I have been through the game in nearly all of its permutations for a regular 4 years since launch. Participated in Waking Titan, in theorycrafting, all of it. Still use my day 1 save nearly all the time. I welcomed every new feature with open arms. The expeditions – chef’s kiss. Various features like derelict freighters and changes to base building – great. This patch, from a lore perspective – amazing! The customization and combat features – excellent! Hell, I even got a kick out of some stuff I missed, like the settlements.

But over time, every instance of my return to the game has been less lengthy until I began outright skipping more and more patches (been almost 2 years until I returned to this one) as the one thing I wanted to see in patch notes was nowhere to be seen.

Planet generation and exploration, at present, feel formulaic and sterile.

I don’t even have to visit a cold planet to know what it looks like. it’s the exact same every time with a difference in tree density. I barely have to visit a lush planet as they are mostly recycled between themselves and every single one has superheated storms. With very little difference, I am seeing the exact same generation and planets I have been seeing since around NEXT came out. The very same building blocks. They do not feel like planets, they feel like biomes. Animals are great to ride and befriend, but wild animals behave and look the exact same as in launch – chaotic.

I want to sink my teeth deep into developing my character, my journey, my fleet, my base and my empire. Hell, even finally commit to a galaxy center permadeath run. But what is the point if the exploration feels dead and if I feel like I’ve traversed every single planet a dozen times before? What was supposed to be the main attraction of the game and the expectation of millions of permutations has been, as of now, completely abandoned for the sake of easier introduction of new features in predictable worlds.

So I ask – can Hello Games crown all the great features they introduced over the years with an actual planet and animal generation overhaul? Can they truly give us long term explorers some new wonders to gaze in this endless universe? Can they, at last, provide the universe the depth that matches its width, even at the cost of a universe reset?

I believe they can and I hope they will.

I started out crash-landed on an alien planet and had to repair my starship. The game was kind enough to walk me through that, but I kept running out of heat protection and had to constantly scrounge up more sodium. Thankfully there were plenty of plants.

Once I got my ship fixed, I flew into space and hit hyperspeed…and accidentally went way past my objective and had to turn around. On the way back, I ran out of hyperspeed fuel and I thought I was boned, but the asteroids surrounding me were full of fuel. Hooray! I was able to make it to the second planet!

After landing in the wrong place, I made it to my destination and built a tiny little cabin where I could wait out the heat storms (and also hide from the Sentinel drone that kept chasing me around. Leave me alone! Those aren’t your plants!) Of course, I had trouble finding copper deposits, and I also ran into my first real problem: I got too far away from my ship and couldn’t find my way back for a while. I’m hoping I’ll eventually get a map or beacon or something so I can roam farther.

Then I went to a space station full of aliens! I couldn’t talk to most of them, but some of them taught me a few words, and a few offered to come work for me (though I didn’t have the necessary buildings.) Tonight I’m going back to my log cabin and I’ll see what else this planet has in store for me.

This game feels like it’s going to be me wandering around cluelessly, punctuated by a series of amazing discoveries. I’m stoked!