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. SYLOH
    Aug 22, 2016
    2
    Let me preface everything by saying that I actually bought this game on impulse before watching the trailers.
    I like space, I like exploration, some of the early reviews were positive, so I bought it.
    I regret that impulsive decision. Take it from a 5 year veteran of Eve: Online this game is BORING. Imagine Eve minus the hordes of players trying to kill you, it's more boring than    Let me preface everything by saying that I actually bought this game on impulse before watching the trailers.
    I like space, I like exploration, some of the early reviews were positive, so I bought it.
    I regret that impulsive decision.

    Take it from a 5 year veteran of Eve: Online this game is BORING.
    Imagine Eve minus the hordes of players trying to kill you, it's more boring than that.

    There is supposed to be septillions of stars and planets generated, but their algorithm is poor. This results in maybe 12 different planet types and 30 animal species. I'm being very generous with the planets, for the most part they are just different colors with a different icon showing you what is killing you today.

    Now I wasn't expecting Spore like creature variety, but this is insulting. All of them look the same. There might be some slight variation between the crab like species trying to kill me, but I honestly couldn't tell.

    The entire game is far too easy, in my trek from the start to the center of the galaxy my shields dropped a total of maybe 10 times, I still don't know what the death screen looks like.

    The interface is utterly terrible. You have to hold to click EVERYTHING. There I cannot fathom a reason this has to be for literally EVERYTHING. The galaxy map is the single worst aspect of the UI, a rather galaring flaw for something that wants to do space exploration. The path to the center is utterly useless, as I got close to the center it literally got stuck in a dead end. It ignores your hyperdrive upgrades meaning it's course will take you through about a dozen short hops and then abruptly stop, while you can reach the end in one jump or infact go much futher. There is a total disconnect between "Distance from Center" and "Linear Distance", 500ly for the former is about 1,500ly for the latter. You are down to luck for finding any particular location, even ones you've visited before.

    The game play is more or less a resource grind, you land on a planet, shoot at a rock with a mining laser, you leave the planet to go shoot at a different rock. There are NPC, they are of three races, all of which just stand or sit alone in one place. They never do anything, you can talk to them and maybe get a blue print or something, but thats it, there is no personality, not even real interaction.

    There was an Atlas quest line, that brought you to 10 admittedly rather spiffy looking space stations. Actually I lied, there are 4 rather spiffy looking space stations that are repeated a couple of times in no particular order. It starts no where and ends in a non ending. This may last you a couple of hours (or however long it takes you to realize the map system is trash and just jump to the end). But it pales in comparison to reaching the Galactic Center.

    Thats the final insult, what happens at the center. I'll rant in a spoilerific manner after the next paragraph. Suffice to say if we reached the center and had a planet sized MIDDLE FINGER to explore, this would still be less of a **** YOU than what we got. Because at least the Flipping Bird of God would be an object of interest and discussion.

    It was after I had played for a while that I went out and watched the trailers, holy **** I wanted to play that game, too bad it's not what I bought. I'm angry I wasted money buying this, I would have been furious if my expectations were that high. This isn't a case of a fandom hyping in a vacuum, the developers were outright lying to us. Not just in the trailers, but in the words they were speaking. **** this game.

    SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER

    You start jumping to the center, the game silently says "nope", plays prog rock as it holds the scroll backwards button on the map screen, fade to black and dumps you at the start of a new practically identical galaxy with all you stuff broken. I think it might even have gotten the color on my ship wrong. I can't tell because my game bugged out and put me in slow mo, and I was already fighting the urge to just toss my computer out a window. So no, you don't even get to see what is so shiny at the center of the universe, you just start over again.

    Seriously **** this game.    … Expand
  2. Gdrom
    Aug 14, 2016
    2
    This game is just a scam. I'm a survival video games player, I really like the exploration, grind resources and explore any corner of these kind of video games, But NMS doesn't push me to enjoy what I am doing, the aggressive animals are a joke not a challenge enough the same with the pirates, the same with the sentinels there is not action in the game. Then ok maybe the strong thing hereThis game is just a scam. I'm a survival video games player, I really like the exploration, grind resources and explore any corner of these kind of video games, But NMS doesn't push me to enjoy what I am doing, the aggressive animals are a joke not a challenge enough the same with the pirates, the same with the sentinels there is not action in the game. Then ok maybe the strong thing here is the survival face... wrooooong there is not survival mode, you are grinding resources the whole gameplay for no reason, improve weapons craft some stuff but nothing mayor. The planets are all of them the same with different colors, but essentially the same, the animals are a random mix of their parts horrible it is just embarrassing .... bufff I'm getting upset just writing this review it is a holy scam don't buy it, even if you like this type of games like me NMS is not the game.… Expand
  3. neojaffers
    Aug 12, 2016
    2
    Didn't deliver on multiple promises and lacks any sort of gameplay. As an artsy game it does wonders but only if you want to call it a game. If you take away the game title and call it an experience it would be much better. Game felt more like a VR experience trying to be a game, it doesn't hit any standard for gameplay
  4. akshaysk
    Aug 12, 2016
    2
    I got the PS4 version too. I wrote a review for that, as well, and I didn't mention the bad draw distance and occasional framerate drops because, well, the gameplay aspect seemed more important then. I only wish I could write about the gameplay now.

    I admit I don't have a monster rig. An i5 6th gen and a GTX 960 usually runs all games on high with a few compromises, however. Not this    I got the PS4 version too. I wrote a review for that, as well, and I didn't mention the bad draw distance and occasional framerate drops because, well, the gameplay aspect seemed more important then. I only wish I could write about the gameplay now.

    I admit I don't have a monster rig. An i5 6th gen and a GTX 960 usually runs all games on high with a few compromises, however. Not this time.

    Had to change the resolution (and put up with black bars. BLACK BARS!) and lower the graphics to low. And even then, after I got out of the ship for the first time, the game realized it hadn't buggered up and crashed.

    Steam refunds could not have been implemented earlier. Thank goodness for those. I just gave it a 2 because at least Hello tried to make some decent features like an FOV slider and somewhat responsive controls (though I didn't get far enough to start shooting those grinding sentinels)

    I'll say again: Hello Games, I have 18 quadrillion other games I'd rather play instead.    … Expand
  5. Random_Internet
    Aug 12, 2016
    2
    Add the horrible port onto an already boring af game. But really what the hell did they do during this games 2+(?) year development? I can't even imagine how empty this must have been when it got delayed. Expect mass refunds from PC gamers including myself. Thankfully I checked out AJ's stream before it released on PC so I knew to refund if it didn't feel better to myself, refunded withAdd the horrible port onto an already boring af game. But really what the hell did they do during this games 2+(?) year development? I can't even imagine how empty this must have been when it got delayed. Expect mass refunds from PC gamers including myself. Thankfully I checked out AJ's stream before it released on PC so I knew to refund if it didn't feel better to myself, refunded with 1.9 hours, whew.

    Only thing worse than this game is its fanbase. Consisting of fanboys who shout down any criticism with "updates will improve it". Bullsh*t the amount of new content this game would need to be worth even $40 would be more than it already has.    … Expand
  6. AnalBlaster
    Aug 13, 2016
    2
    The concept behind the game is great; you explore the universe, uncovering all these planets and diverse life forms. Where the game falls flat on it's face, however, is the execution. I have put around 10 hours into this game, 16 if you count the time i played on PS4, and after that much time I have found the initial sense of excitement from finding these planets and species has faded.The concept behind the game is great; you explore the universe, uncovering all these planets and diverse life forms. Where the game falls flat on it's face, however, is the execution. I have put around 10 hours into this game, 16 if you count the time i played on PS4, and after that much time I have found the initial sense of excitement from finding these planets and species has faded. You eventually start recognizing similarities between all of them. This is made worse by the fact that the variation in the planets is small, with the only major change in a lot of them being a swapped pallet. That isn't to say the game isn't aesthetically pleasing, it is honestly beautiful, but the lack of variation makes it feel very repetitive very fast.

    On top of this, the PC version has major issues. It runs horribly on some very capable machines. It is not well optimized at all and is riddled with bugs that cause it to be unplayable for many.

    I regret that I paid $60 for a game that is the quality of some early access beta (or alpha even).    … Expand
  7. TwoTwoFiveNine
    Aug 13, 2016
    2
    Everything in this game is of poor quality. Textures, models, animations, procedure generation, interface, notifications, exploration, ship controls, gun play, secret at the center of the universe and whatever else in the game i forgot to add. Except music maybe. Technically, yes, whatever developers promised with their vague statements — they delivered, but all of it is of incredibly poorEverything in this game is of poor quality. Textures, models, animations, procedure generation, interface, notifications, exploration, ship controls, gun play, secret at the center of the universe and whatever else in the game i forgot to add. Except music maybe. Technically, yes, whatever developers promised with their vague statements — they delivered, but all of it is of incredibly poor quality. Definetly doesn't worth it's price. Definetly isn't a complete game, but tech demo at best.… Expand
  8. Kelnor
    Aug 14, 2016
    2
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Unlike many people, the game actually runs decent enough on my PC and i didn't encounter any serious technological problems. Maybe i'm just lucky, since now i can review the game itself.

    First, all the people who rave about the supposed amazing technological aspect of creating a huge universe filled with planets. 16 years ago, a single italian programmer released a game that did just that, a procedurally generated universe with billions of planets. Unlike this shallow garbage however, that game had a huge variety of planets, there were barren worlds, water worlds, gas giants, and so on. So to say that NMS did something that wasn't there before is simply not true.

    At the end of the day, all NMS does is put together a planet from the same Seed over and over again and swap the colors. If you have been to one planet, you have seen them all. Same type of plants, little variety in alien life and a little different enviroments. It all feels the same. Also, since every single star system i went through has a space station in it and every single planet has those sentinel things on it, you never get that immersion of being an explorer because somebody (NPC-wise) has been there before.

    I do understand that they had to add a number of game mechanics to go with the (failed and utterly shallow) exploration aspect but the resource gathering and crafting is just a huge grind. There is no fun in running around and trying to find that single resource you are missing or docking with a space station just to discover that they don't have that one thing you need.

    The supposed story, if you even could call it that, is equally shallow, boring and doesnt make much sense. Space combat feels random and sluggish, the ship doesnt move nicely and you can tell after 10 seconds that its just a bad port from the PS4, with all the controls more or less geared towards as controller.

    So, in conclusion, NMS fails in all aspects. Its technology is not that great and has been done before. Controls are bad, story nonexistent. And the exploration part is just too shallow to ever give you the urge to continue because there isn't anything new or wonderous to see. And all that for a whooping 59,99€? Save your money.    … Expand
  9. Swaglord69
    Aug 15, 2016
    2
    Fun for the first 2-5 hours, then you realize that the game only has to offer an endless loop of collecting the same materials or going to the same buildings over and over again just to upgrade your inventory slots by 1 slot at a time.

    Game had/has a lot of potential to be something amazing but it's just a skeleton worth $60 instead of $15. Seriously don't buy this game until they    Fun for the first 2-5 hours, then you realize that the game only has to offer an endless loop of collecting the same materials or going to the same buildings over and over again just to upgrade your inventory slots by 1 slot at a time.

    Game had/has a lot of potential to be something amazing but it's just a skeleton worth $60 instead of $15. Seriously don't buy this game until they release updates, (and i doubt it will save this game) it is not worth it.

    P.S. Game also runs awful on the majority of people pc's on launch.    … Expand
  10. Flarestar
    Aug 15, 2016
    2
    Crippling performance issues on a system that far exceeds the minimum requirements was my very first impression of the game. I spent a while tweaking things and finally got it mostly working decently, barring the random 60+ seconds of slow motion that occasionally happened when it decided to load a massive chunk of textures at once.

    The space flight is extremely arcadey, even beyond    Crippling performance issues on a system that far exceeds the minimum requirements was my very first impression of the game. I spent a while tweaking things and finally got it mostly working decently, barring the random 60+ seconds of slow motion that occasionally happened when it decided to load a massive chunk of textures at once.

    The space flight is extremely arcadey, even beyond what I expected based on the trailers and dev talks. There's no real depth to it at all, nor any significant reason to do so beyond gathering some resources or traveling.

    Planetary exploration should be somewhat exciting, and was, for the first few planets, before I realized that every planet basically had every resource available, and the only substantial difference was visual. Even then, the planets rapidly starting looking the same. Outposts consist of the same few objects regardless of what alien race occupies them.

    Stations are boring.

    Inventory management and user interface is both tedious and awkward.

    At some point, with a lot of feature patches and quality of life improvements, this game might be worth buying. Right now it's certainly not worth the $60 price tag. At best it's a $15 Early Access title.    … Expand
  11. Nixxaras
    Aug 17, 2016
    2
    Could have been a nice little 20 euros indie game. But it's an overrated 60 euros game, poorly optimized, boring and filled with its developpers' lies, as you can see in videos like this excellent one : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A8P2CZg3sJQ

    TLDR : don't buy. Mostly since it barely runs on any configuration.
  12. Jake1499
    Aug 17, 2016
    2
    The grind of grinds. Nothing really to do. Just run around collecting things to sell and supply your ship. It's so buggy its pathetic. Not worth the money. I can see this one on the shelf at Walmart as a no-name CD for $4.99 real soon. I hope it doesn't effect my stock in online gaming. Maybe some day it might be up to par but for now, skip it.
  13. Gamer3X
    Aug 18, 2016
    2
    So. I have to say. This was a big let down. I ignored the reviews, gave the game a few days, and did my best to not have the overall experience ruined by other people. This however, did not help. A short list of the biggest issues.

    -To much promised, very little given. The creators promised so much and we get bits and pieces here and there. But overall they took a page from Peter    So. I have to say. This was a big let down. I ignored the reviews, gave the game a few days, and did my best to not have the overall experience ruined by other people. This however, did not help. A short list of the biggest issues.

    -To much promised, very little given. The creators promised so much and we get bits and pieces here and there. But overall they took a page from Peter Molyneux and gave us what can only be seen as a lite version of the original promised game.

    -Repetitive is the name of the game. Everything about this game reeks of repetition. There is supposed to be literally billions upon billions of planets. Until you visit 20-30 of them. Then you see patterns emerge in how this spawn/are generated. On top of that, you do the same things over, and over, and over again. I'd honestly score the game higher if they officially changed the name to Repetition Sim 2016.

    -Are we alone in the universe? The answer currently is yes. Because out of all of the broken promises this is the biggest. You cannot interact with people as they don't technically exist in your game. Even if they are on your planet, you can't see or find them essentially making this an offline experience.

    -Multiverse theory. This is more of a pun and a poke. 10s of billions of planets and I have visited 34 as of this review. Despite my woes and over all meh feeling, once the patterns emerged, I tried my best to find a planet truly unique. And as far as I can tell. It doesn't exist. Technically, out of the amount of planets there has to be one or two of them. But after no lifing the game for days on end. Hell if I can find it.

    Overall. The game isn't terrible it just doesn't feel like it's the game I paid for. Similarly to how people can exist on your planet but you can't do anything with them. This game exists and I can't do hardly anything that was promised to me over the last couple of years. It doesn't feel like it's actually finished. This feels like a mid way Alpha version. The basics exist and that's about it. On top of that, the creator decided to flipflop in a matter of a week from saying "No dlc, you paid for the game. The content should be free." to saying "Future content will probably cost something." If it were in my power, I'd get a refund and have zero regrets about it at this point.    … Expand
  14. OnionBoy
    Aug 18, 2016
    2
    *THERE ARE BETTER SPACE EXPLORATION GAMES OUT THERE*

    Too many people have never experienced a similar genre of game and think this is a unique, ground breaking game. It's not. It's a poorly executed, awfully optimised and stupidly repetitive and empty shell of a game. For £40 (or $60 if you're in the US) this game is an absolute joke. It deserves a £10/£15 price tag like the rest of    *THERE ARE BETTER SPACE EXPLORATION GAMES OUT THERE*

    Too many people have never experienced a similar genre of game and think this is a unique, ground breaking game. It's not. It's a poorly executed, awfully optimised and stupidly repetitive and empty shell of a game.

    For £40 (or $60 if you're in the US) this game is an absolute joke. It deserves a £10/£15 price tag like the rest of the unfinished indie games out there on Steam (Rust/7 Days to Die etc). An absolute shambles.    … Expand
  15. cyrusor
    Aug 20, 2016
    2
    This game is the definition of a false-advertisement, they made some scripted gameplay trailers, showing things that are not in the game, their lead developer went on interviews and TV shows and just promised 100 different things that he had no intention of ever putting in the game.
    And then when the game was released, it had something like 20/100 of what he promised, and in a very broken    This game is the definition of a false-advertisement, they made some scripted gameplay trailers, showing things that are not in the game, their lead developer went on interviews and TV shows and just promised 100 different things that he had no intention of ever putting in the game.
    And then when the game was released, it had something like 20/100 of what he promised, and in a very broken state. I could create a game with a coca-cola vending machine and it would have much more depth in its trading than what the game has.

    The games biggest selling point was that you could explore planets that nobody had ever before seen. Well, guess what, there are already hundreds of NPCs in the ground with outposts and trade-depots, so im not the first to step foot on the planet.
    After 50 planets or so, you've pretty much seen everything the game has to offer when it comes to exploring.
    Im not even gonna talk about the controls because thats a waste of time.    … Expand
  16. Enkil99
    Aug 21, 2016
    2
    This game has too many bugs. I pre purchased it for $60 because I believed I was getting a finished product. I just filled my ship with Emeril and looked for awhile to find a place to sell it. Finally found a base with...hmm two landing pads? I open the door, the procedural generation generated two bases exactly on top of each other and I cannot enter to sell my goods as the walls of oneThis game has too many bugs. I pre purchased it for $60 because I believed I was getting a finished product. I just filled my ship with Emeril and looked for awhile to find a place to sell it. Finally found a base with...hmm two landing pads? I open the door, the procedural generation generated two bases exactly on top of each other and I cannot enter to sell my goods as the walls of one base block the doors of the other one. I can see inside a window and see two aliens where there should only be one. Really Hello Games? Really? How do I get a refund? BTW, the frame rate is ridiculous. One second it's flowing nicely and then all of a sudden herky jerky and I feel like I am walking in mud. I don't spend over $1k on a PC to play games with such terrible frame rates and bugs.

    I also found a lump of aluminum procedurally generated underneath a shelter and i could not get to it. I thought, oh I can just blow holes in the ground with my plasma grenades...nope...you can't blow up shelters, so the ground is untouchable. I keep seeing giant columns of floating resources and buildings generated into the sides of mountains and into seas...and i can't enter through the door.

    There are some interesting things that they did here but the execution is terrible. It makes me wonder if any of the people involved in the design of this game played any video games as kids...I hope steam refunds me!    … Expand
  17. stoneneedle
    Aug 22, 2016
    2
    No Man's Sky is obviously an art student's final project gone horribly awry. This, this THING--this monstrosity, is a crime against humanity.

    To briefly state the one positive, It is a nice looking game, even if it's so laggy that you can barely access the menu or orient your character at all. That's why it gets a 2 rather than a 1 or 0. Firstly, there's the foolishness that's by    No Man's Sky is obviously an art student's final project gone horribly awry. This, this THING--this monstrosity, is a crime against humanity.

    To briefly state the one positive, It is a nice looking game, even if it's so laggy that you can barely access the menu or orient your character at all. That's why it gets a 2 rather than a 1 or 0.

    Firstly, there's the foolishness that's by design. You walk so slowly, and the sprint controls don't seem to work as far as I can tell. The loading screen forces you to sit through a 5ish minute starry background screensaver, as if it weren't even a game and is in fact a throwback to Windows 98, -each and every time- you start up the cursed thing, even when I already saved the game. Mining gets tedious and repetitive after about 2 minutes.

    Secondly, there are plenty of issues that seem to be unintended consequences of the slipshod gaming engine design. The latest patch (as of GOG 2.3.0.5) does little to address any of its performance issues. It drags so slowly through lag-ridden menus that you barely have the ability to figure out how to craft, much less make something of use in the barren sands of some unpronounceable planet that, to try and say, would sound like it was named by a deranged Swedish Mad Libber. I have a fairly capable desktop with i7 core, 8 GB of RAM, and no problem running most contemporary video games on high or medium graphics settings. This game would not respond when I turned everything to the -minimum- settings, and even after I did, there seemed to be very little of use to do besides.

    Whoever is giving this travesty a positive or mixed score just simply isn't telling the truth. That anyone could think to charge someone $60 for this experiment is simply obscene.    … Expand
  18. Cirrhosis
    Sep 3, 2016
    2
    **** you Hello Games.
    **** you Sean Murray.
    I bought this with the intention of being able to play with other people. I bought this with the intention of taking part in large space battles. So, I launch the game, and what do I get? 15 FPS. 15. I'm running a rig that is more than capable of 60 FPS in a title like this (980 Ti, 4790k, 16GB RAM), and I get.. 15. Okay, launch day    **** you Hello Games.
    **** you Sean Murray.

    I bought this with the intention of being able to play with other people.
    I bought this with the intention of taking part in large space battles.

    So, I launch the game, and what do I get? 15 FPS. 15. I'm running a rig that is more than capable of 60 FPS in a title like this (980 Ti, 4790k, 16GB RAM), and I get.. 15.

    Okay, launch day bugs, I get it, kinks need to be worked out. So I do a little Googling, only to find out that Sean Murray is now blaming the users for not having up to date drivers, or insufficient hardware. What the actual **** Seriously?

    All right, so I'll wait a week or so, see what updates get pushed out, maybe things will run a little smoother. And they do! a *little*. I get 25-30 FPS instead of 15, great.

    Guess I'll try and enjoy what I can. At this point, I'm aware that I'll likely never see another player, nor participate in large scale space battles. I have flown around for 12 hours, litterally discovering the same planet, with different colors, different colored plants (note, *different colored,* not actually any different), and slightly different wildlife. At about the 12 hour mark, I came upon something interesting. An "anomaly." Sweet! Something new! Maybe this is where things pick up. Long story short, I was able to enter a black hole. Neat! I can't wait to see what's on the other side. What was on the other side? A different colored galaxy.. with different colored planets.. with different color plants and.. yup, different colored wildlife.

    I'm done. Biggest waste of $60 ever.

    Shame on me for pre-ordering. But shame on Hello Games for entirely misrepresenting their product. And shame on Sean Murray for blaming me, the consumer, for their faulty product/launch.

    The soundtrack is pretty decent though.    … Expand
  19. LEGENZSxKirito
    Oct 7, 2016
    2
    Cuando Compre Este Juego Pensé Que Sería Un Mundo Vivo Enorme E Increíblemente Divertido De Explorar Pero Realmente No Cumplió Con Ese Cometido... No vale la pena
  20. JackMcB
    Oct 31, 2016
    2
    Only any good for a little while if you go in with no expectations at all, which is difficult given the ridiculously over-egged hype that was poured all over this title by a certain someone who should have just released it on the quiet given how little there is to do.

    Yes, there are so many planets you and all your friends will never see them all but you wouldn't want to as they all    Only any good for a little while if you go in with no expectations at all, which is difficult given the ridiculously over-egged hype that was poured all over this title by a certain someone who should have just released it on the quiet given how little there is to do.

    Yes, there are so many planets you and all your friends will never see them all but you wouldn't want to as they all play within the same range of experience, the only difference between a hot planet and a radioactive one (or a toxic or frozen for that matter) is the level of shielding you have determining how long you can stay outside, while on-planet there's not much to do but trade, learn words, pick up resources have a brief skirmish and scram, there's no building to do and no wars to fight. The Fun-Police sentinels are ineffectual on land as and in space so are just a mild annoyance.

    The odd space 'battle' may kick off as you jump into a new system (too many times) but it doesn't matter if they're ignored, there's no data on who's fighting or why and getting involved will net you the same amount of respect as giving 10 iron to lazy trader.

    The flora and fauna are sort of interesting at first, but have no depth to them outside being passive or aggro and their freaky appearances which break suspension of disbelief in some combinations. Hop to about 16 planets and you've seen pretty much every variation of plant and most of the 'animal parts' that go to making up the non-sentient life. The sentient life consists of three races Beakface, Daft Punk and Brute who are just there to trade and teach you words, there's no sense of them inhabiting any world other than in their outposts, which, paradoxically, are on EVERY planet. There's no gas giants or any non-solid worlds, or even strange suns either. There is *some* variation in the terrain however, the occasional world will have giant cubes of land protruding from the surface or floating islands but again, that, with the minimal plant, animal and mineral variation slapped on top is literally all there is to them.

    The one good thing about this game is the fabled "Take-off from one world land on another" with no cut-scenes or loading which has been a holy grail of gaming for so long it's painful to see it done so flimsily. There is nothing satisfying about space combat, it feels like plastic kids toys whipping around.

    Some parts look pretty but the anti-aliasing is horrific all over.

    The 'ending' (just cheat your way to the core if you must see it, you'll be.... less incensed that way) is exactly the kind of slap in the face that paying the slightest heed to hype will net you. Anyone defending it either must be being paid or is in such depths of delusion that they're a danger to their own mental health and yours.

    Play this game with no expectations while listening to your favourite podcasts and you might just come away with a slightly favourable view of it, then skip to the end and realise it'd just an epic waste of time getting there honestly.    … Expand
  21. BoredGamerUK
    Nov 5, 2016
    2
    The game is misrepresented. The game is a Casual Discovery Game with elements of inventory management survival.
    If you are looking for a chilled experience that isn't particularly challenging then it might be for you.
    I bought it for multiplayer.... of which it has none BUT it was listed as a feature. It's disappointing as it was the most hyped game of 2016 & the game has no flavour or    The game is misrepresented. The game is a Casual Discovery Game with elements of inventory management survival.
    If you are looking for a chilled experience that isn't particularly challenging then it might be for you.
    I bought it for multiplayer.... of which it has none BUT it was listed as a feature.
    It's disappointing as it was the most hyped game of 2016 & the game has no flavour or depth... it's like a chilli with no spice or heat... just boiled mince meat.... I'd pair the game with a couple of bottles of cheap red so you can get drunk quickly and forget it is a bit crappy.    … Expand
  22. Typichi_Gamer
    Nov 27, 2016
    2
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Перед игрой:Наконец-то! Теперь я могу провести время не зря! Ща будет круто.
    4 часа спустя:...Боже,как же скучно....*храп*.

    Нет,серьезно,это уже не смешно.
    Иногда,когда я хочу поиграть в игру,я сначала качаю пиратку. А только потом уже покупаю. Данная игра разачаровала меня.
    Но дабы вы не кидались на меня,сначала скажу плюсы:
    -Музыка. Да да,здесь музыка довольная приятная и релаксирующая.
    -Открытый мир. Он огромный. Но делать там особо нечего. Разве что полетать.
    -Графика. Ну хоть здесь не наврали-графон радует глаз.
    Иииии плюсы кончились. Теперь минусы.
    -Геймплей. Помните Шона Мюррея? Ага,того самого мажора,который наживается на ожиданиях фанатов. Где уникальность планет? Где умные NPC? Где "ЗРЕЛИЩНЫЕ" космечиские сражения? ГДЕ ЭТО ВСЁ? А? ГДЕ?!
    Сам же ГЕЙплей ужасно скучен. Нет разнообразия,нет нормальной системы выживания,нет ничего. Это просто тупая бродилка по одинаковым планетам. И ВСЁ.
    -Цена. Окей,сейчас цена данной игры 1200 руб или же 29$. Но это всё равно много! Я уже не говорю про её прошлою цену-2000р. 2000? ЗА ИНДИ?! ЭТО ЦЕНА НОРМАЛЬНОГО,Б***Ь,AAA ПРОЕКТА!!!! ЭТО же не AAA. А СРАНОЕ ИНДИ,КАРЛ!
    -Открытый мир. Да,я ранее говорил о нем в плюсах. Но это одновременно и минус. АБСОЛЮТНО одинаковые планеты. Единственное,что меняется,это климат. Да и то не заметно.
    -NPC. Это вообще отдельная истроия.
    Ожидание:Нужно быть начеку,ибо животные могут напасть. У них свой язык при общении друг с другом.
    Реалность:Это просто животные. ПРОСТО Е*****Е NPC,КОТОРОЕ ТОЛЬКО МЕШАЕТСЯ ПОД НОГАМИ.
    Кому вообще это может быть интересно? Правильно,НИКОМУ.

    Я могу бесконечно перечислять минусы игры,но на это шел бы не один обзор.
    И всё из-за Шона Мюррея. Награда "Врун года" перечисляется ему.
    ---------------Итог----------------
    Абсолютно сырая,недоделанная игра с скучным геймплеем. А ведь у игры был бы потенциал. Но,как обычно,все катится к чертям.

    2/10.

    GG,Hello Games.    … Expand
  23. Kanonymous
    Mar 17, 2017
    2
    A concept manipulated in a mediocre way, giving a result a videogame without heart, without entity, and with a disastrous performance.
    The latest updates give the video game a bit of variety and challenge, but it's still a poor product.
  24. Subidubi
    Oct 23, 2021
    2
    I tried it in Xbox game pass, so I did not actually bought this game. After all these years I hoped something good, as my friends are enjoying it, and I read the Steam reviews.

    My first impressions were.. Yet another minecraft, which was somewhat expected. I heard that visuals have been improved lately. Whaaaat? The game models look like random free unity asset store items. (Animals    I tried it in Xbox game pass, so I did not actually bought this game. After all these years I hoped something good, as my friends are enjoying it, and I read the Steam reviews.

    My first impressions were.. Yet another minecraft, which was somewhat expected.

    I heard that visuals have been improved lately. Whaaaat? The game models look like random free unity asset store items. (Animals are the worst)

    The sound design I liked, but I missed voice acting from a title that famous.

    The game is poorly optimised. I have a pretty good, new rig, and I have micro stutters the whole time I am playing.

    As for the UI/UX? Oh my.. That was one of the main issue for me, and it is why I just unistalled it after 1 hour. Even with the help of the tutorial I was lost in the interface. Maybe the problem is with me, but I felt frustrated the whole time I was playing, because of it.

    The other main reason why I just quit/uninstalled it so soon was that I just didn't care about the whole setup. Usually I like space themed games.. Maybe that is an understatement. I LOVE most of them. However with this one I just couldn't connect, and didn't find any fun playing it. I felt all task a chore. Go there, mine that, create that. I can't explain, cause a lot of game has this kind of objectives, and deliver fun moments. However for me, not this one.

    I don't want to write about how misleading was the marketing 5 years ago. That is the past, I don't care about that.    … Expand
  25. Seibik_corp2018
    Nov 8, 2019
    2
    A game that killed all expectations! Horrible optimization, bad plot. Few opportunities.
  26. allquixotic
    Aug 14, 2016
    1
    I didn't have any technical or performance problems when playing the game, on my extremely high-end gaming rig. That's about the only positive thing I can say about this game. It's basically a mining simulator. Also, the multiplayer fiasco is foremost in my mind as one of several lies that the developers told during the development of this game. I understand that priorities can change overI didn't have any technical or performance problems when playing the game, on my extremely high-end gaming rig. That's about the only positive thing I can say about this game. It's basically a mining simulator. Also, the multiplayer fiasco is foremost in my mind as one of several lies that the developers told during the development of this game. I understand that priorities can change over time, but "highly unlikely" and "not even implemented" are two different things. This developer has also filed DMCA claims against legitimate media sources covering the game on Youtube, even if they never leaked any content or linked to any leaked content. I have seen so much bad behavior from this developer, and this game is so underwhelming, that I can't bear to give it more than a 1 for effort.… Expand
  27. ParGellen
    Oct 6, 2016
    1
    I can sum up how bad this game is with this. It's as bad as X Rebirth and the companies that made both games act in equally criminal manners. False advertising all around.
  28. MrCatgirl
    Aug 22, 2016
    1
    The only thing that's ground-breaking about this game is that it's the very first time I've had the desire and motivation to try out the Steam Refund process. Which, unlike this pile of fei-oo, I would rate at 10/10. Thank you, Sean Murray, for this amazing opportunity.
  29. Zbox
    Aug 20, 2016
    1
    Another case of false advertising, overhyped and a huge mess of a game. makes sense all the vague information, such paranoid evasive behaviour from hello games. and lying over the years to keep feeding the hype and con people into pre-order and RED FLAG when they consored and started witch-hunt against streams..... you should know something was very very wrong....... they want people toAnother case of false advertising, overhyped and a huge mess of a game. makes sense all the vague information, such paranoid evasive behaviour from hello games. and lying over the years to keep feeding the hype and con people into pre-order and RED FLAG when they consored and started witch-hunt against streams..... you should know something was very very wrong....... they want people to fall for it, they successed, BIG TIME. and NO being indie dev doesn't give you a free pass on BS. Rent or buy in sale for 75% off, than laugh hard at how payed 60$ or more xD… Expand
  30. RobertoMoir
    Aug 19, 2016
    1
    If you want a fairly chilled experience, minecraft in space, except with very little to mine and very little to build with what you've mined, then maybe its ok. I can see how others might enjoy the pure exploration aspect of the game, but it promised so much more that simply isn't there.

    Frankly this game is a huge exercise in "bait and switch" marketing. Right up until release there    If you want a fairly chilled experience, minecraft in space, except with very little to mine and very little to build with what you've mined, then maybe its ok. I can see how others might enjoy the pure exploration aspect of the game, but it promised so much more that simply isn't there.

    Frankly this game is a huge exercise in "bait and switch" marketing. Right up until release there were lots of features being talked about for the game that simply are not there and all I feel is a resounding sense of disappointment in this game.

    At the time I write this, there are videos on the steam page for this game that I based my purchase decision on, which turn out to be demo content that was ripped from the game prior to release.

    Part of the problem here of course is that the games industry journos were all taken in by NMS bait and switch tactics just the same as us, and not many of them have the stones to say "Actually that game we've been putting on the cover for months and whipping you all up into a frenzy over is actually only a 5/10 at best"    … 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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