I really really like this game. I’ve been playing it for years on and off, returning after every major update to see the state of things, and to explore the new things.

I love the idea of having this massive sandbox shared experience, where coincidentally anybody can stumble upon my little bases I scattered, mines, etc. I also love flying around the stars in my ship, discovering new planets, finding weird animals, plants, geography. However as a game, it is kind of disappointing. Other than coming up with new bases and messing around with game mechanics, there isn’t much to do at this point.

Often I feel like I am simply in a museum, a massive tech demo of sorts, where I can look at things I’m meant to look at, playing with the interactive exhibits, checking out other interlopers creations, but I keep running into barriers. This newest update made me realize how little interactions I actually have with the universe of no mans sky. Settlement management is basically a waiting game, and I guess if I start a new game now, and have the settlement in the background it’s not as bad that I only have a little tiny choice or have to bring materials every few hours, but I just don’t like how the game forces me to wait.

As I mentioned, I love the spaceships in this game, but their differences are basically just cosmetic. It’s nice to have different types of ships, like hauler and fighter, but why bother? Get a massive hauler and put all the tech you ever want into it, even at it’s most basic it will be able to fend off every pirate. I fly a buff A class fighter, but there is just absolutely nothing to hunt that would make me break a sweat. Same with multi-tools and all the weapons mods one can have, the battle is just lackluster, and I do know it is not a fighting focused game, it’s still giving me a feeling of how good it could be.

Most missions, let it be from the space station or from the nexus, are just go here, pick this up/shoot these things, and come back. They are more of a chore than a proper video game mission. I know this is a procedurally generated game, but I’d enjoy some scripted-like battles or multi-tiered missions.

Making your freighter be awesome is also kind of pointless, since as soon as I have a teleporter on deck, I can just zoom back to any base I want, where I can have whatever I could put on the freighter, and more. Okay, calling in your exocraft anywhere is great, but I’d love to fly my freighter for example, or even part take in some missions with them. Same for the missions with your vessels, they are just a waiting game, and bring back basically money, which I need not after becoming a billionaire from activated indium and living glass. Ah, and exocrafts, one of the most useless things in the game unfortunately, while being extremely cool. But again, they are virtually indistinguishable from each other, or have limitations that just makes me not want to use them even when I would like to (I’d love to jump in my mech on a planet with a deadly atmosphere and go around looking for things, but I can’t use my visor from within and have to jump out constantly, and the controls are terribly inaccurate).

Base building is the other topic I feel ambiguous about. There are some great elements and I’ve seen some incredibly creative bases, but again, they are but showpieces for others, others who will never find it on their own due to the vast size of the galaxies. Building is also too limited, why can’t I flip things vertically for example? Barely anything to interact with? Only like, one chair actually usable? Also, why would I want to build any base, if I never have to actually do anything with it? Even others insane builds looks dead and abandoned with no inhabitants and nothing to do in them other than marvel at their construction. Creating a useful base is basically for farms or mines, which quickly become useless after you break a billion credits or set up big enough mines. I am also disappointed with the terraforming, as land can just “grow back” and its inconsistency with other players, etc. I would love to make underground secret bases, but lest I find a cave, good riddance.

I do know there is a central group of players in the HUB, who organize events and stay close together, but maybe I’ve been doing it wrong, or it’s just too much effort to participate, but somehow I miss events and things to do with other players, and I even have some friends who also play NMS, but yet we are hard pressed to find anything to do together.

Expeditions are interesting, but I don’t want to start a new game just to experience them. Abandoned freighter missions are a very good direction the game took, but they are hardly worth it and are imho quite repetitive and easy. I think Hello Games should embrace the players who are past the novelty and excitement of simply existing and discovering the world, or simply want a more extrinsically or socially motivated experience in the game, as the mechanics are there and ready to be utilized. Race tracks with actual player/ghost races, with more customization and useful upgrades to vehicles would make exocrafts more interesting, proper, hello games supported/embraced server-like systems with many players working on common builds, racing, terraforming together could be elevating this game to sandbox exploration games like minecraft, while keeping the experience of the current fanbase and “classic” players as well. Imagine having to defend your base on some hostile planets against raiding vykeen assaults, fending off natural predators or crazed sentinels. Defense buildings and emergency exits. Imagine system-wide multiplanet battles between player factions in a massive game of capture the flag or conquest. Mechs firing away while fighter ships zoom by bombing the land between jetpacking interlopers. Incredible, high speed races on volcanic planets with fauna hungry for players. Common bases belonging to a faction with a multitude of bases inside, etc.

The universe of this game is so big, I’m sure it wouldn’t be disruptive for anyone wanting to keep the current experience, but it could draw in much more people and keep the game interesting for the ones looking for a challenge.

What do you think?

I was on an icy extreme weather planet fighting a sentinel pillar. I didnt have a cold weather protection tech and just quickly jamming an ion battery into my hazard protection every 30 seconds or so. It was tedious but I had to fight this pillar for a mission. Eventually an extreme storm rolled in, which was problematic but luckily the last bot, the mech, was almost dead. I took down the mech and headed over to the console.

Standing at the console, I then see WARNING: EXTREME WIND EVENT Huh I get slowly pushed up against the pillar, and am unable to extract myself I blink Then I am flailing in a white void. No ground in sight. Very concerned for my safety, I look up. And realize I am on the edge of space. Then, some random jerk wad in a space ship starts trying to shoot me out of the sky He lands a few laser shots on me and that’s where I begin to panic. Now there really wasn’t much I could do in my panic, and luckily I was calm enough to save my jetpack for when I inevitably returned to the ground. So I watched helplessly as I was buffeted by strong winds and being attacked by spaceships. Eventually, after what felt like an agonizingly long time, I began to see flickering flames of damaged machinery through the fog and saw the ground getting closer. I sparingly used my jetpack to slow and eventually reach the ground relatively unharmed. Immediately, I try to call my starship in, but the ground here was very uneven.

Then, a few seconds after having landed, a new message appears. WARNING: EXTREME ELECTROMAGNETIC EVENT Before I have a chance to process this new warning, the world erupts in lightning. Panic level rises more and I desperately try to get to flatter ground.

Then a direct strike. Completely ahnnilating my shields and leaving me with two health cores. At this point my panic has reached its apex. I began floundering desperately trying to call my ship in, spamming left click and looking everywhere.

I did manage to get my ship called in. I hopped in, and immediately left the planet. Critically wounded, tech broken, but alive. After taking a moment to calm down and make sure the planet I landed on wasn’t a portal to oblivion, I realized: I never finished my mission at the sentinel pillar. Steeling myself for what was to come, I went back, but it was entirely uneventful. Mission complete, I left the planet. Hopefully, never to return.

Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to get a clip of this whole ordeal, which I greatly regret. It was truly the craziest chain of events that happened to me.

Five years ago I wrote this:

“I cannot wait to boot up the game and just walk in any direction, exploring. To see what’s behind that cliff, or what’s inside that deep mysterious cave. Imagine climbing a mountain during sunset and just take a break up there. Hearing the wind and see how day slowly turns into night. Seeing blinking stars appear in the nightsky. Knowing that if you want to, you can get your own spaceship and visit those stars. I’m definitely ready to lose myself in this game. Experience the feeling of being completely lost somewhere and not knowing what to come next”.

This dilemma still holds up to this day.

It’s one of those games you can play however you want. As an adult with a full-time job and family, I value the chill exploration. No need to “keep up” with anything.

The link below is an email I wrote to Hello Games in September 2016:

(https://www.reddit.com/r/nomanshigh/comments/57z3rr/just_got_a_response_from_hello_games_today/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=mweb)

With an incredible team as HG and their hard work, I can’t be anything else than grateful for what you’ve done for the game and yet alone, the community ❤️

Thank you.

// M a r c u s

Hello fellow travelers,

which perspective do you prefer and why?

I play in 1st person because it is more immersive for me (especially when I’m in my spaceship) and the controls with mouse and keyboard work better for me that way. Unfortunately I can’t see my character design while playing.

What is your experience?