No Man's Sky Review Thread: The Scores Have Arrived (read OP)

This game is exactly what the developer said it would be, You have a huge galaxy to explore with limitless variations, The fact that you can name every plant and animal you find is just incredible, The game is randomly generated and looks stunning.

Ignore all the bad reviews from gamers with no imagination looking for a cod style shoot em up in space, base building promised in free updates...

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Ape said:
This game is exactly what the developer said it would be, You have a huge galaxy to explore with limitless variations, The fact that you can name every plant and animal you find is just incredible, The game is randomly generated and looks stunning.

Ignore all the bad reviews from gamers with no imagination looking for a cod style shoot em up in space, base building promised in free updates...
Click to expand...
Bu bu bu bu bu but what's the score?!?
It reads like a 7 but I will go with 6 just to be sure 🤔😉
 
Angry Joe seems a̶n̶g̶r̶y̶ s̶a̶d̶ bored

My buddy told me: and it just felt like playing amultiplayer game on an empty server
 
Ape said:
This game is exactly what the developer said it would be, You have a huge galaxy to explore with limitless variations, The fact that you can name every plant and animal you find is just incredible, The game is randomly generated and looks stunning.

Ignore all the bad reviews from gamers with no imagination looking for a cod style shoot em up in space, base building promised in free updates...
Click to expand...

You know it's possible to have an imagination but also want some more depth to a game's mechanics right?
 
Conkerkid11 said:
Have you played it yourself though?

I actually can't think of many survival games on Steam which would be capable of competing with what this game offers besides maybe Subautica.
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Watched my roommate play it the last couple days. He grew up on Playstation 2 and pirated games, being from Albania originally. As such, he generally has a very Sony-centric view of console gaming, and gaming in general. He bought into the hype because he saw it at every Sony conference and his experience mirrors many others in that the game very quickly lost all sense of meaningfulness and excitement.

I asked him why he pre-ordered a $60 game that looked barebones from the beginning, he said he just wanted a pretty space game.

I then showed him videos of Elite Dangerous, Everspace, and Star Citizen. He didn't even know any of them existed. I'll give you one guess why.

There are SO many people just like him out there. Living with him has been such a fantastic learning experience about how some people can live within such a gaming 'bubble' and be so unaware of the larger gaming universe (pun intended).

Marketing and promotion are such powerful, effective tools.
 
BleedOrange said:
Watched my roommate play it the last couple days. He grew up on Playstation 2 and pirated games, being from Albania originally. As such, he generally has a very Sony-centric view of console gaming, and gaming in general. He bought into the hype because he saw it at every Sony conference and his experience mirrors many others in that the game very quickly lost all sense of meaningfulness and excitement.

I asked him why he pre-ordered a $60 game that looked barebones from the beginning, he said he just wanted a pretty space game.

I then showed him videos of Elite Dangerous, Everspace, and Star Citizen. He didn't even know any of them existed. I'll give you one guess why.

There are SO many people just like him out there. Living with him has been such a fantastic learning experience about how some people can live within such a gaming 'bubble' and be so unaware of the larger gaming universe (pun intended).

Marketing and promotion are such powerful, effective tools.
Click to expand...

True. A lot of my friends that don´t visit NeoGaf and usually go just to IGN (WHEN they go to a gaming website) know about No Man´s Sky but have no idea at all that there are other space sims out there - much less games like Subnautica. They are the same consumers that buy and play heavily marketed games like NMS, The Division, Destiny and so on.
 
BleedOrange said:
Watched my roommate play it the last couple days. He grew up on Playstation 2 and pirated games, being from Albania originally. As such, he generally has a very Sony-centric view of console gaming, and gaming in general. He bought into the hype because he saw it at every Sony conference and his experience mirrors many others in that the game very quickly lost all sense of meaningfulness and excitement.

I asked him why he pre-ordered a $60 game that looked barebones from the beginning, he said he just wanted a pretty space game.

I then showed him videos of Elite Dangerous, Everspace, and Star Citizen. He didn't even know any of them existed. I'll give you one guess why.

There are SO many people just like him out there. Living with him has been such a fantastic learning experience about how some people can live within such a gaming 'bubble' and be so unaware of the larger gaming universe (pun intended).

Marketing and promotion are such powerful, effective tools.
Click to expand...

So are fans who do the promotion.
 
Occam said:
What the game appears to be sorely missing is multiplayer interaction.
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Why does EVERY game have to be MP?

I personally have no problem with Single-Player experiences. I did grow up with NES though, and I don't think Zelda or Metroid needed any kind of MP system.
 
Lady Siara said:
Scores are all over the place.

Seems like an amazing title for those who like exploring and surviving in sandbox games and a bore for those who don't.
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The exploring part gets boring fast, because there is not much new to explore after you met a few planets.

NMS seems to be a game for people who like MMO-like grinding. Do the exact same stuff over and over again, some people find this relaxing.
 
Ape said:
This game is exactly what the developer said it would be, You have a huge galaxy to explore with limitless variations, The fact that you can name every plant and animal you find is just incredible, The game is randomly generated and looks stunning.

Ignore all the bad reviews from gamers with no imagination looking for a cod style shoot em up in space, base building promised in free updates...
Click to expand...

Rhaknar said:
Dude

CpsFFGnUIAA5hN4.jpg
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When I look at something like that I wonder if these are from a guy who is a bit weird and wants to marry NMS, or the simply one who does his job for Sony or Hello Games marketing.
 
The good scores talk about how unique it all is and the technology behind the game, which is fair. But things like Twinfinite´s review that say

"Then there is the openness of it all. The planets aren’t small, bite-sized affairs. They’re fully sized, capable of dwarfing some of the largest modern games. While that seems like every sandbox lover’s dream, for some it can be a bit overwhelming, a touch too open, and devastatingly lonesome, though that void will be an unforgettable serenity for some."

should be just a huge con. I mean, makes no sense to me to have something huge without content and things to do.
 
Krappadizzle said:
Angry Joe seems a̶n̶g̶r̶y̶ s̶a̶d̶ bored

My buddy told me: and it just felt like playing amultiplayer game on an empty server
Click to expand...
That's actually a pretty good analogy, you spend hours wondering around waiting for something to happen, it doesn't you can just stare in wonderment at another world that looks almost the same as the last 20 you were on.

That said, the transition from planet to space is genuinely awe-inspiring, I'd give that bit alone 6/10, shame they forgot to make the rest of the game anywhere near as good.
 
Hupsel said:
The good scores talk about how unique it all is and the technology behind the game, which is fair. But things like Twinfinite´s review that say

"Then there is the openness of it all. The planets aren’t small, bite-sized affairs. They’re fully sized, capable of dwarfing some of the largest modern games. While that seems like every sandbox lover’s dream, for some it can be a bit overwhelming, a touch too open, and devastatingly lonesome, though that void will be an unforgettable serenity for some."

should be just a huge con. I mean, makes no sense to me to have something huge without content and things to do.
Click to expand...

I dont get the 10/10 and 9/10 reviews either. I mean, at the end of the day, are they that enthralled with seeing the worlds, when we know that the worlds recycle assets? Or are the worlds much more unique than Ive been lead to believe?


By the way, do we know when base building is coming, and what we can expect? I feel like that would be very interesting, especially with all the mining you do. It's odd to me that you can mine for a bunch of resources, but not really do anything with them other than trade it for some power ups?
 
TimeEffect said:
I dont get the 10/10 and 9/10 reviews either. I mean, at the end of the day, are they that enthralled with seeing the worlds, when we know that the worlds recycle assets? Or are the worlds much more unique than Ive been lead to believe?


By the way, do we know when base building is coming, and what we can expect? I feel like that would be very interesting, especially with all the mining you do. It's odd to me that you can mine for a bunch of resources, but not really do anything with them other than trade it for some power ups?
Click to expand...

Idk. I love the idea of a huge sandbox with a bunch of worlds to visit, but... meh. NMS would be amazing if it had Mincecraft/Terraria basebuilding, The Long Dark climate changes and survival aspects, the sense of exploration and discovery of crazy animals like in Subnautica and so on. At the end of the day its just a very, very light sandbox, with nothing to actually do, where death doesn´t matter - and it´s also very hard to die in a planet since there are a shit ton of resources - and everything is just a huge wasteland.
 
Hupsel said:
Idk. I love the idea of a huge sandbox with a bunch of worlds to visit, but... meh. NMS would be amazing if it had Mincecraft/Terraria basebuilding, The Long Dark climate changes and survival aspects, the sense of exploration and discovery of crazy animals like in Subnautica and so on. At the end of the day its just a very, very light sandbox, with nothing to actually do, where death doesn´t matter - and it´s also very hard to die in a planet since there are a shit ton of resources - and everything is just a huge wasteland.
Click to expand...

See, this is what Ive been saying. But I was always told "this is not that kind of game" and would just shut up because I didnt want to get in trouble for going off topic or trying to derail the game.

But it seems clear to me now that this game REALLY needs those aspects. Because there's no way to add some kind of story, and focusing on a MP with base building just sounds like it makes sense.

Imagine owning entire planets and inhabiting them? Imagine wars breaking out over people invading other planets? Or finding the right things to survive hostile planets that others are not able to survive on?

More basically, (since all of that is very hard to add), building things sounds like it would be very neat. The burden to engage has to rest on the community, not the random generation.



What exactly did they do with all that extra time anyway?

No offense or anything, but if the game isnt so fleshed out, what exactly did they do during development? Were they working on making sure the random generation of animals and planets worked? Testing the servers?
 
About what it deserves imo. I wasn't so much disapoointed in it than really just waiting for the game to prove me right. I'm still kinda enjoying the game, but after 2 hours it was abundantly clear I've seen its entire bag of tricks after which it just kept performing those same rote illusions which are fooling no one.
 
UncleSporky said:
Quite a few people saw this rallying cry coming. There was so much mixed messaging before launch, there was no way that a lot of people wouldn't go in expecting one thing and end up getting another. And the fans are compelled to keep defending it and say, hey, if you don't like it's your own fault for not doing extensive research.

If I could quote my own prophesy here:



By the way, old NMS threads are really fun to read.

This guy is looking safe right now:



I think most this has mostly been proven false by now, especially the part about dungeons and generated elements:
Click to expand...

This is all so damning. What happened?

Like, Id really like to see a list of these promises, just to compare.
 
I'm still pretty interested in this. I feel like I would hate myself if I bought it for 60 but a few more patches and price drops and it should be good.
 
TimeEffect said:
See, this is what Ive been saying. But I was always told "this is not that kind of game" and would just shut up because I didnt want to get in trouble for going off topic or trying to derail the game.

But it seems clear to me now that this game REALLY needs those aspects. Because there's no way to add some kind of story, and focusing on a MP with base building just sounds like it makes sense.

Imagine owning entire planets and inhabiting them? Imagine wars breaking out over people invading other planets? Or finding the right things to survive hostile planets that others are not able to survive on?

More basically, (since all of that is very hard to add), building things sounds like it would be very neat. The burden to engage has to rest on the community, not the random generation.



What exactly did they do with all that extra time anyway?

No offense or anything, but if the game isnt so fleshed out, what exactly did they do during development? Were they working on making sure the random generation of animals and planets worked? Testing the servers?
Click to expand...

The problem is even with a shit ton of time, to make this perfect sandbox game would be... impossible. You would need time, yeah. Years and more years, not only 3-4 years. And a huge, huge budget. And a lot of talent. And a big team.

. You would need all the crafting sucess of Minecraft, Terraria, Starbound.
. You would need the survive aspects of The Long Dark. Not only a mechanic for blizzards and snow, mind you. But for hurricanes, heat waves, storms...
. The bizarre creatures of subnautica would help to create monsters... for a underwater scenario. Now you need to think about creatures for a multitude of different planets and climates.

So basically it´s something really hard I think. Even Star Citizen is struggling with time and one thing this game has is money... so yeah, the hype was really out of proportion for NMS.
 
KratosEnergyDrink said:
The exploring part gets boring fast, because there is not much new to explore after you met a few planets.

NMS seems to be a game for people who like MMO-like grinding. Do the exact same stuff over and over again, some people find this relaxing.
Click to expand...
Interesting that you say this because what makes mmo style grinding compelling is the social aspect....which turned out to be a lie in this game. It's funny because in all those interviews you can almost tell something was fishy when they talked about multiplayer. I wonder if some sort of perma death mode would make this a more compelling experience. So glad I didn't get caught up in the hype and pay money for this.
 
I think the fact I got the game for $42AUD on GoG makes my experience far more enjoyable. I played for about two hours this mning and had a blast even though I got stuck in a cave on my starter planet for 20 minutes. I went into space and was just mesmerised by the sheer size of everything, made my sci-fi heart happy.
 
Heavy_D206 said:
Why does EVERY game have to be MP?

I personally have no problem with Single-Player experiences. I did grow up with NES though, and I don't think Zelda or Metroid needed any kind of MP system.
Click to expand...

They are not saying that zelda and metroid needed MP. They are saying this feels like a multiplayer game without the multiplayer.
 
UncleSporky said:
Quite a few people saw this rallying cry coming. There was so much mixed messaging before launch, there was no way that a lot of people wouldn't go in expecting one thing and end up getting another. And the fans are compelled to keep defending it and say, hey, if you don't like it's your own fault for not doing extensive research.

If I could quote my own prophesy here:



By the way, old NMS threads are really fun to read.

This guy is looking safe right now:



I think most this has mostly been proven false by now, especially the part about dungeons and generated elements:
Click to expand...
Holy shit, More_Badass and SomTervo's posts on this game (among many others) seem just hilarious. Was everyone just talking out of their ass or did the devs actually say this stuff?

I've been through like twenty five systems and dozens of planet and literally everything has been basically the same as it was in my first two hours. Even if things suddenly start magically changing when I get closer to the center, like they claim it will, that's hours and hours of painful monotony that I've sat through to get there. Whoopdidoo.
 
Regardless of the critical success, or what those people have brought it actually think about it, you've got to hand it to them, it's a masterclass in marketing and advertising.

They have shifted a serious amount of product, are there any early indications of numbers?.
 
Rhaknar said:
They are not saying that zelda and metroid needed MP. They are saying this feels like a multiplayer game without the multiplayer.
Click to expand...

Honestly that just makes no sense to me.

"Multiplayer Game" could be anything from a Sports game to an MMO. It's such a general term.
 
TimeEffect said:
See, this is what Ive been saying. But I was always told "this is not that kind of game" and would just shut up because I didnt want to get in trouble for going off topic or trying to derail the game.

But it seems clear to me now that this game REALLY needs those aspects. Because there's no way to add some kind of story, and focusing on a MP with base building just sounds like it makes sense.

Imagine owning entire planets and inhabiting them? Imagine wars breaking out over people invading other planets? Or finding the right things to survive hostile planets that others are not able to survive on?

More basically, (since all of that is very hard to add), building things sounds like it would be very neat. The burden to engage has to rest on the community, not the random generation.

What exactly did they do with all that extra time anyway?

No offense or anything, but if the game isnt so fleshed out, what exactly did they do during development? Were they working on making sure the random generation of animals and planets worked? Testing the servers?
Click to expand...
Honestly, I think they were just getting the planet generation right. I think that's the sole hook for this game, gameplay considerations are secondary and exist only to propel you to more planets. The only 'design' is in the algorithms - there's fun and relaxation to be had while exploring, but once the novelty of cool looking planets and weird animals wears off and you find yourself on some grey wasteland peppered with resource blobs to peck at, the 'gameplay' is absolutely painful. It's miserably underdeveloped.

Everything in response to this game, good or bad, is a byproduct of its marketing campaign. Imagine the most unassuming Steam early access indie title, catapulted to worldwide attention by a monstrous marketing budget, and this is what you get.
 
Hupsel said:
True. A lot of my friends that don´t visit NeoGaf and usually go just to IGN (WHEN they go to a gaming website) know about No Man´s Sky but have no idea at all that there are other space sims out there - much less games like Subnautica. They are the same consumers that buy and play heavily marketed games like NMS, The Division, Destiny and so on.
Click to expand...

Yes. This is exactly him, down to how he gets news (IGN only), and the subsuming interest in heavily-marketed games. It's honestly really frustrating when I see it happen, but, it's not my money so I stay pretty hands off.
 
My friend bought it last night and streamed it from the start for me while we talked in party chat. I told him he's convinced me not to buy it, seemed boring as fuck.
 
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