I Don’t Understand No Man’s Sky, But I Am Hopeful for It

no mans sky

Hello Games’ No Man’s Sky was the surprise hit of Sony’s E3 2014 press conference with its dinosaurs and its X-Wings and its interplanetary travel. Despite its appealing aesthetics and the way it effortlessly taps into some section of my brain that has formulated the perfect game but could never define it before now, I can’t shake this feeling that I don’t really understand No Man’s Sky.

On a basic level, I get that you’re exploring the universe, charting the unknown and discovering new species and ships. Hello Games has been purposefully tight-lipped about their game, however, only dolling out small nuggets of information. Just enough to string you along, but not enough so that you know everything going in.

For a game that is so heavily based on discovery, this makes a certain amount of sense but it is an industry trend to have games with the sort of scope that No Man’s Sky seems to have be vague and mysterious but then not actually deliver (Spore, anyone?).

I’ve also heard some conflicting information about No Man’s Sky, such as “is it actually multiplayer” or what are you going to be doing when the game finally lands. The first is rather concerning for me because I’d love to team up with a few friends and roam the stars. I’ve heard that everyone exists on the same server at the same time and coversely that all games are separate but the names of discovered planets and species are shared.

No Man’s Sky is a beast of a different sort, that much is for sure, and I’m excited for it. I just wish that Hello Games would let us peek behind the curtain a bit more. What do you guys think about No Man’s Sky? What have you heard about it?

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mitch@gamersushi.com Twitter: @mi7ch Gamertag: Lubeius PSN ID: Lubeius SteamID: Mister_L Origin/EA:Lube182 Currently Playing: PUBG, Rainbow 6: Siege, Assassin's Creed: Origins, Total War: Warhammer 2

3 thoughts on “I Don’t Understand No Man’s Sky, But I Am Hopeful for It”

  1. Personally I’m not very excited about it. So far the press for this game has had the same problem (perhaps even worse) as Destiny, in that they keep showing high concept stuff but refuse to show us what the hell makes it special. Yes, going planet to planet seamlessly is cool, but it sure will get boring if the minute to minute gameplay isn’t just as compelling.

  2. I’m in the exact same boat when thinking about this game. The scope and scale look amazingly impressive but…what do you actually do? I’m all for exploring but without something driving that exploration it could be a little dull. Looking forward to hearing more from Hello Games.

  3. I’m the kind of gamer who just loves to explore, so I’ve been very excited about this game. I’m not really concerned about the dynamic drop-in drop-out multiplayer (which I think the developer mentioned would be something like Journey) or what you actually “do”. They’re a small team and seeing just how happy the dev was to be on stage at the sony conference was enough for me to say “okay, here’s my money.” — assuming this will hit PC, which seems obvious, but apparently they haven’t officially confirmed a PC release…

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