I can't recommend NMS even with all the free updates and patches adding all new bells and whistles because there is a fundamental issue with the core gameplay. I've now started and abandoned playing NMS four times since the 2016 release, sometimes sinking 10s of hours into the game per pickup session, and every time I leave with a feeling of emptiness and disappointment. The main issues are that there is no sense of progression, no challenges to overcome and thus no reason to keep exploring this vast but extremely uniform universe. In my opinion, it feels like every single system in this game is half-baked, fleshed out to the point where it becomes just tedious enough and then abandoned for the next new shiny thing. I think Hello Games should really go back to square one and restructure the basic gameplay instead of focusing on adding new content. There is potential here, but I feel a lot of it is wasted. It's like putting a fresh coat of paint on a rusted interior. Eventually the fresh paint flakes off, exposing the rust underneath. You need to fix the rust first before you add fresh paint. For me, the sense of progression lasts for 10 minutes. Once you've finished fixing your ship and take off into space, that pretty much ends any sense of progression in the game. You've pretty much unlocked everything in the game! You can go anywhere now. Nothing else really unlocks anything new, just side show distractions or a new way to do the exact same thing as before. The game boasts 18 quintillion planets, but I would heavily argue that there are really just 6 planets, with 2.x quintillion variations of those 6 themes. The sameness of every planet in the galaxy makes exploration pointless. You will find nothing truly unique in the game. All the behaviors of all the animals and plants are the same everywhere. There are only 3 sentient races everywhere in the universe. Essentially everywhere you go is the same. And that is why, for me, the game's draw ends after 10 minutes.
Legend of Grimrock is a fantastic take on the old school dungeon crawler, similar to old school Bard's Tale, Wizardry, Might and Magic with a modern update to combat and puzzles, with an automapper and save points included. The storyline is simple, you must escape the Island of Grimrock by exploring the depths and the mysteries within. The interface is simple. Graphics, sound effects and atmosphere are excellent! Twitch action RPG gamers may find the combat a bit easy compared to other games, but for me, the real time combat was a nice update compared to the turn-based combat of older dungeon crawlers. There is also includes the Dungeon Editor utility which allows you to build out your own custom dungeons and puzzles (albeit with a bit of training and googling). This first game was very well developed and then perfected in the sequel, aptly named, "Legend of Grimrock II". I highly recommend picking up both as they are both excellent games. However, if you can only choose one, pick up the sequel as you may find this one is more of a tech engine demo compared to the sequel, and the sequel's Dungeon Editor is far superior.
