I finally started building s base but I’m already tired of searching materials for little decorations, so maybe i thought its okay to go on creative difficulty to decorate

I just finished the “Prayers to the Machine” questline last night and I’d really want to debate some of the more philosophical and theological aspects of this game.

Because boy, does this game run deep.

(Don’t read this post if you just started the game and don’t want spoilers.)

So we know by now that the entire ingame universe of No Man’s Sky is a simulation, run by The Atlas. Some consider the Atlas to be a God. After all, it created the universe and seems to have full control over everything. Except it doesn’t. And the Atlas isn’t a God. It’s an artificial intelligence that might think it’s a God and it seems to be going quite mad because it seems to be sensing its impending death within 16 seconds, minutes, hours or whatever.

Personally, I think this is brilliant and strangely relatable. I personally believe in God, but I struggle with the concept of God as an emotional benevolent entity. I’ve always figured that if God is eternal and loving, He would go mad from the emotional strain. Still, I try.

At the ending of the autophage quest, there were two screens that really caught me in terms of philosophical and theological depths:

(I apologize for the phone-screenshot… screenshotting seems to crash my pc these days…)

When the confrontation with the Atlas culminated into this, I thought: yes, this is it! Information as immortality. One of the core aspects of Reformational philosophy (as I’ve understood it) is that we are known to God: God knows and loves us and this knowledge makes our lives eternal. We cannot be erased, even if we don’t know God.

https://preview.redd.it/oy6d03pcu6sb1.jpg?width=4000&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=4684b57c3534cc65f454f7d9a14aef55804a25fe

Another aspect of the Autophage that I really love is how they are fundamental rejects, but return as a sort of saviors and givers of new hope and friendship. There is hope because whatever was destroyed can be rebuild.

I just thought it was really, really awesome that as a player we can give the Atlas hope. Maybe that’s our purpose as humans: wonder, explore, in the deep conviction that there’s always more beauty than we can ever imagine.

I spent about 2 hours yesterday looking for “the perfect planet” to build my first real base on. I found it, and it is GORGEOUS. Beautiful glowing floral, rolling hills, those bubble things that are so pretty, etc. I’m extremely happy with it. I then found the settlement using a map, and decided that for roleplaying purposes, I wanted to build my house/base on the hill overlooking the settlement and be its overseer.

I couldn’t apply for overseer because I needed ONE more convergence cube, not a huge deal. I casually browsed google to figure out how to get one.

I pulled the game back up, and IT HAPPENED. In the text feed, I saw that another player whose name I won’t post landed on “my” planet. I start to get frantic. I go to the settlement and the player is looking at the hub, presumably trying to apply as overseer. 18 quintillion planets. 18 QUINTILLION. And someone manages to find the one that I spent half the day preparing. I wave at the player and type in the chat, no response.

I frantically Google how to get another convergence cube. I spend about an hour pulling my hair out with no success, FREAKING OUT because I assume all my hard work will be swept away by some other player that’s probably way more experienced than me. Not a high bar, as I’m pretty new. The entire time I’m frantically searching, the other player’s starship AND frigate loom ominously over my hard-found settlement on “the perfect planet” that i worked so hard to find. I realize I read something wrong in my neurotic, frantic spazzyess and easily get one. I go back to the settlement, apply, and everything is fine.

My heart rate dropped back to non-heart-attach inducing levels. I begun building my beautiful home and managing the settlement. All is right in the world. 18 QUINTILLION planets, and the first time I see another player aside from in the anomaly, they found the ONE planet I care about.

Horrible experience. Tons of anxiety. Racing heart. Questioned life at its core. 11/10, would recommend.