No Man's Sky | Sci-Fi Survival Gaming At It's Very Best!
Updated: Nov 19, 2021
No Man's Sky is a survival game set in space developed and published by Hello Games. The game was released in August 2016 for PlayStation 4 and Windows PC and then for the XBox in July 2018 followed by PlayStation 5 and the XBox Series S and X in November 2020. The actual game world is procedurally generated and completely open world, and it boasts to have over 18 quintillion planets, all of which have their own ecosystems, wildlife and also resources, which all adds to the core of the game involving exploration, combat, survival and trading. You are absolutely free to go whereever you want whenever you want and with two options, solo or multiplayer, there is something for everyone in this game, whether you are the lone wolf gamer or prefer to play with friends. No Man's Sky is also cross-platform and cross-gen, and even if you opt for solo mode, there are still options to interact with others.
I have to admit until last year I had never heard of the game, it had slipped under my radar in the first few years of it's release. I now know that it was not too well received on initial release and that the developers have spent a lot of time making the game what it is today. I picked it up in one of the recent PS Store sales for half price, thinking I would at least give it a try and I hadn't paid the full price anyway so had nothing to lose if the game ended up being rubbish.
At first No Man's Sky can feel very daunting to the new player as there is so much to do in it and the user interface with the numerous pages of options can feel overwhelming. My main advice for new players is to just spend some time on your starting planet and get used to the controls, learn what everything in your inventory is and just get a feel for the game. Maybe don't get too involved in the storyline, just explore and familiarise yourself with your habitat and your suit and any weapons or tools you might have. There is literally so much in the game, and it is not a game you are going to be racing through and completing so just sit back and enjoy the ride at your own pace. I should point out here that I was not happy with my initial starting planet (it was a really hot one) so I did restart my game and got a nice icy planet, which was what I was hoping for. It has a very big John Carpenter's The Thing feel to it so I am more than happy. I should also point out here that I am only 100 hours into the game, and as much as I have done, and as much as I have seen, I really do not think I have even scratched the surface and there will be many, many more hours in game for me to come, as I venture further and further into it all. With that in mind I will most likely at some point update this blog post as I play further into the game and discover more about it all.
When you first start out in No Man's Sky you find yourself on a huge remote planet with only a basic set of items in your inventory. You have also been separated from your ship which you will have to locate and repair. Oh and your exosuit which regulates the life support for you while you do this will be damaged as well and require repair as a matter of urgency. This is where the survival aspect kicks in, right from the get go, as you locate the resources that you require, and go about repairing both your exosuit and your ship. Once these tasks are done you are fine to have a little breather and just take in the sights of your home planet and I found myself spending hours and hours just skimming over the surface just checking out all the buildings and other points of interest I discovered during that initial little exploration. As you progress into the game more, you will encounter NPCs, trading posts, colonies as well as all sorts of wildlife native to your home planet, and with a recent update, you now have the option to tame any animal species and have them as your companion through the game.
I won't go into too much detail about things as I would like this first draft of my No Man's Sky blog post to be aimed at the new player, but further into the game you will have the option to build a base which will open up the more creative part of the game. Bases can be as small or as huge and lavish as you want them to be. Again you will need to gather resources to be able to do this. As well as that you can also upgrade your ship through the game, and I think you can have up to 6 ships in your possession at any one time. There is also the option later on to obtain a Freighter that can berth itself in a low orbit of the planet, and that will allow you have more ships as they can all just sit in the Freighter. But I won't get too far ahead with things just now. Like I said, I am just about 100 hours into the game and I have a really nice base and Freighter, so it is all possible to do in that time, but I really do enjoy all the general exploration of the game, and have been to a few systems now other than my own. Some of the materials and resources you will require through the game are not readily available on your own home planet so venturing out into space for these will be a requirement at some point. But just take the game at your own pace, there is plenty to do and even just roaming around enjoying the stunning scenery can lose you hours and hours in this amazing game.
Also, something I did forget to mention is that once you have repaired your ship and find the components and resources needed for leaving the planet, you can also get involved in space dogfights with other ships, some of which will gather more resources for you while you are out in space, as when you destroy an enemy you can collect the salvage from the ships. You will have to make sure you have installed and upgraded some weapons into your ship for this or else you will end up being a sitting duck to any space pirates that you might encounter.
Getting back to the Freighters, which I mentioned earlier, there are options in the game to buy one, as you come across a few once you start venturing further out into space, but I have also read that you can obtain one for free by saving the crew and cargo from pirates. I never had this option or have just not encountered it yet, but if you are short of cash when you do finally have the Freighter option, spending a lot of your income can be avoided if you prefer.
So I will leave this little review/blog post of No Man's Sky there for now, but I will definitely be revisiting it and updating it in the near future. As you can probably tell, I do really love this game. For me it has everything, you can spend time on the planets exploring, gathering, or just upgrading and crafting. Oh and I forgot to add that the game can be played in either of the 1st or 3rd person views. You can fly off into space and discover new systems, find more resources to bring back and add to your collection. You can construct lavish bases on land or underwater. There really is something for everyone in this game, and playing it can be just so relaxing at times. It really is such a chilled game that you can take completely at your own pace, whether that is via the main story, playing solo or getting involved in the multiplayer.
There has also just recently been a huge new patch and update released for No Man's Sky called Expeditions which you can read a little more about in the link, if you are further into the game than me or if you are just curious. But yes I would definitely like to keep this blog post updated more as I get further into the game myself over time, so please do check back soon or keep an eye on my Twitter for any notifications regarding updates to all of my blogs. g1a5w3g1an's Rating: 5 out of 5.
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