No Man’s Sky (2016)
Publisher:
Hello Games
Developer:
Hello Games
Platform:
About:
No Man’s Sky is an action-adventure survival game developed and published by the indie studio Hello Games. It was released worldwide for PlayStation 4 and Microsoft Windows in August 2016, and for Xbox One in July 2018. The game is built around four pillars: exploration, survival, combat, and trading. Players are free to perform within the entirety of a procedurally generated deterministic open world universe, which includes over 18 quintillion planets. Through the game’s procedural generation system, planets have their own ecosystems with unique forms of flora and fauna, and various sentient alien species may engage the player in combat or trade within planetary systems. Players advance in the game by mining for resources to power and improve their spacecraft, tools, and spacesuit for survival, buying and selling resources using credits earned by documenting flora and fauna, and otherwise seeking out the mystery around the Atlas, an entity at the center of the universe.[i]
Review:
I was lucky enough not to find out about No Man’s Sky until the day it came out on PS4. Through another great break I watched Twitch videos instead of reading reviews. I loved what I saw and my husband ended up getting it for me for our anniversary. I spent almost 70 hours playing before I got distracted and moved on. I then bought it again on PC right after Next came out. Over 100 hours later and I still love it.
There is always something new to see or do. Lately, they’ve been adding amazing new content with Abyss and Visions. There are weekly quests in case you’ve finished the main story, or if you feel like taking a break from exploring.
After a while it can feel monotonous or like a job, but I’ve found that happens with a lot with open world games. Changing your play style can help, I’ve also found it to be a great game to just chill out too. I generally catch up on podcasts while I play.
No Man’s Sky is like nothing I’ve ever played before. Every time I play I see something new. The worlds are similar but never the same and with all the new additions things are even more unique. Thankfully they’ve made it easy to take screenshots which has given me all kinds of awesome wallpapers.
I’ve found it relatively easy to jump back in after a long absence, which is nice to know considering how often they keep adding stuff. When I take a break I know it will be there and basically be a new game when I go back, but still have what I love the most, exploration.
5/5
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