No Man's Sky

Let me start with: Game runs flawlessly on my system (quad core, GTX950 w/2GB RAM, 8GB RAM) with the 1fps bug coming up once every 2-3 hours. Other than that, runs perfectly with high settings (not maxed). Same with my wife's PC with almost identical specs (her processor is a newer quadcore than mine, but everything else is the same). I love this game. The endless sense of open exploration hits all the right notes for me. The game has enough unpredictable elements that if you get TOO comfortable, you'll find yourself being surprised and in bad shape. I was jumped by pirates on my way back from a mining expedition, and I had to dodge their attacks by skimming the surface of the local space station until I came around to the docking bay -- and safety. It was great.

If I had reviewed this game when I first got it, I would have given it, one star. After playing it for the first couple of hours, I would have given it three stars. After a couple more hours, I may have given it two stars - because I seemed to have mastered the few unique tasks with which I thought the game was presenting me. That is, until I had a moment to think about what compelled me to pay the game in the first place. I discovered I could make money by mining and selling my wares. I discovered that I could buy better ships with bigger cargo holds, that would improve my inventory management, and upgrade my multi-tool and my exosuit. I also could run around discovering new lifeforms, which also earn you currency, and discovering new words with which I could use to communicate to aliens better. But I fooled myself. I realized that no one told me to do ANY of that. No Man's Sky is not about never ending side quests, fighting, boss battles, or any other contrived goals. This game is a journey about discovery and exploration. And it is the most relaxing game to come out in a long time. It is the MYST of this generation. There is an overarching puzzle to solve - but you can ignore it completely and choose to explore your surroundings, make up your own purpose, and just get lost in the game. Is it worth $60? Not likely. Maybe wait until the price drops a bit. But if you want to experience a completely relaxing and beautiful gaming experience, get it now.

First things first, yes, it's a fairly awful port. I haven't experienced the worst of what's been reported, but crashes are not rare and performance is middling at best. Secondly, it is not remotely what was promised. If you hold this game up against the hype, you're looking at an optimistic 20%. In execution, what is in front of us is an okay game. It's repetitive; the planets and terrain may be procedurally generated, but you'll see identical rocks and plants and settlements everywhere you go. The systems are light at best; flight is bare-bones, and the loot/progression treadmill boils down to 90% (pretty frustrating and awkward) inventory management. But it's perfectly okay. There's a somewhat meditative experience in there, exploring and shooting and collecting. It IS an effectively infinite universe, not with the promised variety but far from empty. Bottom line, I've had fun. If you want to play "No Man's Sky" as it was defined over the last several years, you will be sorely disappointed. If you've never heard of it, it's fine. The port will probably be patched and improved, there's supposedly more mechanics on the way. Some day this game may even be good. You're not throwing away your money, but don't expect the revolution.

This is a £10 - £15 early access indie game. Presumably the extra £25 - £30 was spent entirely on the marketing that convinced us all to buy it. For a tenner on early access, I'd have said it was fantastic and a real achievement - not finished obviously, still a very long way to go - but a great first glimpse for the public and well worth backing. I'd buy it, ask my friends to do the same, follow it and be excited to see what happened next. For forty quid, it's a rip-off that plays like a shoddy console port. I remember seeing an interview with one of the developers (maybe a couple of years ago) where he mentioned that they didn't have a history of flying or FPS games. That shows painfully in the final product. It would really have benefited considerably from an experienced FPS and/or flying/space sim enthusiast trying to distill some of the basics of those genres to make the game less frustrating/more playable. The UI and UI sound needed a lot more thought too - it looks and sounds cute, but using it is like trying to find your way around someone else's kitchen with a hangover. Whenever you 'achieve' something in-game, play is interrupted by the same jazzy synth wail while your vision is blocked by whatever bland, glib label has been given to the 'achievement'. Keys in the menu/inventory seemed to have been pulled out of a Scrabble bag. When this is on sale for less than £20, you really should pick it up and just pretend to yourself that one day it'll be brilliant. At a far lower price where you could forgive some of its shortcomings, it'd be a great buy. Even when they turn off support for the 'multiplayer' functions (naming things in the universe), it'll still be worth a fiver just for the spectacle. Right now, for what you get, it really isn't worth the money.

Despite the developer's lies, radio silence towards the community, and other mishaps, this game is still very fun..... for about 5 hours. Everything you could ever want to achieve (seeing planets both barren and full of life, getting upgraded ships/exosuit/multitool, naming tons of stuff, etc.) is all very easily achievable within 5 hours, 10 if you take your time. Heck, most of those things can occur on your starting planet! I like this game, and I hope that the mountain of cut content gets added to the game eventually. I give this 2 stars because it IS fun. I didn't ride the multi-year hype train, I just wanted a cool exploration game in space. I got that. But, as many others will say, $60 is a hefty price tag. If I remember correctly, pc stats show that over 90% of players stopped playing this game after 2 days, and I'm one of them. Consider that before making this purchase.