No Man's Sky Review
Space is vast, it's impossible to wrap your mind around the number of stars and planets out there. You could never hope to count them all.
No Man's Sky has a procedurally generated universe with over 18 Quintillion planets. Planets with unique landscapes, flora and fauna. Planets with paradise weather and others with extreme storms that may cook you, freeze you, poison you or irradiate you.
So hop in a Starship and come explore this endless galactic sandbox!
The game was first released in 2016 for PS4 and PC players. It was a controversial release as the game had been enormously hyped and many features that had been discussed in press interviews were missing and the gaming process was bogged down by a crafting and inventory management cycle. Many players at that point in time threw their hands up in disgust and have never looked back.
Seven years later, the game is so much more than when released. There have been 26 named content updates which have added cross platform multiplayer, questlines, bases, exocraft and mechs, new ship types, new weapons, new enemies, improved combat, improved graphics, an improved user interface, etc. all for FREE! Seven years of updates that have massively improved the game, all for free!
The game is now available on PS5, Xbox Series X/S, PC, Mac and Nintendo Switch. So more people than ever can play.
So what can you do in the game? Well you can start with the storyline missions that help immerse you in the lore of the No Man's Sky universe and it's NPC races whilst also giving you a tutorial of the games mechanics.
So what can you do in the game once you finish the initial storyline quests?
Find your perfect starship
There are 8 classes of ship in the game that have different looks and offer bonuses to certain stats. Typical to most star systems and available at Space Stations and Trading Posts you will find Shuttles, Explorers, Haulers and Fighters. These are the most common ship types. You will also find Exotics which are quite rare, and Solar Ships which are rare in normal star systems, but common in Outlaw star systems.
There are also Living Ships which are found through a quest and appear on planet surfaces, and Interceptors that are found crashed and in need of repairs on 'dissonant' planets.
Each ship type has a range of a body, wing and engine parts. Meaning there are hundreds of looks available for each ship type.
Each star system has a unique selection of ships (each cobbled together with different parts and uniquely coloured).
You can go ship hunting with deliberate intent or just stumble upon new and interesting ships through your travels.
There are also multiple online communities dedicated to ship hunting and sharing in-game finds with players posting screenshots with portal coordinates so you can find the same ship.
Multitool Combat
During your travels you can find new multitools that you can upgrade for maximum combat power. Different upgrades on your multitool result in different characteristics for your weapon fire. You might shoot bullets, plasma, laser beams or area of effect grenades.
Your main enemies are the robotic sentinels which are present on most worlds.
The sentinels typically get aggroed if they see you damaging the environment (such as mining a rock with your multitool), and on some planets they get aggroed just by seeing you.
Once combat starts it'll only end once you destroy 5 waves of increasingly difficult enemies or if you run and hide till they lose interest in hunting you.
Other enemies you'll encounter include horrors that emerge from the ground near abandoned installations (don't touch their eggs!), aggressive fauna and when aboard derelict freighters you'll need to fight off alien bugs and defensive turrets.
Space Combat
Your Starship can be equipped with multiple weapons that have different visual effects, differing rates of fire, different range and differing effectiveness versus shields and hull of enemy starships.
Your main enemies in space are pirates. They may target you, making you fight for your life or you may encounter a Freighter battle where you can choose to intervene and save the good guys.
Additionally sentinels are in space too! You can cause them to aggro on you by shooting at friendly space targets or if you try to avoid a battle with them on a planetary surface by flying away, they will summon ships to chase you.
The ultimate space battles are when you fight against pirate dreadnoughts and sentinel dreadnoughts. Make sure to upgrade your weapons and shields before attempting to slay these behemoths!
Cataloguing your explorations
When visiting new worlds you can use your multitool scanner on any rock, plant or animal you find. You can earn units and nanites by doing so and you can upload and rename your finds as the first discoverer.
You can also curate a collection of wonders. Tag a find as a wonder and the game will record it's portal coordinates so that you can come back later and revisit your favourite spots.
As with the Starships you can also share any creatures or planets you find with other players online. Many of the creatures you encounter can be tamed to become your pets and some can even be ridden around like mounts. Fancy a pet T-Rex to ride around on?
Base Building
Some planets you'll fall in love with. You'll want to make them your home. Luckily this is possible! When you start the game you'll have a limited selection of base parts, but more can be unlocked with Salvaged Technology you find with your scanner and dig up, plus some extra special parts can be purchased with Quicksilver from the anomaly (earned by doing community missions).
When building your base you'll want to include a Teleporter to help link you with any other bases you've built and a Starship Launch Pad so you've got somewhere nice to park your ship.
You might just build a single room hut or a palace. You could even place your base parts creatively to make interesting sculptures. It's completely up to you, have fun with it.
Pro-tip: Build at least one base close to a Portal so that you can always easily access one.
Customise your avatar
Everyone starts with the same avatar of a guy in an orange spacesuit. But as soon as you get to a Space Station or the Anomaly you can visit the Appearance Customiser to change your look.
You can choose to be one of the three NPC races (The Gek, The Vy'keen or The Korvax) or choose one of the wider range of Interloper (with a full helmet) or Traveller (alien head) avatars. You'll have options for the spacesuit including armory, chest, shoulders, legs, boots and gloves that you can mix and match and colour to your preference. You'll also be able to unlock various jetpacks and capes as well.
It's a bit of fun to style your avatar and this is a feature favoured by players who like to roleplay.
Expeditions
Hello Games releases a new expedition once every 3 months. Expeditions are a new game mode where everyone starts with a new character and are guided on a quest to travel along a galactic path. Players focus on achieving dozens of milestones in order to unlock unique rewards, including base decorations, avatar gear and rare pets.
There is so much more to this game that could be mentioned, and it's not unusual to get hooked and spend hundreds of hours immersed in this game.
