I have put 50+ hours into No Man's Sky since I bought it following the Voyagers update in September. There is an addictive quality to the game, and I am enjoying my time. Yet, in the back of my mind, I’m not feeling the sense of accomplishment to match the addictive quality. I’m doing cool things and progressing through achievements, but something still feels missing.
The number of systems in No Man's Sky is staggering, which is not a surprise considering the game has been live for nine years now and, with its underlying model of exploring unique planets—unique planets that there are more of than can ever possibly be explored (literally; it would take a player 585 billion years to visit every planet if they visited one per second!). This is where the initial addiction sets in. Do thing one and thing two opens; then while there, three, four, and five, and then before you know it... well, it's early in the morning and you've forgotten to go to sleep.
That is a good feeling to have! It’s been a while since I just lost myself in a game—especially one that is not explicitly a multiplayer game. Add in the fact that No Man’s Sky is a seamless game, and it’s a magical experience at times. For example, last night, I took off from my “Home Sweet Home” base, jumped into the cockpit of my starship, and boosted through the atmosphere into space. A space fleet warped into the area around me and started a cargo scan, but they were a moment too late, as I was already jumping to lightspeed. Seconds later, I dropped out of lightspeed and arrived at another planet, descending through its atmosphere to land. Not a single loading screen interrupted that entire experience. String together that sort of sequence over and over again and you can see how you can lose track of time in this game.
I've built multiple bases, visited space stations, summoned the Anomaly (a multiplayer hub of sorts), completed quests, upgraded various items, and most recently built my first corvette. The corvettes are the main feature of the Voyagers update and allow players to piece together spaceships that have interiors and can be walked around in while being flown. To put it simply: corvettes are a game changer. I 100% get the buzz and why No Man's Sky rocketed to over 100,000+ concurrent players on Steam (plus it's also on consoles).
The first time I got up out of my pilot seat in my corvette, enabled autopilot, and then walked through my ship's interior areas and opened my hatch to watch the world glide around below me... wow. Then the fact that, if you are daring enough to try, you can do the same in outer space... there is so much potential here. And to think this tech is in No Man's Sky because they needed it for their MMO-in-development, Light No Fire, and I am a giddy kid in a candy shop here, folks.
But, but, but... I can see the light at the end of the tunnel for my enjoyment of No Man's Sky.
While there are more planets to explore than time in the universe for players to do it, it doesn't mean there is the variety of experiences to match on those planets. Sure, the exact mix of visuals differs and everything on that planet will be uniquely named and available for you to discover, but they are, for all intents and purposes, mostly the same as the last planet you were on. Each planet will also be littered with the same repeating points of interest as well, which drive the same gameplay loops regardless of the planet.
Progression in the game starts out tied to the planets you have access to and the resources available to you on those planets, but that quickly changes as you gain access to trade posts, space stations, and the Anomaly, where many materials can be bought for units (the in-game currency). Units are easy to come by, so it doesn't take long to shift to a mode where you just buy all of your materials instead of extracting them from planets. For some players that may be fine, but for me it felt like it minimized much of the game. That drive to explore more planets for new resources goes away. The desire to set up a base with automated mining operations is diminished.
The game is also quasi-multiplayer. Players can enable multiplayer and, if you happen into the same planet or galaxy as another player, you can interact. Or you can visit the Anomaly, which is a player hub of sorts that you can summon anywhere in the universe, and once inside you see other players and their ships. This gives you a chance to see what others are up to and you get to see a lot of cool ships—well, that is except when someone's custom modded ship crashes the Anomaly you are instanced into.
Being able to use mods to change how you play the game and what you are able to accomplish are all fine, but when it comes to multiplayer it takes away from the sense of accomplishment. I had spent hours and hours on my dumpster of a ship—both collecting the parts and funds to build it—only to run into players that clicked a few buttons and got way better results.
I don't fault the game for supporting mods. I don't fault players for using mods. It just takes away from my experience knowing that the playing field isn’t level. It also doesn't take mods for players to un-level that field. The game by default allows players to change all sorts of settings or modes. Basically, you can load up creative mode and do anything—build anything—without thinking about material costs or expenses. Or you can crank everything to hardcore settings and be miserable. I have been playing on the out-of-the-box normal settings. But again, knowing other players are playing how they want eats away at my sense of overall progression in the game. Yep; that is a me problem and I get that.
The game is also buggy—or maybe a better word is janky. I routinely get stuck on things or fall through solid objects. Combat is laughably bad, but I get that it's not a focus of the game. Base components are often found not working; that power I wired up last play session suddenly doesn't work this session. That terrain I modified so that I could place my base popped back into existence. Numerous times, trying to land in the Anomaly or a space station has sent me into a spiral across the space-time continuum.
Overall, the game has an addictive gameplay loop and a never-ending array of options and systems to explore. However, with the wide nature of the game comes a certain blandness. Players can play however they want, which is good for a single-player experience but makes it a poorer multiplayer experience. With No Man's Sky you can't have your cake and eat it too. It is still a fascinating game, and I definitely got my money's worth out of it but the game play is only skin deep. To be determined if I continue playing much more in the future.
Note: this post was edited with the help of AI (ChatGPT). The thoughts are my own. The grammatical correctness and em dashes (—) are the AI.
