No Man's Sky is a visually stunning game that puts the player in the shoes (spacesuit) of an unknown humanoid whose starship has crash-landed on a foreign, possibly dangerous world. From there the player is tasked with the simple job of repairing their vessel and taking to the stars - either to follow the guidance of the mysterious god-like being known only as the "Atlas", or to follow their own path and discover what unknown mysteries await them. On their journey, the player will discover and explore many worlds; each rich with unique flora, fauna and natural formations. They will meet and interact with a number of advanced species (both AI and organic) whose languages the player must learn through interactions and the examination of historical artifacts that those species have left on many planets. The player can gain the favour of these species and engage in commerce and other practices with them. The game falls short in one respect for me -performance issues that many people are currently having aside- and that is that, despite the care put in to the generation of unique plant and animal life and the diversity of each world, there is a stark lack of variety in the "man made" constructions such as space-stations and outposts and the environments within those spaces feel incredibly sterile. Spotless offices, bars and waiting rooms remain completely empty save for, at most, a single NPC who stays in a single position in the environment going through a very limited cycle of unengaging animations while you go about your business; other starships will even pull up and land inside of spacestations and on the surface of planets outside of outposts and other constructions, but from there will remain completely inactive for several minutes, with nobody even getting out of their vessels, before flying off again for seemingly no reason. This lack of a "lived-in" experience for the game's universe is a much needed factor and I hope it is fixed in future patches.
It's been a while since I've appreciated a game as much as I did this. Nearly everything about it is wonderful - the artwork; the minimalistic soundtrack, the characters and their interactions, the puzzles and the way that, unlike a lot of inventory-based puzzle games, they manage to be rooted in logic and sensibility whilst still being challenging. My only complaint is the fact that the story seems to reveal itself implicitly well before the game draws to a close and then simply states the elements of the story that were revealed through emergent game-play. It left me feeling slightly disappointing as I was anticipating some grand twist that would knock me off of my feet. Would recommend whole-heartedly to anyone looking for challenge/good story/the chance to explore a rich environment.
If you enjoy logic puzzles then you will most likely enjoy this game. It's Myst, through and through and isn't, as same people have suggested, comparable to crappy ports like Myst for the Nintendo DS. However, some strange choices were made in terms of graphics - including the exclusion of the iconic mist that covered the island and other environments, making the game completely devoid of certain elements of its unique atmosphere and it would seem that certain models from the game have been lifted directly from the original and just had a new texture slapped on to them.
I was expecting little more than a contrived Portal Clone and, admittedly, the first few levels looked like they had been copy-pasted from Portal, but the unique puzzle mechanics and ever-evolving maps that make a unique and worthwhile challenge. The mechanics are straight forward and are elaborated upon effectively without the need for dialogue or tutorials. The story cheapened the whole experience for me a bit, though.
It's a great little time-waster, if nothing else, that offers constant incentives to keep mining and selling resources and explore further down. The plot is fine, but the game didn't really need it to make it fun and worth playing. The boss fight that triggers end game was very easy and anti-climactic, and again, the game didn't need to feature it to make it worth playing.
