No Man's Sky provides a solidly enjoyable core gameplay loop, in which you explore, gather, trade, and build to improve your character and suit, your tools, your vehicles, ships and freighter, and your income. The game is feature-packed, and beyond its base of exploration, mining, upgrading, and trade, it includes: substantial base building; multiple vehicle types aside from your ship, each with upgrades of their own; large freighters with fleets to manage and send on expeditions; a minor companion adoption feature; and newly added, still minor, settlement management. A major downside is that the exploration, by itself, is lackluster. Each planet is the same along its surface, and you'll likely have seen it all upon first landing. There is little variety of fauna and flora both within a given planet and in between planets, and these are haphazardly spread across each planet. You may, once in a while, find an interesting looking species that you'd like to adopt as a companion, but scanning fauna and flora is usually a menial task you do for the monetary rewards it provides, or for completion's sake. Similarly, landmarks and objects of interest quickly become repetitive, and few provide boons that are useful beyond the early game. The combat mechanics are merely acceptable. Fauna is non-threatening and disinteresting, even when preying on you; sentinels are repetitive and likewise easy to dispatch; biological horrors are a slight threat to the unprepared, but nonetheless a glitchy single type of creature with looks that don't fit the name. Most of the enjoyment is in the core upgrading loop and the features mentioned in the first paragraph; these should keep you engaged for satisfying hours upon hours as you acquire upgrades for your tools and ship, build a base on a particularly beautiful planet, and, for example, establish mineral mining facilities to provide income with which you purchase new exotic ships or capital freighters, and expand frigate fleets.
