Eight years ago I witnessed one of the most disappointing launches to a hyped up game that I had ever witnessed. At that time No Man's Sky was a shell of what was promised for the game. Since then the developers have been hard at work releasing free content updates to the game and it now sits as one of the most beloved space exploration games out there. One of those updates newly released so I decided to download the game for my PS5 and give it a go.
18 quintillion planets
No Man's Sky big selling point back then was having what is basically an endless universe that you're able to explore as you see fit. Every star in the sky is a solar system you can visit, and those solar systems have planets in them that you can explore. You'll discover new lifeforms, new minerals and flora while uncovering ancient universal secrets. At least that's how I remember them marketing it back then. It sounded amazing.
In reality what you did was fly from planet to planet and shoot rocks with your laser to collect materials to be able to go the next planet and solar system. Eventually you would reach the center of the galaxy where some huge mystery was hiding. The mystery was nothing more than some kind of anomaly that sent you back in time and then the game started all over again. Quite disappoiting. You could visit space stations in each solar systems but they were mostly empty. There were so few elements to the game that it became stale really fast.
Over the year they've now added a ton of new features to the game. I haven't followed the development that closely so I can't list all of what it is but I know that the game is both deeper and richer now. There's new quest lines to uncover, better trading options, actual NPCs to talk to and you can even meet other people in different hubs. There's also a lot done to how planets are generated to increase variety. Oh, it would also be a crime to not mention base building and fast travel possibilities.
Slow paced coziness
After playing No Man's Sky for a good four hours I think I can safely say that no matter how much better it has become it's still not a game for me. It's a little to slow for my liking with not enough stuff happening. That's not a critique to the game as it's being what it's meant to be. A chill, relaxed and cozy space exploration game.
In my four hours I went through the starting quest line. I repaired my ship and I set off into space. I lander on the ugliest planet I could ever imagine as you can see in the thumbnail so I left that place as fast as I could. When I settled on a new planet to build my base I was constantly hit by radiation storms that ended up bogging down my gameplay. I was about to ragequit when I found out that I could change difficulties on the go. I had started in normal mode which makes the game into a survival game. I changed it to relaxed and then later to creative so I could just roam around without systems bogging me down.
The game got a lot better for me then. I think that's what I wanted from the game. Just being able to fly around and explore at my own place. Not to fight weather phenomenons on alien planets while trying to build a wooden shelter. I flew around for two hours just sightseeing planets and following a quest line that gave me some lore of the universe. When those two hours had passed I felt satisfied and was ready to put down the game.
I don't see myself playing much more of No Man's Sky but I can definitely see myself getting the urge to sit down for an hour and two and just fly around to do sightseeing on more planets. The game definitely looks beautiful but I have no interest of interacting with most of the system it has in place. I think it's really good that you can tailor the game to suit your own playstyle so that I can just explore while others can choose to have a more hardcore survival experience. Accessibility is key.
All images in this post are screenshots taken by me.
What an interesting game “No Man's Sky” is. What pleases me about the community is to be able to get me with this kind of curious content.
Survival games are actually good, I guess here in No Man's Sky it must be quite a challenge, as you explain it here. The fact that you had to lower the difficulty setting speaks volumes about that.
I hope you can get some quiet moments every time you play No Man's Sky, I can see it's a game to have a good time too, what better way than to be able to explore quietly without having to be aware of anything else. That point of view that you reflect here I understand very well. Thanks for sharing it bro, greetings!
I wouldn't say the survival is hard in this game. It's just that I wanted to mostly explore and not spend hours trying to survive on each planet.
I get it bro! You know what you are talking about because you already have the experience there and that's ok. I just hope you continue to enjoy playing it every time you feel like exploring new planets.
For me it seems harder and harder to find game that is for me. I enjoyed dragon age inquisition but it had some serious flaws. These days I just prefer older game. Witcher games are my all time favorite but I also love dragon age origins and mass effect games. Talking about mass effect have you played them? they are really good.
The Witcher games are great. I played all of them. Dragon Age isn't quite for me but I played the first one and never finished it. Mass Effect I played like 20 years ago when it released for the Xbox 360. I've been contemplating getting the upgraded version many times.
I really like how futuristic this video game is, especially with the galaxy travels you can do, I really liked this part, it sure was an amazing experience when you got to this point.
This definitely looked awesome. The views are great in this.
I don't usually play space games, but I must admit that this one doesn't look bad at all, but I feel like my PC won't run this game hahaha
It looks like it can be quite heavy on your PC. This was on the Ps5 for me so it ran ok.
Hmmmm well that sure as hell saved me from a stupid download! Laughs I've been meaning to try this but if you say it's fairly empty... I do think I might be able to still find some enjoyment in it but I don't think it's even worth the trouble?
When I mentioned the empty space stations that was 8 years ago when the game was new. The game was pretty much hated beck then. Its not the case anymore.
I read you said that but the idea of it is off putting... in a way... like when DayZ was released back in the day and the game was full of bugs... they fixed almost everything but the idea of it still lurks and therefor it's not as fun as it should be for me...
I get that. At least you'll never tire of your racing games.
😆😆😆 speaking of that... someone gifted me "The Crew 2" so I might be jumping into that real soon!
This is one of those games I keep thinking that "maybe I should finally buy it," but I never do.
I mostly want it for curiosity's sake. But the fact that you say its slow is putting me off again xD
This game seems to be an attempt to improve on Risk of Rain, which notably failed the expectations of other gamers who like a more space-action game. They missed some opportunities for interesting mechanics, instead worrying only about expanding the worlds for sandbox and exploration.
Well, this game can really be summed up with this kind of content, an exploration and curiosity of what you can find in these worlds. Perhaps a campaign mode would be more interesting, with routes to follow instead of this open exploration.
Steam says I have 78 hours in this game. I played years ago and really enjoyed getting to the anomalies, getting a frigate, etc. I recently tried to get back into it after seeing all the updates. I hopped back in for a bit, and while there is new content, it's still mostly just barren planets and the same 'ol encounters. So while I have fond memories of it, I didn't stick with it the second time.
I remember the trailer, I remember having a very bad PC and wanting to buy it and be able to play it until I found out about all the problems it had, terrible problems for a game that plunge it into obscurity but I consider that with time they have improved a lot but the mark is not erased so easily.
And now although I have a good PC I have not dared to try it and it is very likely that the same thing happens to me as to you.