No Man's Sky Review (Blue)
With over 1300 hours played I can definitely be called a fan of this game. And that I certainly am. I've done all the expeditions, finished most of what I really wanted to finish, and collected all of the achievements.
When I first heard about this game I was really excited, and could not wait to buy it. The prospect of exploring endless planets is so exciting to me. I am a big fan of exploring new worlds, as long as there is a proper story / incentive to do so. But due to the many issues at launch I decided to wait about a year and then bought it anyway. After many (free) updates I can sincerely say it is great game created by developers who care about their audience. They truly stepped up their game and delivered what they promised.
There's a lot to love about this game. However, this review is more about things I feel the game could do better. Here's my personal thoughts about the game after a few years of playing:
Yes there are endless planets, yes there's a lot of stuff to do, yes the game can look stunning, but once you've completed the game its systems start to feel shallow. The planets/worlds are pretty but clearly also very empty. There is literally no point to the I don't know how many million planets you can visit. I love exploring, and I like being on my own but I would love to run into planets that an actual personality. Something like Tatooine in Star Wars or our own dear planet Earth. I wish the planets could have Gek cities, or Vy'keen camps. I understand that this is how the game works. I imagine it is hard to introduce more 'character' to procedurally generated planets, but it would make the world so much more alive.
Speaking of the alien races: They don't feel alive. Sure they are there, sure they walk around a bit in the random base you might find. But it all feels very mechanical. They're puppets on strings, and you can see that. There is no AI, or very little to no AI. Even the recently added settlements feel very odd and out of place, with the same mechanical aliens walking around without purpose. I honestly love the potential that these races present: The trading and scheming Gek, the scientific and religious Korvax, the Vy'keen warriors. They could be so much more, but they're all part of the shallow eyecandy. It's only toe-deep.
Then there is the matter of difficulty. NMS is not hard, it just gets more tedious if you play the higher 'difficulties.' It limits your storage considerably, and it's a bit harder to survive your first steps. But other then that... It's too easy. And yes I understand it is meant to be a chill experience, but you shouldn't be able to finish the game with a starter ship. You shouldn't be allowed to find the 'center' within maybe 1% of the entire galaxy, but that's just how the game works.
Nothing is hard, and apart from the missions there is zero point in going anywhere once you've finished those. Building a base can be cool, but I just don't enjoy it as much as a big part of the community seems to be. I've got an S class freighter now, and made that my home. I wish there was more story, more depth, more difficulty.
Speaking of wanting more difficulty: Derelict freighters was a cool idea, but could be so much better and should be far more challenging. They're not. They look cool, but are tedious to do. The main reason to maybe keep doing them is to get all of the new base building options (lockers, chests and the like) and perhaps some tech for your freighter. But even that feels pointless. My S-class freighter hardly has any upgrades, I have a big fleet of ships, but why send them out for missions? To get more stuff I will never use and therefore sell?
I have millions of credits but I will never spend it on anything. There's nothing to spend it on really. I have a few gorgeous fully upgraded S class starships of different types, but ever since they introduced scrapping and being able to upgrade your ship the type just does not matter at all anymore.
The exocrafts are cool to look at, and sure they can serve a purpose roaming around on your planet but why are they in the game if you can just call your ship from anywhere and fly/go anywhere with that? I made the exocrafts for storage, and even that isn't necessary.
The living ship is another cool addiiton, and the questline to get it is truly the coolest part of it. But upgrading the living ship is tedious and pointless.
So yes: This game offers a lot of cool things: Many, many randomly generated gorgeous looking planets, lots of damn awesome looking ships, many options to build very personal bases. The main storyline is really cool so please do play through all of that at least once. The Expeditions are truly a great way to experience NMS as they push you to do stuff and explore, and in the end you can reap the rewards and use them in your other saved games. Good stuff. There is a lot to love about the game.
But the game is too easy. I guess it is beyond the scope of what they wanted NMS to be, but I will keep hoping. I understand this game is meant to be chill, and does a great job there. There's a lot to love. I don't want NMS to turn into something else, but I just wish Hello Games would take this concept to that next level. I'd buy that game, no doubt.