When a Marauder hits its powerful Bastion mode on the battlefield, the ship's lighting will change, giving a clear visual indicator to the pilot - and enemies - what's going on there.
"With this update, the visuals of the engaged bastion module have been punched up to make the ship look even more aggressive and powerful. The new visuals show off the energy that is pulsing through those exposed reactors, and this has been achieved with particle effects, holographic paneling, and extra hull lighting. As a result, it will be much clearer to others in space when a marauder has activated its bastion module."
Missles are also getting into the action here with new impact animations to visually indicate what type of damage they are doing. The upcoming Viridian update will bring new visuals giving players a better idea of the types of damage being used in battle, both against their ship as well as against enemy hulls. It's a small change in the grand scheme of things for the average player, but it's valuable information for those capsuleers who need to min-max everything, and it just makes space look prettier.
Speaking of prettier, EVE's final announcement in this morning's update has to do with volumetric clouds being added to the MMO's dungeons. These clouds of gas, debris, and more can now be added to the gameplay space, making everything feel more immersive and visually interesting. The first dungeons to receive this new update will be the Homefront Operations coming with Viridian.
You can check out the full details, complete with videos, on the EVE Online website. EVE Online recently celebrated 20 years in operation this month, with a massive celebration at Jita 4-4 in game. EVE Online's first of two expansions coming this year, Viridian (which these updates will be a part of) is coming sometime in June.
