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dkirschner's No Man's Sky (PC)

[June 24, 2020 03:27:22 PM]

I had a friend who was STOKED about No Man's Sky back in like 2014. I followed it with mild interest. Hello Games' previous series, Joe Danger, never clicked with me, and I wasn't sure how they would go from a little stunt-based motorcycle game to one of the most ambitious games I'd heard of. Well, many years and a giant scandal later, I finally got the chance to find out!

To preface, I know there is a lot going on behind the scenes regarding the infinite procedurally generated universe, and I'm sure that is very cool and whatnot. You start off on a planet and quickly fly to another one, which I learned no one has ever discovered. I even got to name it (Nachtluz). I also got to name my eventual base (David's Turf KEEP OUT or I will throw durian).

I toyed around with No Man's Sky for a few hours and while it is certainly wonderful on paper, I was quickly bored and felt no real purpose in advancing further. On the planet on which you begin, you must fix your space ship. The game expertly teaches you its systems, first the basics like how to manage your space suit, repair tools, use tools, use your inventory, craft something from materials, and so on. You follow a mysterious signal to whatever planet was generated for you and proceed through the missions, which drip feed you new tutorial information. This is basically what I did for the duration of my play.

You're instructed to build Thing A, which you need to do Activity B. Once you do Activity B, you must build Thing C. To build Thing C, you need to collect Material D and Material E. Once you have these, you must build Thing F to combine the materials and form Material G. Only then can you build Thing C. Once you build Thing C, you are instructed to build Thing H and Thing I so that you can do Activity J. This requires Materials K and L. And so on.

In the process of this mindless, sometimes-enjoyable-because-it's-relaxing tedium, you start learning about some alien races ("knowledge stones" teach you alien words, for example), discover flora and fauna on your planet, explore the technology tree for building, and start learning to terraform and construct buildings. These latter bits I didn't know were a part of the game. You have a mining laser that drills into the earth. You use the laser on everything else to get raw materials too. You use those materials, or resources, to build shelter from weather anomalies, teleportation devices, and later an entire base to call your own. This is cool, but I usually don't care to build things in video games or to create my own spaces. This is probably why my real-life abodes are always so minimalist and, as many friends have commented, "looks like a serial killer lives here."

Occasionally space ships flew overhead. Are these other players? How DO you play with someone anyway? There's a more game to understand, but it does seem like the first few hours introduced me to the gist of the experience. I imagine that you go to other planets and essentially do the same kinds of things I have done on this planet, explore it and mine its resources. The story is really bare and, from what I've read, continues that way. I also wonder how varied the planets are. Are some very dangerous with many wild animals? Are some incredibly beautiful? Or do they all pretty much look the same with minor differences?

I could see myself playing around in No Man's Sky because it is pretty and relaxing and (at this point at least) mindless. If I ever sign up for Microsoft Game Pass again and it's still there, I might jump back in for a little while.