a blog about no mans sky

I’ve played No Man’s Sky for 2–3 hours. I love it.

Tbh I never really watched much of the pre-launch material for the game. I watched that Colbert segment and saw some stuff through PlayStation press conferences, but that’s about it. I also heard someone finished it in 30 hours.

At first No Man’s Sky is daunting, but for an indie game it’s surprisingly smart in teaching you how to play the game.

Even better, unlike the almost chore-like open world games of the moment, even with unlimited scope No Man’s Sky is a lot more relaxing. While in games like Far Cry it feels like starting a marathon, especially seeing how much of the map you have yet to conquer, the limitless world of No Man’s Sky actually means I feel less anxious about progress. Since it’s physically impossible to visit every planet in the game it feels less like a game of cover-to-cover, front page to last page exploration, and more like a game of discovery. I dunno how to really say it but I find it less burdensome to know that there is no chance I’ll ever truly 100% this game.

The gameplay itself is really special too, and again, surprising. Your first trip into space, your first grasp of resource management, and the first time you journey out of the solar system. They all feel like achievements, and while the comparison is unfair, it reminds me a lot of building my first home in Minecraft and surviving the night. No Man’s Sky places you on dangerous planets, some cold, some freakishly warm, some filled with spooky creatures, some filled with tiny little blobs.

A lot of people are going to say it doesn’t live up to expectations, but as someone with no expectations I’m overwhelmed by how much fun I’ve had in the past few hours. There are things that could’ve used more work, like the combat systems, but overall the game does exactly what Hello Games set out to do. It feels like I’ve fallen into the cover of my favourite sci-fi novels, and I honestly don’t want to leave.