Gametraders Live September Magazine

When No Man’s Sky first came out I was
incredibly excited. I came from an Eve:
Online background and loved many
aspects of that game but simultaneously
hated how slow it felt and how you never
had direct control over your ship (it’s a
point and click game, for the uninitiated).
When No Man’s Sky was announced and
shown off, I soaked it in like Squidward
eating Krabby Patties. Then, when it
was released, I played it for about three
hours before hanging up my boots and
walking away from the depressingly
isolated and limited experience.
Now? Now I can’t stop playing it. Every
day I feel an eager temptation to play it,
and when I do I’m lost in this universe
for at least an hour (which is a lot of
time for me to devote to a session). I
love the exploration, the discovery, the
interaction with aliens, and the possibility
of easily and meaningfully interacting
with people. I love that the resources
required are always available in some
way, shape, or form, and usually rather
easily. I love that I continue to learn as
I play the game, figuring out how to
do things better and more efficiently. I
love the gorgeous sunsets on beautiful
planets... which quickly turn into deadly
hot acid rain. I love that I can literally
pick it up and play for a bit, quickly save,
and then resume right where I left off. I
love how easy it is for friends to join my
play sessions. There are so many things
about this game that I love, now, that I
could keep going on like this for quite
some time.
What makes this update even better are
the implications for the future of the
game, with this as the basis for what
to expect. Hello Games’ press release
was rather telling of the developer’s
intentions in this respect:
“This is an incredibly important update for
us, but it’s also just another step in a longer
journey, and we’ll continue to support No
Man’s Sky in this way for the foreseeable
future. This is an incredibly important update
for us, but it’s also just another step in a
longer journey, and we’ll continue to support
No Man’s Sky in this way for the foreseeable
future.”
No Man’s Sky has gone on a long
journey, from being straight up bad, to
middling, to now good. So who knows,
it’s possible that one day No Man’s Sky
will eventually morph into a superb
game.
In truth, dozens of major features that
have been added to No Man’s Sky since
its disastrous launch in 2016, and many
more significant tweaks have been made
beyond that. If you own the game but
quickly gave up on it back in 2016 then
now is a great time to experience all of
these improvements for yourself. I can
honestly say I have never seen such a
drastic turnaround in all of video gaming
- No Man’s Sky was a complete and utter
disappointment but now it’s finally fun to
play.
By Ben Dye, VGChartz