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

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.