I’m in love with No Man’s Sky. If you’re an avid action game player, this game may not be for you. Don’t get me wrong, I love my action games, but I also like games that allow unlimited exploring. NMS is massive in scale when it comes to exploring. Hello Games said that even after everyone’s done playing it years down the road, 99% of all star systems will still be undiscovered. That’s some serious scope. It also means I’m dedicated to finding as many star systems as I can, even going “off mission” to do it!
There is action (just not mission-to-mission driven action like in most games). On some planets the Sentinals will attack you on sight. On others you can choose to attach them if you’re really desperate for some action. There are predators on some planets that will attack you if you’re not careful. And space pirates! You gotta defend yourself against them. You can also choose to defend freighters being attacked by space pirates when they put out a distress call (this increases your standing with that alien species).
The game isn’t perfect. I’d change a few things if I could. Primarily, I’d change the space scanner so that it identifies major resources and planet conditions from orbit. The space scanner only detects “anomalies” and sometimes a single building in a star system (your suit scanner (if installed) is more powerful than the one in your spaceship). It’s kinda useless in that sense.
I’d also change the dog fighting. Most of the ships you can salvage from crash sites or buy at space stations/land ports have super slow maneuverability and by the time you turn around to fire at the oncoming ship, they’re right on top of you, firing beams and cannons and you’re taking pretty heavy damage. You constantly have to repair your shields (if you don’t get killed while trying to repair it, as the repair screen is not a pause screen). So make sure you keep plenty of ingredients on board in a storage slot just for shield repairs.
And did you notice the synth soundtrack? Oh yeah!
So in honor of No Man’s Sky, here’s a bunch of music about, well, the sky!
ARTIST: Glis
SONG: Blue Sky Night
ALBUM: Alfa Matrix – Matrix Downloaded 004
YEAR: 2015
ARTIST: The Presets
SONG: A New Sky
ALBUM: Apocalypso
YEAR: 2008
ARTIST: The Dust of Basement
SONG: In This Sky
ALBUM: Awakening The Oceans (Deluxe Edition)
YEAR: 2004
ARTIST: Rhea’s Obsession
SONG: Between Earth And Sky
ALBUM: Between Earth And Sky
YEAR: 2000
ARTIST: Necro Facility
SONG: Painted Sky
ALBUM: The Black Paintings
YEAR: 2005
ARTIST: CHVRCHES
SONG: Night Sky
ALBUM: Bones Of What You Believe, The (Deluxe Edition)
YEAR: 2013
ARTIST: Book of Love
SONG: Yellow Sky
ALBUM: Book of Love
YEAR: 1986
ARTIST: Killing Joke
SONG: A Southern Sky
ALBUM: Brighter Than A Thousand Suns
YEAR: 1986
ARTIST: The Human League
SONG: Sky
ALBUM: Credo
YEAR: 2011
ARTIST: Psyche
SONG: Skywalking
ALBUM: Daydream Avenue
YEAR: 1991
ARTIST: Information Society
SONG: The Sky Away
ALBUM: Don’t Be Afraid
YEAR: 1997
ARTIST: Covenant
SONG: Liquid Sky
ALBUM: Europa
YEAR: 1998
ARTIST: Mental Discipline
SONG: Multilight Sky
ALBUM: Fallen Stars (CD Single)
YEAR: 2011
ARTIST: Distant Project
SONG: Flower in the Sky
ALBUM: Flower in the Sky EP
YEAR: 2009
ARTIST: Twice a Man
SONG: Chiba Sky
ALBUM: Fungus & Sponge (A Dreamlike Exspansion In The Audiofield)
YEAR: 1993
ARTIST: Martyn Bailey
SONG: Red Sky Supernova
ALBUM: Gravity Zero
YEAR: 2013
ARTIST: Days of Fate
SONG: Open Sky
ALBUM: Home-Made Cake Of The Day (Deluxe Edition)
YEAR: 2003
ARTIST: Syrian
SONG: The Night Sky
ALBUM: Kosmonauta (Limited Edition)
YEAR: 2005
Blair Scott: Synthentral 