This is partially a review of No Man’s Sky/partially an editorial. No Man’s Sky just had its 5.0 update, Worlds Part 1. And I went back to it on my Xbox. And I marveled at how good it has become. But it still isn’t perfect, as it has a fatal flaw, one that sunk Starfield. It is that because No Man’s Sky is nothing but procedural-generated content, its wide as ocean, but puddle-deep. I have 160 hours on my save, and the only worlds I remember are the ones I have bases on. The rest have faded from memory because they weren’t distinct. Sure there are awesome vistas, because there isn’t much to do on any particular world. Land, catalog minerals, flora and fauna and move on. Each world is larger than some open world games, but there’s nothing to do on them. But let’s back up.
No Man’s Sky’s Rocky Start
Eight Years ago, No Man’s Sky was released, and it was hated. Sean Murray of Hello games made lofty promises about what the game would be, and it was all a lie. No multiplayer, no base building and planets didn’t rotate. But a funny thing happened, Hello Games didn’t make many excuses, they went silent and got to work. And over the last eight years, made No Man’s Sky into a juggernaut. with a team the fraction of the size of most AAA games. There is multiplayer, deep base building and the star systems acts like star systems(though you do have to warp between them). There’s also settlements, pirate battles, pirate systems, pet breeding, a new secret robot race, sentinels, ship building, expeditions and the list goes on. Because its so free-form, Hello Games can cram random stuff in, and it works. And none of updates cost extra.
Its easy to label No Man’s Sky the greatest game comeback in history, even eclipsing Cyberpunk 2077 IMO. Cyberpunk’s comeback is certainly impressive, especially with the Phantom Liberty expansion, but CD Project Red stopped development after four years as its vision for the game was completed. Hello Games has been at it for eight year and sees no signs of slowing.down. But even if they continue for another eight, there’s one problem they can’t fix.
The Fatal Flaw
As I said in the opening paragraph, No Man’s Sky has an infinite universe, but not that much to do on any particular world. There are missions you can do, and there are navigation points on each world. But each giant planet ultimately fells hollow and generic. The Worlds update certainly helps, and I can’t wait for part 2, but does the universe need to be nearly infinite? Once you leave the starting Euclid Galaxy, good luck finding a star-system that has already been discovered. I haven’t seen a single other player outside of the Anomaly. Maybe that is the point, a feeling of solitude on an alien planet. And on certain worlds, there is that feeling. But after 100 star-systems everything feels the same.
What is the solution? I’m not sure there is one. Procedural-generation just can’t match hand-crafted content, Just ask Bethesda how well relying on it went with Starfield(hint: it didn’t go very well). But Starfield is an RPG, No Man’s Sky is an exploration sandbox. Flying into the unknown is the point, even if what is there doesn’t exactly wow most of the time. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying No Man’s is a terrible game eight-years on, just the opposite. It is just that there’s a limit to how far things can be refined in a game like this. And that’s alright. Now if you excuse me, I have to find this underground rare creature…
