No Man's Sky

 PC
Metascore
61

Mixed or average reviews - based on 17 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 2 out of 17
  2. Mixed: 13 out of 17
  3. Negative: 2 out of 17
  1. Worth Playing
    Aug 29, 2016
    47
    No Mans Sky would've made an excellent tech demo of something greater yet to come, or as a $20 independent game from a studio trying to find its footing. It certainly doesn't live up to what was once a marquee title during one of Sony's E3 press conferences, and it doesn't come close to justifying its $60 asking price. No Man's Sky had so much potential in delivering a game that compelled and rewarded unbridled exploration. That it fails to do so only makes its shortcomings more striking, and it's disappointing when compared to how the game was described leading up to its release.
  2. Quarter to Three
    Sep 1, 2016
    20
    Procedural generation is not an end. It is a means to an end. But there is no such end in No Man’s Sky. It’s endless randomness for the sake of endless randomness. It does what it does because it can, not because it should. I would describe it as procedural generation in search of a game, but it’s worse than that. It has found its game. And the game is hollow and awful.
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In Progress & Unscored

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  1. Ars Technica
    Aug 15, 2016
    Don't just wait for a sale; wait for a major overhaul.
  2. Kotaku
    Oct 19, 2016
    Few games in recent memory have been as open to a metaphorical interpretation as No Man’s Sky, bleak though many of those interpretations may be. You are alone, voiceless and bodiless, casting about in an endless copy-paste universe. You will only find peace when you accept that you’re never going to find what you were looking for.
  3. Rock, Paper, Shotgun
    Aug 15, 2016
    This likely reads as an overwhelmingly negative review, and it’s deserved – No Man’s Sky is massively flawed, and systematically poorly designed. But it’s also a massive playground of potential and opportunity, and its sheer ambition, for all its massive stumbles, is rewarded in play. It’s bloody awful that the whole time I’ve been playing, the dozens of hours on PC this weekend, I’ve been thinking about the PS4 hastily hooked up to the TV at the other side of my office and wishing I were still playing over there.

Awards & Rankings

2
#2 Most Discussed PC Game of 2016
25
#25 Most Shared PC Game of 2016

User Reviews

All reviews »
User Score
4.0

Generally unfavorable reviews- based on 2694 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 819 out of 2694
  2. Mixed: 284 out of 2694
  3. Negative: 1,591 out of 2694
  1. PutridPete
    Aug 12, 2016
    4
    Its very dissapointing to say the least. Ironically, it makes me appreciate Elite: Dangerous much more than ever before.

    My biggest problem    Its very dissapointing to say the least. Ironically, it makes me appreciate Elite: Dangerous much more than ever before.

    My biggest problem is how on rails the space flight feels, and how poorly the game looks and performs. I don't think its a bad game, just not worth 60 dollars. I'd certainly consider getting it on discount price.    … Full Review »
  2. NetQvist
    Aug 12, 2016
    0
    Must say I'm amazed at this.... it actually runs worse than Arkham Knight on release on this computer.

    Concerning the game content, doesn't    Must say I'm amazed at this.... it actually runs worse than Arkham Knight on release on this computer.

    Concerning the game content, doesn't matter if there's a lot of sand in a desert when each piece looks the same    … Full Review »
  3. BuGi
    Aug 12, 2016
    2
    First hour or two are amazing. Then you suddenly realize you've finished the game, nothing new to see.
    gazillion planets. all the same,    First hour or two are amazing. Then you suddenly realize you've finished the game, nothing new to see.
    gazillion planets. all the same, boring, nothing to do.
    You see one planet, you saw them all. After 2-3 hours its just repetitive grind, no motivation to go further, random landscapes are just reskinned things you've already seen. Old stuff in different colors.    … Full Review »
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