No Man's Sky

First off, I want to acknowledge that others have apparently had problems launching/running NMS. I have not had these problems. For reference, my rig: Core i3, GTX960 w/ 4gb DDR5, 16gb DDR4, 120GB SSD, Windows 10 Home. Also, I made sure I had the latest GPU drivers installed before I even tried running it. I'm running most settings at high with FPS at 60. I've put in a solid 8 hours so far without lag, crashing, etc. Thoughts on game play & visuals..... Visuals first. The game looks gorgeous and on an unmatched scale. What it does it does amazingly well. That is, it renders planetary landscapes, flora fauna and massive cosmic bodies on a believable scale and in real time. If that's what you came for then you'll be happy. Game play....Inventory management is a huge part of the game play loop and NMS doesn't let you forget that. If you're not into micromanaging inventory, probably not gonna like this game. Another key mechanic is discovery and upload a la Beyond Good & Evil (taking pictures of creatures and uploading for cash). If there's a negative its that this is not the game sold in the Sony trailers. The trailers imply that there's non-stop action and danger at every corner. The truth is that the possibility for action does exist at every corner (sentinels, predatory creatures, etc.). What's not conveyed is that this action is 100% optional. You can literally walk, run away from any situation..or just choose not to instigate it in the first place. That's hugely different from most games that back you into a corner where you have to fight to advance. Also, it's boring....or at least that's what I imagine a lot of people will say. I say it's boring to the degree that space flight, archeology, hiking and photography are boring because that's what this game is all about. Verdict: I like the game and I believe it's what Hello Games stated it would be. They hype is another thing...

A near infinite Universe at your finger tips full of shallow content. No Man's Sky is more of a tech demo than a real game. After playing for a few hours, you'll see the same content procedurally recycled. Play longer and you'll realise how vacant No Man's Sky really is. It's a Great concept but it needs much more depth to flesh out the gameplay to make it a richer experience. As it is, paying full price to what amounts to a $10 title is criminal.

I really have to hand it to the developers: they haven't given up after many years. They continue adding new features: base building, land vehicles, space stations, quests, and even multiplayer! More updates are coming, too. Set aside the hype, promises, media attention, etc. Just look at this as a resource management, survival, crafting, technology progression, exploration game. It maintains all those features very nicely. A few concerns: (1) The gameplay loop is pretty simple. Once you can fly after the first hour, you're pretty much just jumping to new bases, planets, and star systems to get more resources, unlocked technology, (very simple) story progression, and ship purchase options. You will not find a very deep story; you will not find unique encounters or interesting boss/dungeon mechanics (there are no dungeon-like or boss features). (2) Compare the features to the price. Reviews aren't supposed to get into pricing, so I'll just say: if a good $30 game priced at $60 will raise some eyebrows. (3) Some players look for excitement. This game is more relaxed. Plan to see amazing landscapes and interesting alien animals while hunting for resources and technology upgrades. Plan to sit back and relax (after you get your oxygen and flight systems in place, that is). (4) Although multiplayer now exists, most multiplayer features players expect do not exist. There is no guild feature, you can't form a party, there's not a good way for players to combine strengths (like there's no tank, damage, and healer class). There's no big reason to play together: no group dungeons (or whatever you would call them in space), no group-based technology or crafting (like a reason to get together and work on something together). So, if you're looking for multiplayer: just understand you'll be relaxing, exploring, and doing maybe small fights together just to chill and have fun. It's not the traditional MMO or co-op experience.

This game is basically a very simplified version of Starbound mixed with Elite Dangerous, emphasize on VERY simplified. Please note that this opinion was made after a 2h playtime in a VERY laggy and almost unplayable game. From what I've seen, both in my game and from streams and reviews, all the planets are mechanically the same. Color is their only true difference. All of the vegetation and animals are useless, they all yield the same material (carbon, and carbon only) every, single, time. Their general shape might change but they are really exactly the same and of no use and effect. Every single planet seem inhabited by outposts, that are always the same, in which you find always the same three types of material, isotopes, oxides and neutral elements, that you find in the exact same containers everytime. Your inventory is also very limited so a game session is usually 15 minutes of gathering to fill up your space, 5 minutes of travel to the nearest spacestation, then you sell almost everything, leave and repeat. Once you got enough materials, you upgrage your ship and leave to the next star system, in which you'll do the exact same thing all over again. The procedurally generated world adds nothing in my opinion, the changes are exclusively visual since every planet is the same earthlike rocky planet with lakes and grass of various colors, that don't affect gameplay in any way. There is also zero variety in buildings and outposts. I hoped that I would be wrong but this game is exactly what we all knew it would be. A poor game under a pretty mask.

Alright the hype for this game was really big. BIG really BIG. But at the end a small game studio is not able to make the perfect game we all waited for. And that is fine. BUT then dear devs don't tell us how awesome your game is and don't tell us that this is an A+++ title, because it' not. It's just a small Indie Game. The world is maybe big, but after some hours everything is the same. The game is getting very fast boring. The poor performance is also an annoying thing, also the many many bugs. However, it is a shame that they are selling this game for 50-60$. It is worth 20$ and not more. These guys are trickster, it is also a big shame that GOG is ignoring these facts.