Wow, they really pulled this one out.

First impressions are really positive.

Congrats on sticking with it, Hello games.

TLDR: No.Man's Sky feels like a game without limits. The experience is very much what I hoped for 4 years ago when I saw those amazing trailers.

One of the most addictive games I have ever played... I put in over 120 hours in 2 weeks, I haven't done that with a game in years.

Normally, I tend to follow story missions, side missions, but NMS is strongest in the elements that aren't planned out for the player, the Random Encounters, the purely visual Intrigue, the sense of exploration is wonder that you feel as you move on to the next alien world.

I've never played anything quite like it.


Elaborating further:

No Man's Sky has gone from one of the most notorious examples of over-promised content in gaming history, to an underwhelming dissappointment, which rightfully incensed legions customers, many of whom swore they would never pre-order a video game again, to something completely unexpected.

A labor of love.

The team at Hello games clearly had passion for their project and despite being put in an awful position by their mistakes and the relentless pressure of the retail gaming promotional machine, they accepted their situation, put their heads down, and got to work.

I was rightly skeptical, because I could probably count the instances where a game launched to broken promises and disappointed customers, and was subsequently reinvented buy a determined team of developers on one hand, and I'd have a few fingers left over.

Hello games did it.

Not only is No Man's Sky every bit as exciting as the game we saw in those fantastic trailers in 2016, I'd have to say it's more than they promised at the time, and far more than I'd ever expected.


I stumbled back onto the new promotional material, because I was looking for a space game, (there are several good examples on Steam right now, in addition do a few promising titles in development.) Something new that I could pick up right away.

The good now?
1. EVERSPACE
2. Star Control Origins
3. Starpoint Gemini 2
4. Rebel Galaxy Outlaw (mostly)

The good forthcoming
1. EVERSPACE 2
2. DEEP: The Battle of Jove
3. Star Point Gemini 3

Redout Space Assault looked good too, but I'm afraid it might be stillborn.

Notably, there are a couple other AAA space games forthcoming, which look absolutely awful. (Squadrons, Chorvs)

So I ended up taking another look at the promotional trailers for No Man's sky, it was also 50% off.

Utterly blown away.

Not merely that, because NMS is more than just a space flight Sim, it encompasses the complete experience of space exploration and commerce, flying spaceships, visiting space stations, walking, driving, flying, on planet surfaces. Building bases, piloting mechs, sub Oceanic exploration and habitat, mining, crafting, combat...

You can do it all.

Coupled with that, there is a pervasive sense of wonder about everything you do and everything you find, the systems are intuitive, easy enough to figure out, that you don't need the game to Hold Your Hand.

I'm not sure if it's because of the procedural generation, but everything you encounter feels like something new.

You can choose how you want to play and what you want to do, and so far, I feel like I enjoy everything.

I spent hours piloting my craft around an asteroid field, harvesting rare resources, flew to the space station, parked my vehicle, sold my Wares, went shopping for system upgrades, haggled for a ship, and then decided I wanted to go sit down on a couch.... and every bit of it was fun.

And I'm only a few hours into this game.

Hello Games may have taken time to make good on their promises, but they did it.

More than that, in my opinion, they have created a Timeless masterpiece.

Without mods, or any knowledge of what narrative content the game May contain, with my character's still hanging out in my first system, in the back Waters of the Galaxy, I can see myself sinking thousands of hours into this game, and I look forward to it.

Notes:

Now over 100.hours in, I want to point out some of the experiential highlights.

-Undersea exploration: I ended up settling on my main home base on a fairly safe world, habitable, glasses and oceans, lots of goodies to discover.

Initially I swam in the water looked at all the sea life, I absolutely loved it. It motivated me to unlock the "Nautilon". (Pro-tip- you can unlock goodies a lot earlier using the anomaly, instead of waiting to expand your base, all you need is Salvage data from the buried modules)

Once I got to submarine, I was able to explore deep water, hundreds of meters down from the surface, there were even cave that were big enough to be navigable with the small sub.

In one of the larger oceans, I found a crashed Starship, I swam through the tropical see among the wreckage.

Not far from that Starship, as I was harvesting resources to make more fuel, I encountered a school of massive under sea monsters, which one bigger than my submarine. Just epic.

I highly recommend at least checking out the first person camera on the submarine, it's not as easy to navigate, but it's an incredibly immersive experience, and one of the coolest things I've ever seen in a video game.

-Base Building: full disclosure, I am not a fan of survival games, or pretty much any other game that centers around building bases.

When I've played Skyrim and Fallout, I didn't even attempt to build bases, I just lived where the game with lightning, ( with my beautiful wife Lydia.)

Something about the utility of bases, the overall sense of Frontier exploration, and the unearthly settings made base Construction in no man's sky absolutely addictive for me.

I had to spend at least 10 to 20 hours of the 120 that I played in the last 2 weeks building bases.

They run the gamut from the prefabricated high-tech units, which allowed me to build a looking installation, perched high on a precarious Mountain Ridge, with a view to die for.

I built a custom structure, which starts on the coast of an ocean, bridges across the water do a building on a small island. Because of extreme weather on the planet, I made sure I had plenty of space for everything, with the exception of my landing pad... not content with merely fantastic, I decided to excavate a cave into the ocean underneath one of my buildings, and build stairs allowing me to access my submarine while never leaving the building, at some point, I will add an underwater portion to the structure.

I also built a more simple desert Hideaway, perching on Foothills, it has a great view off the porch, and since I was feeling a bit silly as I was finishing the project, I decided to build the jump ramp as the main egress for my exocraft.

And as far as I'm concerned, I'm just getting started.

Wow, they really pulled this one out. First impressions are really positive. Congrats on sticking with it, Hello games. TLDR: No.Man's Sky feels like a game without limits. The experience is very much what I hoped for 4 years ago when I saw those amazing trailers. One of the most addictive games I have ever played... I put in over 120 hours in 2 weeks, I haven't done that with a game in years. Normally, I tend to follow story missions, side missions, but NMS is strongest in the elements that aren't planned out for the player, the Random Encounters, the purely visual Intrigue, the sense of exploration is wonder that you feel as you move on to the next alien world. I've never played anything quite like it. Elaborating further: No Man's Sky has gone from one of the most notorious examples of over-promised content in gaming history, to an underwhelming dissappointment, which rightfully incensed legions customers, many of whom swore they would never pre-order a video game again, to something completely unexpected. A labor of love. The team at Hello games clearly had passion for their project and despite being put in an awful position by their mistakes and the relentless pressure of the retail gaming promotional machine, they accepted their situation, put their heads down, and got to work. I was rightly skeptical, because I could probably count the instances where a game launched to broken promises and disappointed customers, and was subsequently reinvented buy a determined team of developers on one hand, and I'd have a few fingers left over. Hello games did it. Not only is No Man's Sky every bit as exciting as the game we saw in those fantastic trailers in 2016, I'd have to say it's more than they promised at the time, and far more than I'd ever expected. I stumbled back onto the new promotional material, because I was looking for a space game, (there are several good examples on Steam right now, in addition do a few promising titles in development.) Something new that I could pick up right away. The good now? 1. EVERSPACE 2. Star Control Origins 3. Starpoint Gemini 2 4. Rebel Galaxy Outlaw (mostly) The good forthcoming 1. EVERSPACE 2 2. DEEP: The Battle of Jove 3. Star Point Gemini 3 Redout Space Assault looked good too, but I'm afraid it might be stillborn. Notably, there are a couple other AAA space games forthcoming, which look absolutely awful. (Squadrons, Chorvs) So I ended up taking another look at the promotional trailers for No Man's sky, it was also 50% off. Utterly blown away. Not merely that, because NMS is more than just a space flight Sim, it encompasses the complete experience of space exploration and commerce, flying spaceships, visiting space stations, walking, driving, flying, on planet surfaces. Building bases, piloting mechs, sub Oceanic exploration and habitat, mining, crafting, combat... You can do it all. Coupled with that, there is a pervasive sense of wonder about everything you do and everything you find, the systems are intuitive, easy enough to figure out, that you don't need the game to Hold Your Hand. I'm not sure if it's because of the procedural generation, but everything you encounter feels like something new. You can choose how you want to play and what you want to do, and so far, I feel like I enjoy everything. I spent hours piloting my craft around an asteroid field, harvesting rare resources, flew to the space station, parked my vehicle, sold my Wares, went shopping for system upgrades, haggled for a ship, and then decided I wanted to go sit down on a couch.... and every bit of it was fun. And I'm only a few hours into this game. Hello Games may have taken time to make good on their promises, but they did it. More than that, in my opinion, they have created a Timeless masterpiece. Without mods, or any knowledge of what narrative content the game May contain, with my character's still hanging out in my first system, in the back Waters of the Galaxy, I can see myself sinking thousands of hours into this game, and I look forward to it. Notes: Now over 100.hours in, I want to point out some of the experiential highlights. -Undersea exploration: I ended up settling on my main home base on a fairly safe world, habitable, glasses and oceans, lots of goodies to discover. Initially I swam in the water looked at all the sea life, I absolutely loved it. It motivated me to unlock the "Nautilon". (Pro-tip- you can unlock goodies a lot earlier using the anomaly, instead of waiting to expand your base, all you need is Salvage data from the buried modules) Once I got to submarine, I was able to explore deep water, hundreds of meters down from the surface, there were even cave that were big enough to be navigable with the small sub. In one of the larger oceans, I found a crashed Starship, I swam through the tropical see among the wreckage. Not far from that Starship, as I was harvesting resources to make more fuel, I encountered a school of massive under sea monsters, which one bigger than my submarine. Just epic. I highly recommend at least checking out the first person camera on the submarine, it's not as easy to navigate, but it's an incredibly immersive experience, and one of the coolest things I've ever seen in a video game. -Base Building: full disclosure, I am not a fan of survival games, or pretty much any other game that centers around building bases. When I've played Skyrim and Fallout, I didn't even attempt to build bases, I just lived where the game with lightning, ( with my beautiful wife Lydia.) Something about the utility of bases, the overall sense of Frontier exploration, and the unearthly settings made base Construction in no man's sky absolutely addictive for me. I had to spend at least 10 to 20 hours of the 120 that I played in the last 2 weeks building bases. They run the gamut from the prefabricated high-tech units, which allowed me to build a looking installation, perched high on a precarious Mountain Ridge, with a view to die for. I built a custom structure, which starts on the coast of an ocean, bridges across the water do a building on a small island. Because of extreme weather on the planet, I made sure I had plenty of space for everything, with the exception of my landing pad... not content with merely fantastic, I decided to excavate a cave into the ocean underneath one of my buildings, and build stairs allowing me to access my submarine while never leaving the building, at some point, I will add an underwater portion to the structure. I also built a more simple desert Hideaway, perching on Foothills, it has a great view off the porch, and since I was feeling a bit silly as I was finishing the project, I decided to build the jump ramp as the main egress for my exocraft. And as far as I'm concerned, I'm just getting started.