It's hard to ignore the negativity that's surrounding No Man's Sky at the moment. The game that had all the potential but has apparently not delivered. Yet, I have not felt compelled to return my copy of it, and here's why.
No Man's Sky is a game that encourages exploration and discovery. It places the emphasis on item collection and exploration rather than combat. I saw a comment on Facebook which seemed to summarise the vast majority of players feelings towards the game. Antonio De Castro claimed:
"There wasn't any depth in its play: get ship, hop from one space hut to another, get items for ship/suit, hyperspace, rinse, repeat. And every other planet all look the same so that quadrillion planet ploy was bs. It's great if you had a triple apogee gravity bong sesh and played Dark Side of the Moon while playing but other than that"
No depth? I fail to see this. It's one of the most expansive games ever. I have probably racked about 16 hours of gameplay so far and have not yet fully 100% explored a single planet. I hop between them, searching for unique elements and new words to learn. Yes, it is rinse and repeat, but that's what you buy the game for. What were you expecting? Call of Duty in space? Massive space dogfights? If you want that, go get Star Wars Battlefront or wait until Call of Duty Infinite Warfare comes out.
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What seems to annoy me the most is when people rinse the repeatable gameplay. Have you played minecraft? One of the most successful games of all time is based on this exact thesis. Planets are similar, only similar, not the same. You have over a million planets to play around with here, why moan when a few look rather similar? As for the bong session and Dark Side Of The Moon. I've played the game completely sober and I've not been bored or found the game repetitive at all.
Dan added:
"My first hour with No Man's Sky was magical. I wondered a seemingly desolate, lifeless, radioactive planet wondering if there was anything there at all, as a I searched for zinc. Then, out of nowhere, I began to hear faint cries, and soon I stumbled across a tiny "Diplodocus" with a penis for a head. Then I noticed some sort of building in the distance, and as I trudged towards it a massive scaled creature with a wolf-like head casually walked by in front of me. It truly was a moment of wonder.
I finally managed to leave my first planet, but the more planets I landed on, the more it became apparent that they are all practically the same. Yeah, the sky might be a different colour and the atmosphere might slowly kill you via another method, but they were all just different flavours of poison.
Once that realisation dawned on me, the magic of No Man's Sky quickly evaporated and I just didn't have the will or desire to go back. No Man's Sky came out on August the 9th, and I traded it back in the very next day."
The fact Dan only gave the game one day is really disappointing. He couldn't possibly have explored the massive range of planets the game has to offer, discovered the alien language and decoded what they are actually telling you.
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So what brings on the hate? I suppose the game was so overhyped and the trailers only showed snippets of the gameplay. What seems to be the case with many video games in the modern world is that people are quicker to criticise rather than praise. There are thousands of YouTube channels that actively seek to find the worst aspects of video games rather than say what is positive about them.
"I don't blame Sony, Hello or Sean Murray for hyping up their game. But if that's the route they wanted to take, then they have to deal with the consequences."
I've played this game an awful lot over the past week and I can't say I have ever felt the need to return it. I spent 40 on it and haven't regretted it once. It's a game that I feel will go from strength to strength and keep expanding through DLC's and future titles. Give it a chance and don't jump to conclusion.
