No Man's Sky

 PC
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

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  1. LostBoy556
    Sep 8, 2023
    5
    This game is great! You can really explore without limitations.. There are also no loading screens
  2. TheGvH
    Aug 21, 2023
    7
    No Man's Sky presents a captivating experience for those with a penchant for exploration and adventure. With 50 hours invested, I find myself inclined to recommend it. The game's allure lies in its vast universe to traverse and discover, offering a plethora of activities to engage in. However, to maintain lasting enjoyment, creativity is key. While there's no shortage of things to do, theNo Man's Sky presents a captivating experience for those with a penchant for exploration and adventure. With 50 hours invested, I find myself inclined to recommend it. The game's allure lies in its vast universe to traverse and discover, offering a plethora of activities to engage in. However, to maintain lasting enjoyment, creativity is key. While there's no shortage of things to do, the onus is on players to craft their own entertainment. If you possess the imaginative spark to keep yourself engaged, No Man's Sky provides a fulfilling and expansive journey worth embarking upon.… Expand
  3. Mastereed
    Jul 1, 2023
    7
    JOURNEY TO THE CORE

    BEFORE WE START: No Man's Sky was developed and published by Hello Games and released in 2016. This title was released under completely adverse conditions compared to those presented at various conventions and fairs, and therefore, it was heavily criticized. After dozens of updates, the game became very similar to what was originally announced. The title has been    JOURNEY TO THE CORE

    BEFORE WE START:
    No Man's Sky was developed and published by Hello Games and released in 2016. This title was released under completely adverse conditions compared to those presented at various conventions and fairs, and therefore, it was heavily criticized. After dozens of updates, the game became very similar to what was originally announced. The title has been fully released on Game Pass PC.

    THE TAKE OFF:
    No Man's Sky, as a pure survival game, instantly throws the player into the clutches of a planet immersed in the infinite universe. This planet can randomly be peaceful or malevolent, making the first steps more or less challenging depending on the type. The initial stages mainly involve learning the basics of survival, as well as constructing a small personal base. After these steps, the player will be unleashed into the universe of the Atlas, a mysterious deity or legend that requires the player to reach the center of the universe. As an interlude, the player can literally explore endless planets, take on dozens of side missions, and build bases on planets or immense frigates.

    STALENESS UNIVERSE:
    The gameplay of No Man's Sky is as varied as it is repetitive. In addition to the mere survival aspect of collecting resources, surviving in hostile planets, and fighting sentinels, players can venture into cooperative missions and raids on frigates and outposts. Furthermore, a small part of the game certainly involves space battles, albeit very simple ones. The true heart of the gameplay in this immense title lies in the exploration of thousands of planets, which often differ greatly, and the various space wrecks. A small mechanic that encourages exploration is the bestiary and encyclopedia of creatures and objects on the planets, offering small rewards in currency.

    WHAT COLOR IS THE SPACE?:
    Graphically, it is rather average, with a wide variety of designs and coloration of the different worlds. Certainly, the imagination behind some plants and creatures is exceptional.

    SCATTERED ECHOES:
    The audio component, like the graphics, is average. However, its great merit lies in creating extremely relaxing and mesmerizing situations, with fitting soundtracks for deep space.

    BUT WHY 7?

    PROS:
    No Man's Sky is currently an extremely enjoyable and relaxing title to play and explore. The vastness and creativity of the game world rarely become tiresome, and the game's writing is unique and detailed, keeping the player engaged. Additionally, the main story, being very philosophical, will certainly stimulate the minds of the most imaginative players.

    CONS:
    The major problem with No Man's Sky lies in the immense repetitiveness that it reaches within a few days of gameplay. Every space station, NPC, planetary base, frigate, and most dialogues will always and uniformly be the same. Moreover, the game's strong survival aspect often leads to tedious farming sequences for normal gameplay actions. All these factors make it a highly enjoyable game even today, but it certainly doesn't lack some issues dating back to its release.

    RATINGS:
    Gameplay: 6.5
    Music: 7.5
    Story: 7
    Survival: 6
    _    … Expand
  4. Tintler
    Jun 26, 2023
    6
    İlk çıktığı günden bugüne çok fazla patch geldi, çok fazla content eklendi ve bunu ücretsiz bir şekilde verdiler. Oyunun şuan ki durumu bana göre iyi durumda. Başlangıçta verdikleri sözleri tuttular.
  5. Rubenh
    Jun 18, 2023
    5
    This game is still average at best. There is still so little significance to be found, which makes exploration more tedious than riveting. It looks different, but nearly everything you gather is still the same. Inventory management is atrocious and bogs it down with so much tedium and kills immersion and flow. This review sums it up really wellThis game is still average at best. There is still so little significance to be found, which makes exploration more tedious than riveting. It looks different, but nearly everything you gather is still the same. Inventory management is atrocious and bogs it down with so much tedium and kills immersion and flow. This review sums it up really well https://www.dualshockers.com/is-no-mans-sky-worth-it-2023/… Expand
  6. zNeverSleep
    Jun 13, 2023
    6
    After 9 hours of playing this game, I ended up kinda bored.

    To be honest, since I'm not a fan of this genre, I'm surprised since most of my time playing it was good. My 2 biggest critiques are the uninteresting plot and the sameness around the planets. I loved to explore them, but they start to feel the same too fast - for the time it takes to beat the main quest. Speaking of it, the    After 9 hours of playing this game, I ended up kinda bored.

    To be honest, since I'm not a fan of this genre, I'm surprised since most of my time playing it was good. My 2 biggest critiques are the uninteresting plot and the sameness around the planets. I loved to explore them, but they start to feel the same too fast - for the time it takes to beat the main quest. Speaking of it, the plot could be better. Looks like an excuse to make us play this game's main factor: crafting. If you like it, sure, It will be good. Otherwise, there is no reason to keep playing this game for too long.

    As I said, in the beginning, everything is new and interesting. I liked to play this game with a friend, sharing my thoughts, and visiting his bases. The graphics are cool either, at least in 2.5k res. The gameplay in MK is washed, mainly on the starship. On dual sense works well.

    That's it. After some years, the game is finally playable. After playing it, I'm actually getting hyped for Starfield.    … Expand
  7. DukeJon
    Jun 9, 2023
    6
    Picked this up on steam recently and thought I'd give it a go plugged into my oculus rift 2 VR headset. Initial impressions were good, flying between planets, going into hyperspace, etc. Problem is that it's all boring. Planets are procedurally generated but they all look generic. There are animals pottering around but they don't do much. There's no flocking, predation, etc, going on. YouPicked this up on steam recently and thought I'd give it a go plugged into my oculus rift 2 VR headset. Initial impressions were good, flying between planets, going into hyperspace, etc. Problem is that it's all boring. Planets are procedurally generated but they all look generic. There are animals pottering around but they don't do much. There's no flocking, predation, etc, going on. You get patches of minerals dotted around but it's all very random, not how it would be found on a real planet (ie. a big mound of gold right next to a mound of copper). There's basically zero story and no voice acting. You spend all your time with your mining laser grinding plants and rocks then crafting them into more materials. You might also go into space to grind asteroids with your lasers. There's an occasional dogfight which can be quite frustrating. The gameplay loop is as boring as hell, it's all going towards a better spaceship, better mining laser, etc. I found myself desperately looking for fun things to do. It would be better if they added a proper story. I'd much rather have a single hand-crafted world with different biomes, cities, competing factions, interesting characters, quests, etc, than a zillion boring random planets with nothing going on. The game also runs like s**t; performance is terrible. Very disappointed.… Expand
  8. Bee4keed
    Mar 22, 2023
    5
    (2023)

    IMMERSION AND GAMEPLAY – The game overall is too unrealistic, too illogical and too childish. Just to mention some dumbest and most repulsive things in NMS: 1) your small backpack can contain more staff than the entire spacecraft; 2) similarly, some visually SMALL spacecrafts can fit more staff than BIGGER ones just because of so-called starship class and cargo upgrades; 3) in    (2023)

    IMMERSION AND GAMEPLAY
    – The game overall is too unrealistic, too illogical and too childish. Just to mention some dumbest and most repulsive things in NMS: 1) your small backpack can contain more staff than the entire spacecraft; 2) similarly, some visually SMALL spacecrafts can fit more staff than BIGGER ones just because of so-called starship class and cargo upgrades; 3) in planet's ATMOSHERE your starship consumes fuel only to take off, but not during the flight (wtf?); 4) in space your starship can go backwards like a car, BUT this ONLY make's sense IF spaceship has the proper movable thrusters to reverse spaceship's direction, but starships in NMS DON'T.
    – Space is too unrealistic, too colorful and too cartoonish as well. Planets are always unrealistically close to each other. 95% of planets are very rich in life forms, which makes them soon enough boring and repetitive, as the procedural generation algorithm seems to work the same on most planets. In real life it's the opposite - rich planets are extremely rare and that's what makes them so precious and magnificent.
    – Stars (suns) in systems are just unreachable sprites. You cannot reach them and burn yourself down as in Elite Dangerous.
    – But guess what you CAN do in this game... You can breed, select and ride some stupid Spore-like animals. You can basically have any animal as your campanion which would pleasantly go after you in any harsh environment that require you to wear an exosuit (!) It's not No Man's S-K-Y now! It's a f*cking Spore.
    – Spaceship dogfights with pirates get boring and annoying pretty quickly, so you only want to end them asap.
    – I'm not saying NMS should be as realistic as Elite Dangerous but neither for 5-year-olds.

    MULTIPLAYER
    – Playing with friends is a nightmare, because you cannot invite them to the party from the menu. You should find them in person IN GAME. And it's not always easy to do, because even if you are at the same location, you are not always going to see each other. Moreover, it's easy to lose them from the party for no reason or when they get too far. Besides there is actually not much to do together. OK, there IS an option to join your friend's world instantly from the menu, but it never works in my case. Generally speaking, the game just wasn't meant to play together from the beginning, and that's very noticeable.
    – Developers could have created an awesome simulation in a living galaxy with real players, an economy, cohesive missions and so on... with a few main planets with some headquarters of guilds or something like that and so players could build their own cities. If someone wouldn't want to interact with other players, they could still fly away to some uninhabited far far away planet. Instead we have 256 galaxies with trillions boring procedurally generated planets with almost no chance finding another player. Players spread all over the worlds doing their senseless sh*t. What's the point in such multiplayer? None. There is only one way to randomly meet a real player and even many players - in Expeditions, because all players start on the same planet and have similar missions and routes, and that's great, but that's another problem...

    EXPEDITIONS
    – Expeditions are like small events with some new added staff and some kind of quests with rewards after completing them.
    – So, to me, expeditions are the most boring and pointless addons in my game experience ever. First of all, you have to start a new game in a new save to begin the expedition. So till now, you would have had 9 save games with some progress in each, but none complete with all the content the game provides (unless you have literally no other interests in life). No sense to me.
    – Expeditions bring no cohesive lore quests nor fun. Just random missions like find/kill 10 creatures, build some new random buildings which developers added or travel somewhere for no reason. That's exactly what Expeditions are in a nutshell. Ok, sometimes you get some cool rewards when you complete the expedition, but my God, how boring and pointless it is to make it to the end.

    SUMMARY
    No Man's Sky had huge potential but unfortunately went in the wrong direction. The main problem the game has is there are too many unnecessary and half-done features, while important ones (as for the planets and cosmos exploration game) are too weak or not implemented at all. It's still a decent meditative sand-box time killer, rather for single player unfortunately, which gets quite repetitive (especially if you start new games because of new Expeditions). If you don't like Minecraft-like gameplay, this game is not for you at all. After 184 hours spent in the game, I have only one regret – this journey might have been much more interesting and epic.    … Expand
  9. Rofii
    Feb 14, 2023
    5
    I heard this game improved a lot since launch so I was excited to check it out. Sadly, it's a fun game plagued by crashes and stutters. Maybe by 2026 it'll finally be finished and playable? I'm just glad I played it on game pass and didn't actually pay money for it.
  10. Sitheral
    Aug 3, 2022
    6
    Perhaps it is the best redemption story in gaming, but its not like we have a completely different game now, NMS still feels boring and limited and I would rather play a game with a few planets that are custom made than explore quintillion of them here.
  11. amonen
    Jul 21, 2022
    5
    This is hard one. I did get a fair amount of fun out of it and I have been revisiting the game every other year. Unfortunately its still the ultimate underlying problem for me, which is
    "So much to explore and so little to discover".
    If you like playing games like e.g. minecraft (Which is also dislike) and rarely reach the point of asking yourself "Why the hell am I doing any of this"    This is hard one. I did get a fair amount of fun out of it and I have been revisiting the game every other year. Unfortunately its still the ultimate underlying problem for me, which is
    "So much to explore and so little to discover".
    If you like playing games like e.g. minecraft (Which is also dislike) and rarely reach the point of asking yourself "Why the hell am I doing any of this" you might enjoy it for a long time. But the game actually gives you no reason to play the game, except the things you want to accomplish in it.
    (For me it was hunting down a specific space ship that I really liked). Once you reach that point, the whole game might become absolutely pointless.    … Expand
  12. BOWi
    Feb 11, 2022
    6
    The story is unimportant (and buggy) to the rest of the game, especially in 2022. It's also distracting from the fun.

    In 2016, most of the story was told by readable lores, distributed on planets. The only traditional “mission” in the game was The Atlas Path. I don’t remember how we got introduced to it, but people were already referring to the “mission” as “The Atlas Path”. Back in the    The story is unimportant (and buggy) to the rest of the game, especially in 2022. It's also distracting from the fun.

    In 2016, most of the story was told by readable lores, distributed on planets. The only traditional “mission” in the game was The Atlas Path. I don’t remember how we got introduced to it, but people were already referring to the “mission” as “The Atlas Path”. Back in the day, we didn’t have the mission log, which is why I don’t remember how we got that name for it. The story was OK since it was mostly lore. Because of the thin story, I was actually quite attached to it, and even more attached to the story told through the Atlas Path and the associated Atlas Interfaces.

    In mid-August 2017, I was already done with the Atlas Path (I finished it in December 2016). That gave me one single reward as well as an epic event that we still don’t really understand today. In the month of August, developers at Hello Games reworked the entire story (and added a bunch of fetch quests), and they kept doing it until 2022. Currently, the story is a weird patchwork of things we mostly knew in 2016 and it feels more like a long tutorial… Also, whether you are a newcomer or an old-timer trying to resume a playthrough; whether you play in “Creative Mode” or in “Normal Mode”; the storytelling doesn’t branch coherently.

    Here’s an example for bug that has been around since 2017: Early in the game, a character will ask you about another character’s whereabouts, even though you haven’t met anyone yet. That same character will also explain to you that nothing changed in their space station, even though this is your first visit ever.

    Such problems in storytelling feel immersion-breaking to me, and there are many of them during the entire game.

    ***

    Community Management is next to non-existent, and developers keep changing the ways to play the game (also called “gameplay mechanics”), which often deprecate players’ play style and add bugs to other unaddressed bugs.

    In 2016, again, the game was really simple. Too simple for some, but quite good to me, honestly. There was nothing much to be shared by developers, aside from Patch Notes that were explaining fixes or little improvements to the game. The game was difficult to master, but it was fun.

    Soon after the release, they started adding things that were not even supposed to be part of the game, like the base building. I know this might be surprising to learn that base building wasn’t initially part of the “sale pitch”, but I invite you to look for that information on the Internet.

    Progressively, each game update became a stressful event that could potentially change rules players were used to. I also have to mention that bugs were also a thing, but at least we had good support from developers through their ZenDesk account. I opened a few tickets, and most of them got closed at some point.

    In mid-August 2017, developers at Hello Games made their first big update, called “Atlas Rises”, which reworked the story entirely (as I previously wrote) and had a major impact on my playthrough. The update introduced bugs and incongruities that are still present today. The most important problem (to me) is that the people who had previously completed the only mission of the game (The Atlas Path) had to redo it entirely, especially because of the new rewards tied to its completion. In 2022, the “bug” is still present for whoever plans to load an old save from 2016 (or from the first half of 2017).

    Since late 2017 / 2018, developers are not closing ZenDesk tickets anymore, and they keep releasing game updates with new features that nobody ever asked. Free updates are nice, but they are bittersweet because a lot of old bugs are still unaddressed years after their appearance. Also, a lot of people complained when developers changed the way farming (which wasn’t announced in 2016) would work, or when they introduced energy consumption that broke existing built bases. Finally, in 2019, developers switched a core component of their game engine (an “API”) from one technology to a more modern one, which made the game literally unplayable for existing players who had very old computers. In 2022, those people still have to buy a new graphic card (or even a new computer) to play the game they bought between 2016 and 2019. What other game did that, I wonder?

    The story that was OK in 2016 is now annoying and acts as a tutorial instead of a proper story. The gameplay and the level of communication between the players and the developers are regularly changing without any explanation and without any acknowledgement that they are effectively disrupting player’s enjoyment of a full-priced game. Those two arguments demonstrate that No Man’s Sky isn’t a finished game, and I think that anyone who’s thinking about buying this game, even in 2022, should be well aware of the situation.    … Expand
  13. PrdPak
    Sep 20, 2021
    6
    I have been observing the status of this game ever since launch. At first the game seemed so underwhelming that I'd even refuse to play it for free. However, I played it recently, and I can say for sure, that the developers have done a mega job, in releasing updates and fixing this game, however it might be too late by now...

    The optimization is NOT good on this game, The game suffers    I have been observing the status of this game ever since launch. At first the game seemed so underwhelming that I'd even refuse to play it for free. However, I played it recently, and I can say for sure, that the developers have done a mega job, in releasing updates and fixing this game, however it might be too late by now...

    The optimization is NOT good on this game, The game suffers from stuttering issues for me, even though I have a decent specs.

    The graphics don't get progressively better at higher settings which they should. Even on lower settings the game looks fine, so turning up the settings for little to no gain in graphics while halving your performance.

    The tutorial portion of this game is an insane chore and doesn't feel engaging at all, it becomes very tiring, very soon, when you have to find sodium which is spread who knows where on a planet, this "tutorial" never seems to end, and no, it didn't help me the story a single bit, I had to go on to the wiki to learn about the different characters. There is no clear line in between the tutorial and the actual story of the game, and it doesn't help when the game seemingly decides itself about what mission you are going to play, you interact with an object and it adds another mission to the list and changes your current objectives, this is very obnoxious.

    Gameplay wise, the game is exactly what initial reviewers suggested, Minecraft but in space, and I am not complaining at all. It is fun to explore different planets and there moons just for the view. Finding materials can be a chore since you don't have an economy outpost scanner or whatever its called installed in your ship.

    The saving mechanics of this game are very poorly designed, I still can't figure out how to manual save properly, there have been times where I've exited the game only to find out later that I've lost a huge amount of progress and all that copper that I gathered.

    The crafting is absolutely horrible in this game, trying to construct a basic house feels like bashing your head into a concrete wall, twice. The game can't figure out that a floor is meant to be in contact with the ground, the flattening tool doesn't work, expanding areas in a ship lead to weird structures hanging in mid-air, the inventory management is absolutely broken, there is absolutely zero sense in how the game calculates the amount of storage you have. On top of all of that, the game is insanely hard to play on mouse and keyboard.

    This idea is amazing, but it managed to amaze me and disappoint me at the same time. But honestly, no matter how much the developers try to update this game, its now far too late, and the gaming community has generally lost interest in this, like what is happening with Cyberpunk 2077.    … Expand
  14. F3T1W
    Aug 27, 2021
    7
    High-quality varied GRIND simulator in space, with a variety of flora and fauna
  15. Mister_Jey
    Jan 12, 2021
    7
    → Une épopée dans les étoiles.
    Décrié à sa sortie pour ne pas avoir tenu toutes ses promesses, No Man's Sky est aujourd'hui à la hauteur de ce qu'il devait être, grâce à un bon nombre de DLC gratuits qui sont venus ajouter beaucoup de contenu. Ainsi, on se retrouve à bord de notre vaisseau à explorer un nombre infini de planètes colorées, au climat parfois rude, et peuplé généralement de    → Une épopée dans les étoiles.
    Décrié à sa sortie pour ne pas avoir tenu toutes ses promesses, No Man's Sky est aujourd'hui à la hauteur de ce qu'il devait être, grâce à un bon nombre de DLC gratuits qui sont venus ajouter beaucoup de contenu. Ainsi, on se retrouve à bord de notre vaisseau à explorer un nombre infini de planètes colorées, au climat parfois rude, et peuplé généralement de drôles de créatures. J'aurais tout de même souhaité une histoire tout autre, d'ailleurs peut-on vraiment parler ici de scénario ? Il y a quand même une espèce de sentiment de solitude intersidéral qui s'installe, malgré l'arrivé du Nexus (sorte d'anomalie spatiale proposant une expérience multijoueur). NMS propose tout de même une belle aventure, j'étais déjà conquis à sa sortie, et c'est évidemment encore plus le cas aujourd'hui, même s'il pourrait être encore bien meilleur sur certains points.

    Sortie en août 2016 / Développé par Hello Games.    … Expand
  16. Trollhammara
    Dec 6, 2020
    5
    It improved so much over the years. Impressive game und great developers
  17. Lugarty
    Nov 13, 2020
    5
    It has a lot to improve. It started out as a disappointment, but, Hello Games is trying to correct its mistakes and improve the game. And we gamers want a quality exploration of universe game, that's a fact.
  18. Lex_x
    Sep 30, 2020
    7
    Хорошая, довольно увлекательная игра. Борозди космос, исследуй другие планеты, знакомься с пришельцами, строй свою базу, выполняй квесты, торгуй и т. д. В игре немало всего, иногда встречаются баги... Но они не так часты, чтобы разрушать всё впечатление. Если конкретно, то у меня были баги с поведением камеры (которые были связаны с взаимодействием с текстурами, и очень быстро прошли самиХорошая, довольно увлекательная игра. Борозди космос, исследуй другие планеты, знакомься с пришельцами, строй свою базу, выполняй квесты, торгуй и т. д. В игре немало всего, иногда встречаются баги... Но они не так часты, чтобы разрушать всё впечатление. Если конкретно, то у меня были баги с поведением камеры (которые были связаны с взаимодействием с текстурами, и очень быстро прошли сами собой) и баги с генерацией (в основном левитирующие контейнеры и камни). Как бы то ни было, не думаю, что подобные баги сильно помешают вашей игре.… Expand
  19. SerSpooge
    Jun 24, 2020
    7
    Considering the state it was in when it first released, this game has come an incredibly long way. they have added an endless amount of enjoyable content,I have put 20 hours into it recently and feel as though I have barely scratched the surface. it still has its issues, I have had multiple deaths due to glitches in the world and the multiplayer isn't as synchronised as it could be. butConsidering the state it was in when it first released, this game has come an incredibly long way. they have added an endless amount of enjoyable content,I have put 20 hours into it recently and feel as though I have barely scratched the surface. it still has its issues, I have had multiple deaths due to glitches in the world and the multiplayer isn't as synchronised as it could be. but seeing how far they've come since release I can only see this game getting better.… Expand
  20. Lizarino
    May 31, 2020
    7
    Rough launch but the regular updates have made this game definitely worth playing
    If you don't mind grinding and enjoy exploration / building then try it out
    The game does occasionally crash for me though and the occasional bug but nothing major Edit 2020: The game now has major performance issues for me including frequent crashing, low fps and textures not loading in properly. I    Rough launch but the regular updates have made this game definitely worth playing
    If you don't mind grinding and enjoy exploration / building then try it out

    The game does occasionally crash for me though and the occasional bug but nothing major

    Edit 2020: The game now has major performance issues for me including frequent crashing, low fps and textures not loading in properly. I have also been experiencing a lot more bugs like the discovery system not working, other players being invisible, bases dissapearing. All of these things were pretty much non-existant in the past.
    Losing almost houts of progress multiple times is infuriating so score is lowered    … Expand
  21. nightstroller
    Apr 29, 2020
    7
    This is my review as a new player (with only about 100 ish hours in so far). I held back on getting the game when it first dropped, although I was most certainly interested. I also did not see/read all of the initial negative reviews. I held off because I was instead putting my attention on Star Citizen at the time (still am keeping tabs on it). But seeing as how we all have to wait a yearThis is my review as a new player (with only about 100 ish hours in so far). I held back on getting the game when it first dropped, although I was most certainly interested. I also did not see/read all of the initial negative reviews. I held off because I was instead putting my attention on Star Citizen at the time (still am keeping tabs on it). But seeing as how we all have to wait a year or more for SC campaign/PU, I thought I would bite the bullet and finally check out NMS after all these years.

    I understand it was released to nearly universal letdown -- not delivering on hardly anything it was advertised to be, however, in it's current state as of writing this, the game is not half as bad as initial/outdated reviews would lead you to believe. It's a very decent game, and the only reason I can't give it a higher score is because I'm not a hardcore exploration fan. What the game currently does have to offer is pretty nice though. It's not perfect, but given from where it started, you can tell the developers care about making it better.

    I wish it had more ship diversity, both in terms of exterior design and interior layout (especially space station interiors -- they're all identical), and I understand this game is built around procedural generation, but if they added in more hand-crafted buildings/structures and populated those with interesting/unique characters with motivation/purpose, then this game would really shine imo. For all I know, Hello Games might be planning or have stuff in the works to address all this. Even if they don't the game is currently really decent.

    No Man's Sky
    Gameplay Enjoyability (0 - Worst, 10 - Best)

    Visuals: 7
    Ground Combat: 4
    Space Combat: 5
    Exploration (enjoyability potential): 9
    Base building: 7
    Lore: 6
    Music ambience: 6
    Cataloguing all-the-things (enjoyability potential): 8
    Resource gathering: 7
    Inventory management: 4

    The (enjoyability potential) is there for those who are into those kinds of things. Take off two points if you aren't.    … Expand
  22. ComputerGrenade
    Mar 29, 2020
    5
    This game was hyped up too much, it's nothing like it promised to be.
    But! it has alot! to do, Explore planets, Collect things.. Nevermind.
    But you've got a galaxy to explore, the updates are making things better.
    Final Verdict : 5.2
    Not recommended by me.
  23. xoca
    Nov 29, 2019
    7
    Had a pretty rocky launch but it improved steadly (and for free) and it's now a pretty decent game.
    A brief caracterization would be: It's like a Galaxy wide version of Minecraft.

    Random facts:
    - Beautiful scenaries
    - Boring creatures and NPCs
    - Endless exploration
    - Grindy
    - Spaceships
    - Repetitive
    - Addictive
  24. BuckThundermeat
    Nov 19, 2019
    7
    TL;DR - Worth a look. The developer is working overtime releasing good content for the game, and for a survival-lite Minecraft spin-off it's fun, engaging, and has a pretty good amount of non-linear content.

    +PROS+ · Mechanically, the game is pretty good. Controls are solid and everything feels 'right'. Swapping between tools, and the adjacency system (though the latter is hardly    TL;DR - Worth a look. The developer is working overtime releasing good content for the game, and for a survival-lite Minecraft spin-off it's fun, engaging, and has a pretty good amount of non-linear content.

    +PROS+

    · Mechanically, the game is pretty good. Controls are solid and everything feels 'right'. Swapping between tools, and the adjacency system (though the latter is hardly explained) are pretty intuitive once you get the hang of it. Vehicles are fun to use and work very well in the game. Some people complain about the in-space combat but frankly I haven't had that many problems with it and it seems more like a personal problem.

    · It's really cool to look at. The visuals are just out of control.

    · The developer is actively releasing high quality content for the game, and seems to actually care about the sustainability of the title.

    -CONS-

    · The game struggles with its story - it's pretty cool but it drags on for an eternity and the rewards are pretty garbage.

    · Both PvE and PvP in this title are for the most part non-existent and otherwise complete and utter garbage. While the title seems to be purposefully centered around exploration, the lack of content encouraging players to interact with one another results in a game that's pretty boring to play with a group.

    · While new stuff is coming out, it still does suffer some of the same repetitive complaints that have plagued it in the past about lack of meaningful content, though it's getting much, much better.    … Expand
  25. craftnomansky
    Aug 15, 2019
    5
    No Man's Sky have no in-game challenge beside the NPC missions, if you can create endless worlds why there aren't any real players game challenge ?! the game dynamic is good when it comes to the creation of new infinite planets full of creatures and plants,

    Personally I see a player expectation is to find unique or regular items and know what to do with it rather than storing it and    No Man's Sky have no in-game challenge beside the NPC missions, if you can create endless worlds why there aren't any real players game challenge ?! the game dynamic is good when it comes to the creation of new infinite planets full of creatures and plants,

    Personally I see a player expectation is to find unique or regular items and know what to do with it rather than storing it and guess for the future use, if you can't connect with real players or even influence on a particular space region and escalate some game thrills then what's the point of No Man's Sky ? after playing nearly 350 hours, I find many items I have collected have no use at all, you can't make a blue print to make new items or build something special, and I am still guessing even if this feature still available in No Man's Sky, well at the end it doesn't matter if you have unique stuff or not because there is no common goal to compete against other players.

    I will give you a nice analogy with some metaphoric expression : No Man's Sky is an empty vacuum you just jump from a system to a system and wasting your time, by the time you play this game you get older and older and then your wife leaves you behind, sneaking, and sleep with other guys , while you are exploring some virtual planets building your virtual home for yourself alone like being disposed in this world.

    To be honest, the game developers have no idea what's going on in real world, because they spend most of their time at the basement and isolated, alright, I respect their effort as they want to make some money but their concept about real world is entirely unrealistic.    … Expand
  26. BastianTank
    Jul 26, 2019
    7
    I think No Man's Sky is a great game. The graphics are impressive, the gameplay relatively exciting. What I have to criticize in the gameplay, however, is that the missions are mostly structured as follows:
      - Go somewhere
    - pick something up / give / eliminate - fly back. It can also be annoying when small animals attack you for unknown reasons. What I also should mention is that    I think No Man's Sky is a great game. The graphics are impressive, the gameplay relatively exciting. What I have to criticize in the gameplay, however, is that the missions are mostly structured as follows:
      - Go somewhere
    - pick something up / give / eliminate
    - fly back.
    It can also be annoying when small animals attack you for unknown reasons.
    What I also should mention is that mining / picking up / etc. plays an important role.
    Incidentally, I'm grateful that there are encyclopedias about No Man's Sky because not everything is self-explanatory.    … Expand
  27. NightGeisha
    Nov 15, 2018
    6
    Two years ago I was hipped, like everybody else. I expect to much of this game and it disappoint me. I honestly have not bought any other pre-sale game ever since.

    The game was full of promises of greatness that were not fulfilled. Hello Games went into blackout information and only when they started to get on they feet again, the story has changed. They start big updated, big    Two years ago I was hipped, like everybody else. I expect to much of this game and it disappoint me. I honestly have not bought any other pre-sale game ever since.

    The game was full of promises of greatness that were not fulfilled. Hello Games went into blackout information and only when they started to get on they feet again, the story has changed.

    They start big updated, big improves that I did not follow right away, but I've been reading, watching streams and tracking feedback.

    Now almost 2 years after much change, and a massive update promises to change the game, once and for all. Obviously they catch my attention, I had much to see but came back with the low expectations.

    I do not intend to stretch too far, simple the game changed from a huge thumb down, to a small thumb up, through all the effort and dedication.

    It's not the game you'd been waiting for for the initial trailers yet, but it's immensely closer to that. I'll keep the game under my radar and follow whatever comes up. Good job Hello Games!    … Expand
  28. Taylord99
    Aug 15, 2018
    7
    This game is a much better game than what it was in 2016. There are many more things to do now and it feels way more dynamic and has way more depth. The game still has a ways to go, but it is getting there.
  29. Rhynlock
    Aug 15, 2018
    7
    First of all, this game is not for everyone, this is a game about exploration, about wandering about in the endless procedural generated galaxy. The Next updated really blew life into a dead game and make me jump into it. is interesting to go find little pieces of a language to help you communicate with new species. the spaceships has a good variety even tough they all play mostly theFirst of all, this game is not for everyone, this is a game about exploration, about wandering about in the endless procedural generated galaxy. The Next updated really blew life into a dead game and make me jump into it. is interesting to go find little pieces of a language to help you communicate with new species. the spaceships has a good variety even tough they all play mostly the same, its nice eye candy. the game does has a huge amount of farming and grinding that slows the exploration quite a bit and this is my main issue with the game. other issue I have is that lots of the flora and fauna you find in different planets look weird or outright creepy, which can be a little unsettling. anyway I love exploration and in space is just better, if you are into that pick it up and have fun. if you don't, then stay away… Expand
  30. wEsSeLs
    Aug 8, 2018
    6
    No Man’s Sky is an exploration type game where you are on a quest thru space, exploring randomly generated planets on your gurney to the center of the universe.

    No Man’s Sky was a massive disappointment upon release. Leading up to its release me and my friends were bursting of excitement. We could not wait for the release but after finally having purchased the game and about a day of    No Man’s Sky is an exploration type game where you are on a quest thru space, exploring randomly generated planets on your gurney to the center of the universe.

    No Man’s Sky was a massive disappointment upon release. Leading up to its release me and my friends were bursting of excitement. We could not wait for the release but after finally having purchased the game and about a day of intensive gameplay we soon found the game getting stale and quickly realized that the game was not at all what it led up to be.

    The game had and still have astonishing potential but this only led to our disappointment when we saw how poorly the game was executed.

    Recent updates have improved the game immensely and certainly regained my interest. This definitely was one small step for No Man’s Sky but will still need a giant leap to regain popularity and get into a different light with the community.

    In my opinion the game should focus on improving the survival aspect of the game.
    I think with the recent updates implying that the developers are willing to improve and rectify their mistakes. I will encourage people to support them purchase No Man’s Sky to help get this game to its potential which is revolutionary for its genre.    … Expand
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Awards & Rankings

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

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
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. Pelit (Finland)
    Oct 11, 2016
    67
    No Man's Sky breaks the record in falling short of the hype – which is an incredible achievement in the category of super ambitious space games. The huge universe is a repetitive, lifeless and meaningless place, no amount of random generated creatures can change that. The most unforgivable fail is making the spaceship such a pain to fly, which makes exploring the vast universe simply a chore. However, at its best the game is epic and many of the issues should be easy to fix, so this might not be the end of the journey after all. [Sept 2016]
  2. PC PowerPlay
    Oct 2, 2016
    60
    It's partially broken, shallow, repetitive and aimless, but hang me, I still kind of love it. [Issue#255, p.56]
  3. Edge Magazine
    Sep 27, 2016
    60
    While some poorly designed systems and mechanics chip away at your patience, the feeling of flying seamlessly from space down to a peninsula you spotted from orbit never fails to enthrall. [Nov 2016, p.106]
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