How is No Man's Sky in 2023?

Jumping the comet

Is there ever a game that had a rough go of things quite as badly as No Man's Sky did? Essentially an indie-level project of unimaginable ambition and scope compared to what Hello Games were working with before, by anyone's reckoning as a game developer the minds behind NMS were insane, if driven by a fire rare within the industry. But alas it was that very fire which ended up heating the very waters they were placed within, because by drawing the attention of Sony, catching the eyes and hearts of the public and placing their happy-faced game director in front of interviews; they opened up their own can of worms. No Man's Sky was a game that wanted to mystify the art of ceaseless adventure for adventure's sake, but in making that they also wanted to be a survival game, with base building and online multiplayer and derelict ships and combat, you've got to have combat, and all these systems that weighed down the final product.

The No Man's Sky which released on it's chosen day was not an awful product by any stretch of the imagination, it was still ambitious and incredible beyond natural belief; but it wasn't what it sold itself as and couldn't nail the many other talents it tried it's hand at. Kind of like with Cyberpunk 2077. The Survival elements felt tedious, (Although I'd argue that Survival elements in games always do and I defy you to name a well balanced survival system in a game built to primarily offer such an experience.) the universal simulation felt hollow and bare bones, the world lacked the variety and lushness promised, online multiplayer was a bit of a bold faced lie and the combat was largely terrible. The ship-to-ship dogfighting was serviceable, but on the ground action? Just lay me down and kill me, god forbid.

In the many years since No Man's Sky become the sole devotion of Hello Games to try and create the product they always wanted to game to be, and in the eyes of the public it has completed a rehabilitation tour and come out clean on the other side. But such is the opinion of those that don't really play the game, but stop in during significant content release windows to dip their toes in the water, taste the temperature, then leave to talk about it. I, on the otherhand, have something of a thing for boundless and pointless Space Sim games. For a year or so Elite Dangerous deep space trucking was my daily night-time routine. (I may bring that back; that was so relaxing.) I played No Man's Sky; with a capital P. Not as religiously as it's devoted fanbase who never leave the game behind for more than a week, but enough to know what I'm talking about when I critique it's improvements with the base product. 

I can see the changes and improvements, but also the expansions and reconfigurations; as I observe a game slowly edging its way of modern Minecraft; with systems piled atop systems of varying complex degrees that start to grate on the intuitive beauty of the base product. Yes, I think there's a sense of beauty to base No Man's Sky. It's simplicity, it's doggedness, that singular philosophical stance the game will beat you over the head with using so many unendingly abstract microcosms laced with faux intellectualism that you'll actually start doubting the rather obvious narrative deductions you'll have reached within the first five minutes. For clarities sake let me tell you what the game pains to not to: Yes, the game's universe is a simulation- no sense interpreting five years of spoon-fed sci-fi techno-jargon just to reach that limp summation.

Let me start by saying that after all this time, with all it's updates, some of which is specifically geared to address this singular aspect: No Man's Sky's combat still blow chunks. It's awful. A sad game of recoil-free attacks lacking weight on impact on the same small group of enemies that don't know how to do anything other than charge and fire/slash. The first person camera is just fiddly enough to make enemy tracking a pain, any hint of damage types or weakpoints is so minimal it might as well not even exist, and at this point I'm seriously wandering if the game would be better served without combat altogether. All it exists to do is to give threat to the annoying guardian's who relentlessly dogpile on anyone who picks up the wrong valuable resource.  Enemies come again and again, kill them and more enemies spawn in response to you causing trouble, run from them and hope you have a spare half an hour because that's how long it'll take aggro to wear off, go to space and the bloody space guardians take over- it's just a sucky experience.

The base building has come a long way though, with guests that you can build facilities for and a whole power generator balance system they threw in a few years back to totally break every existing base in the same moment. (I've literally never returned back to my first base. The work it would take to get it running would be horrendous.) But as with everything that NMS covets, there's this aura of enigmatic distant navel gazing that prohibits any genuine connection these snippets of comradery might provide. You get a crew, but their personality is so muted and wrapped in layers of obtuse half-answers to half-questions; and the rewards for actually engaging with them isn't really all that worth it either. I much prefer the Flagship system.

The giant Flagships have been fleshed out here and there and how they exist today is probably the best iteration we're likely to receive. Space fortresses carrying our fleet of personal star ships, with enough room to house all the crafting stations you could want, and a little space for building if you want to go decorating crazy too. Unfortunately it's really the resource collecting heart of the game which befouls even this for me. Having to keep the ship refuelled and ensuring the fleet are fuelled and keeping them repaired and managing the missions you send them on- it's all a micromanagement hell in a game that runs best as a experience piece adventure title you turn your brain off for. When I have to keep collecting just so I can keep exploring, it starts to feel a little like a chore to engage with. I fear that update after update as No Man's Sky broadens it's activities without refining it's scope, the basic heart of what the artists wanted to initially evoke is going to fade more and more into nothingness.

People will tell you have No Man's Sky is currently the finished product the game should have release as, I think it's more rough than it ever was for sheer lack of artistic cohesion the game seems to afflict itself with. Every few months the game offers 'expeditions' which essentially serves as 'Seasons' would for a Diablo game. A fresh start with a unique narrative experience and some goodies you can take back to the rest of your saves. Honestly this is really the way to play the game and preserve it's original heart, because when you retreat back to the full free game that NMS is ostensibly built around, the weight of the piling systems crush all the fun of consequence free journeying from your heart. Perhaps that's just the inevitable end result of all games that make it big, simplicity spurned in favour of ceaseless stuff lacking that passion which made the original shine to start with. I wish I could love No Man's Sky, how it started and where it is; but I don't even recognise the game I sit down to play anymore, aside from in it's lingering flaws. Guess my relaxing space game is going to have to continue to be Elite Dangerous until September rolls around.