What is there to say about the launch of No Man's Sky that hasn't been said already? Finally, we would the space exploration adventure game of our dreams, with economies and bases and space combat and oh my god give it to me now. And when the world finally got it in their hands in 2016, we quickly learned that we'd loaded so much steam into the hype train that there was no way to stop it from going right off the cliff. Promised features were either outright missing or implemented in bizarre, half-finished versions. Players why fought the rampant bugs and crashes were met with a repetitive inventory manager where their biggest nemesis were the plethora of resources fighting for a lack of backpack slots. Perhaps, worst of all, Hello Games was notoriously and suspiciously utterly silent for months after the launch. What was to be the final, pinnacle version of space explorer games was instead a monument of "what not to do" for marketing and development.
And, as it always does, the internet handled things calmly and maturely.
I wasn't on the ground floor of the launch, scouring the internet for news and rumors and waiting in line for the release. I first got my hands on the game on 2017 from a friend. Of course, I had to ask the question:
"So, like, does it suck as much as everyone says?"
"No, it's not perfect but it's fine. I like it."
Those two sentences were a better and more accurate review than what the entirety of the internet had spent a year beating over the dead horse. I spent a couple hours with it and found it, for lack of a better term, fine. Perhaps my expectations had been lowered accordingly, but I found the exploration and the scenery relaxing and enjoyable. The loop of "Land here, gather something to sell or craft, get fuel, and do it again" was, yes, repetitive, but then again I didn't come to No Man's Sky with the mindset of min-maxing and calling out of work to grind away for more... space dust?
It's pretty much always space dust...
While in my local GameStop for an unrelated matter this past December, I spotted a brand new copy of No Man's Sky for $20. Based on my own previous brief experience with the game and hearing about the "Next" update, this was way too good to pass up. The game honestly was a breath of fresh air for me at the time, since I spent most of my focus at the time on the intensity and grindy Destiny 2. The variety of flora, fauna, and environment of each planet was as novel as I'd remembered. The open world(s) approach is now blended with a couple different progression systems, where you can pursue the monolithic and mysterious Atlas, or follow the story of a strange traveler contacting you through messages. These systems blend well with the sandbox aspect, as you're rarely pressured to hit the next checkpoint instead of scanning flora for the massive live community events or working on your base. Speaking of, Hello Games has finally implemented a real co-op mode and a creative mode a-la Minecraft. While I haven't tried these myself, they're a perfect addition to the game, and while they inarguably should have been present at launch, there is something to be said about Hello Game's commitment to continue to push out free updates to "Right the wrong" as it were.
It is still repetitive. There are still some bugs (Like multiple quests whose progression flags never correctly update in my case). The game itself is still far from perfect but in the couple years since launch, we've come a long way. The "Do whatever you want" philosophy is still present, and there are plenty of different activities to go after.
The idyllic sceneries and soothing soundtracks of the game seem to want to tell the player "Hey man, just sit down here and relax for a little bit." and in this mindset, at least for me, No Man's Sky excels. It's not the game you coordinate with the squad to get on after work until the odd hours in the morning, and that's perfectly fine.
