No Man's Sky gets massive improvements

Brian G Turner

Fantasist & Futurist
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No Man's Sky was always an interesting open-world game - but now it's had the most serious of updates, taking it to a huge new level...

My family enjoyed No Man's Sky - originally an exclusive game for the PS4 that allowed you to travel around the universe, and visit billions of unique autogenerated planets.

What's especially good about it is that it's very open-ended - you can play it any way you want to: exploring planets, building a base, or fighting other ships in space like an arcade action game.

However, the game got a bad reputation in the industry for over-promising and under-delivering - resulting in lots of low star ratings on Amazon, which complain about the lack of variation, and a much lower price point.

Now it's had a massive revamp with the NEXT update to 1.5, which effectively delivers on all those original promises. And - wow - there are just so many new features it's unbelievable. This is such a vastly improved game, and really begins to live up to the original hype.

As covered here, here are some of the core changes:

Visual changes - just a huge overhaul of the graphics, plus you can now play as a customized character like in a RPG. Additionally, the planets and variations have been overhauled to make worlds far more distinct and unique.

Main quest changes - which make playing the normal single-player mode easier to begin and get used to, while providing more features to explore.

Overhaul of Fleets - more accessible and customizable ships, plus build up fleets which you can automate or command

New bases system - much more freedom of where you can build, where you can build - and how much you can build! Multiple bases now available.

Multiplayer now available - always promised, but never available - until now.


There's a more detailed interview here with Sean Murray, who originated the project, about the mistakes they made: Sean Murray on the Present, Past and Future of No Man's Sky - IGN

In the meantime, compare the two trailers for No Man's Sky -

then...


...and now

 
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I always like the look, and premise, of this game when my son first bought it. However, after a few days of popping into his bedroom to see him doing the same thing over and over again left me feeling somewhat jaded.

I'm definitely interested in seeing how this update pans out - I may even give it a try, although I'm trying to play less and read / type more.
 
@Brian G Turner Thanks for update, I've spotted this game on steam a while back. While the graphics were nice, the amount of bad reviews made me turn away from it.
I might give it a chance, but not right now, as the Battle for Azeroth is just a few days old :)
 
So I succumbed and bought the game when the 'Next' update was released. I've played it for about six hours and realised it's just not for me at the moment. The constant resource hunting plus the clunky, clumsy inventory and crafting system was very off-putting. I've heard this lessens after time, so I may have to go back to it at some point, but so far I've felt no inclination to do so.
 
Okay, I shall give it a try. After Monster Hunter: World :)
 
I have the update installed, but I didn't have the time to play. I will give it a go again this weekend. Thank you for this update!
 
First time round I went from system to system exploring planets, but with the new update I been on missions which means I have hardly warp jumped.
 

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