One of the most anticipated releases of the year (if not this generation) with every media outlet writing some form of article depicting their expectations. The question I asked myself prior to the games release, "is it possible to live up to the hype?". Well, the answer was quickly given to me as the game launched.
Obviously No Man's Sky is a massive universe in which the players may travel where they want and explore planets until they die of lack of sleep. Mining, exploring, surviving, and trading are the main features of the game. Unfortunately that simply isn't enough content in today's gaming age. Yes, you will have an awesome time for a few hours exploring and finding the secrets of the game however you will eventually get tired and bored of the same old elements the game offers. Is it worth $60? Depends who you are honestly. Some will enjoy hours upon hours of simply exploring the planets while others will get bored with maybe even a couple hours. It completely depends who you are. That's probably the main reason reviewers are so split with this game. Don't let the low reviews scare you from the game.
No Man's Sky does have a number of features to allow hours of gameplay. Whether flying from one unique planet to another in search for species while mining the planets minerals and trying to survive either from weather or the sentinels or even some angry weird looking species. However, the list comes up quite short. You would think a game this big would never get boring right? Well, if it doesn't get boring it will certainly get repetitive or just stop being fun. Sure, you can trade or explore to your hearts desire however trading ends up becoming a hassle and exploring can get boring. After playing 20+ or so hours of the game, I have a reached a point where I am in a constant loop of mining and selling and have simply got tired of exploring. This would be incredibly boring if I didn't have a friend talking to me about all the content Hello Games could add and listening to the games impressive soundtrack.
Sean Murray and Hello Games have created a massive game which they can take anywhere. My question is where should they take it? I would personally love base building or having the option to play with friends or even just adding a nice story or some lore. I have so many ideas flowing through my head that could almost certainly add another 50+ hours of fun to the game. It's not like we haven't seen games gone from bad to bad ass within updates after launch. DriveClub is considered one of the greatest racers of this generation and that had a terrible launch. But either way I feel this game could become something special with updates to improve and add more content.
Sean writes: "Last month’s Remnant update caused much hilarity as you tooled with your newfangled gravity guns and customisable exocraft, transporting precarious industrial cargo across uneven terrain in a classic risk vs. reward fight. Our latest update is a whole different beast."
Open World games can be challenging in VR. However, there are some standout titles, so here's the best Open World VR games available now.
In Remnant, the latest free update for No Man's Sky downloadable today, PlayStation players get their hands on the Gravitino Coil, a gravity gun module for their multi-tool. The Gravitino Coil is a powerful new module for your multi-tool which enables you to draw large weighty objects towards you from afar and relocate them, fling them, or carry them to your (newly customisable) Colossus exocraft where they can be loaded up, transported across the planet and processed for high reward.
Pay a little more attention to the monoliths, the vy'keen have an amazing lore behind them and their war against the sentinels
To each their own but I think this is by far the most artistically pleasing game I've played this generation (outside of Transitor) in terms of visuals. As for the fun factor, I've put 32+ hours into this game and I've had fun the entire adventure... I always get the sense when somebody complains about it not being fun what they really mean is it doesn't hold my hand and give me the exactly same storyline everybody else will experience ala Assassins Creed, Far Cry, GTA, Fallout, etc...
Better review than many of these hacks with no name websites that put out reviews.
Spot on review and score; thanks for sharing.
I agree with your sentiment; it can get tedious for some players, but the more you explore and unlock, the more rewarding it becomes. You make your own fun essentially.
I do wish they would curtail the procedural generation a bit; my biggest gripe is that i have to keep moving forward. i.e. I can never go back to an earlier point of interest. Reducing the proc-gen in favor of having savable waypoints would make my discoveries feel more tangible. And If Hello Games gave us the option of exploring with friends I think the longevity of this game would increase exponentially. I regularly play whilst party-chatting with my friend and it sometimes seems a shame that we can't experience discoveries together.