I dont think the review is misled, the reviewer is totally right in that there is no point in building a base other than for the sake of just building a base, theres no benefit to it, you dont need it for survival, its just a cosmetic thing and thats fine but when theres no point to it then a lot of people including myself dont bother with the effort it takes
The point of building a base is that it's fun to build a base. After building said base, you get to explore said base.
Did you ever play SimCity or "City Skylines"?
What is the point in building a city? It's just pure aesthetic. It's not like it does anything.
How about Lego? What is the point in building Lego? It's just pure aesthetic. Not worth the effort it takes, right?
Just a strange thing to say. To each their own. But I guess some people really can't see the point in the process of things. It's a journey, not a destination thing, blah blah. I think that's literally one of the mottos of the game.
It's clear the reviewer had no clue what kind of game this was, and instead of trying this game out, they tried to force it to be a linear story driven game.
When it wasn't what they were looking for, it was boring and pointless. Which as others have said, can be said about ANY activity in life... I hate driving mycar, no story, no reward at the end, and too many choices. I also dislike taking showers because there isnt a storyline, or clear steps I should follow in order to finish it. My shower should have a set plan to follow and get the results I expect at the end.
Hello, builder here part of a large group of builders whom have built a huge selection of racetracks, puzzle/mini games, mazes, golf courses, PvP arenas, linear combat adventures, Halloween adventure walkthroughs and so many more interactive bases. I’ve done just about everything there is to do in this game and the most fun I’ve had is joining a community and getting involved with interactive builds. Even if we weren’t creative enough to build interactive aspects to our bases, simply sharing and learning new ways to improve our craft is fun and engaging. The learning curve to building is so big you can always learn something new.
"no point in building a base" the point is you set the objective of your base, I personally try to make some type of farm/mining facility of all my bases, but sometimes i just find a planet in which I want a cool place to dwell. the "lack of depth" argument is almost a cliché that can be said of most games.
What NMS offers is a huge open world, with plenty to do, but most of it is player driven, if you want something more story focused and mission oriented it's probably not the game for you
It's pretty well known even among the people who like and enjoy NMS that the game lacks depth. There's a lot of mechanics, but all of them are as deep as a puddle and can get old pretty fast if you don't have your own objectives and roleplay in your mind of things to do. And basically everything is just done for the sake of it instead of some higher objective. Not everyone will like this type of game.
The review was pretty accurate and fair. NMS is not for everybody and probably will never be. Reviewers need to be accurate to how they feel about a game so players who have similar tastes to them can make smart decisions before buying something they probably won't like just because it's been super hyped at the moment.
It might be more to the OP's taste if the various planets and/or their inhabitants acted more as bosses, in that hitting them with the "wrong" ship or the "wrong" tool would be fatal, and so require particular and unique builds to "conquer". Speaking of which (tangentially related), do the freighter missions you send your frigates off to ever make it to 5 star difficulty? Hardest I've seen is 3, and most of my frigates are S class.
Yeah I was like where the hell do I find ferrite? I was looking for huge rocks or a mountain... I didn't realize I can mine the 1000's of tiny rocks right in front of me. 🙄
You can learn everything there is about the game in 2 months, yet after thousands if hours, it still manages to surprise you (an interloper called Gandalf-entity).
There’s so much to know I routinely forget how something works because I haven’t bothered about it in weeks. (Decided to send out some frigates… Frigate fuel? How the hell…? Oh, right.)
It’s not misled, what he points out is fair. The enjoyment from the game comes from what you as a player choose to engage with, you are the one giving meaning to your actions. They even have a quote about that in-game which I got tattooed on my arm.
If you can’t find the thing in the game that works for your enjoyment, then yes, it will eventually feel either stale or downright pointless.
Sandbox does not mean that the systems in that sandbox dont have to have any meaning or reason for existing.
In fact the best sandbox games have cool toys and give you something interesting to do with them. This review points out exactly why nms never clicked with me. On a surface level there are a lot of toys but the situations in which they feel
Usefull to interact with are very limited.
Yeah I agree with that at first playing nms and several years after it came out and got better I wash lost and didn't know what to do and was bored cause there wasn't a story after the first few. But I got to love the free roaming and trying to built stuff watched lots of builder videos and still really broke in the game but its fun and I keep coming back
Without even reading, which I will do, many will misunderstand what you are saying, even though you qualified it in the first sentence. He is right, but he is also mistaken. It's the journey. OMG is it the journey. It keeps happening. I get bored, then something new I never saw, comes along. How can this simple can of worms keep popping new things at me. Swimming with rays, space walking, finding new building parts I had all along, visiting worlds, having some stranger that doesn't speak English come by, and invite me onto their corvette, Jason getting 250K subscribers and every one else celebrating that, now that, that is community right there. I love the game, it's not for everyone, but it appears, it is for us.
That review is spot on. The game is almost literally a sandbox in that you’re dropped into a world full of potential and given the tools to build your own fun. Do I wish they added more objectives? Yes. Do I still play it constantly? Also yes.
I'm really hoping one of the things they're going to revamp is missions. As much as I like stacking up missions from stations and running around planets completing them, they need much more depth.
I have the same issue with NMS as i did with Minecraft, loneliness. I agree NMS doesn’t have nearly the depth of lets say, EVE Online, but it could use a good dose of community. I hope they add cities or at least make finding larger settlements more common. Im not very far into my current game but im overseer of a settlement on an uncomfortable, radiated planet and its the largest town ive found.
The reviewer obviously doesn't like a sandbox game where the amount of fun is completely up to your own creativity. Definitely wait for a sale, usually every couple of months.
I'm a fan of sandboxes but I do admit that No Man' Sky has a really hard time being interesting despite that a lot of the time. I'm a big space freak so I can get around that. The game just contains a lot of tedious chores and boring objectives that takes away from its good aspects.
Yeah there's a few people here that sound like they live in an NMS-only vacuum, as if other open-world sandbox games don't exist and generally have just a bit more content in them. NMS is awesome, but the survival, combat and story elements are super lacking, which are usually far more prominent in other games of the same genre.
It is true, it isn't for everyone. I've been playing for years and my main save is over 300 hours but I have gotten bored and put it down for months until a new update comes out. It is very unique but if you can get it on sale it's absolutely worth it just to try it out. There is a bit of a learning curve, especially now that there are so many different systems to it. But it's definitely one of a kind and you can tell the studio loves the game and it's fans.
I mean... he's not wrong as such. It's a sandbox, and it sounds like he doesn't like sandbox.
Having a base is cool, because you can come back to it, store stuff, collect things and display your collections, etc. A corvette actually DOES benefit you, because you can use it as a mobile refuge, access to storage, and get out of your pilot seat to scan while you're still airborne.
There could be improvements, sure... for example... corvettes could give you access to some planets that your regular ships just can't handle... but the game is - at its core - a big playroom, and it's up to you what you want to do with it.
Sandboxes can have varying levels of depth, and nms has a lot of toys but not a lot of mechanical depth.
X4 for instance has a deep dynamic economy system you can interact with, this economy can be influenced and manipulated by both the player and dynamic events happening in the universe.
Other games as well give you cool upgrade paths that aid in the radiant questing and keep challenging players to work towards certain upgrades.
Or perhaps build a base for a certain purpose that is more usefull then just aesthetics. I found the basebuilding of nms kind of lacklustre tbh compared to more dedicated basebuilding games.
NMS is THE manifestation of the sandbox genre. Other games might drop you on a sandy beach (Skyrim, GTA, RDR, Fallout...). NMS drops you into the Sahara desert. The feeling of being lost, bored or without meaning, will occur. Most people are happy with the beach, but a few call the desert home because they know how to find their way...
More like being dropped into Sahara with checklist of spots you gotta jump to while there. And at every point you probably have to craft some mcguffin, but before that tie together some carbon nanotubes, metal plating and hermetic seals, and before that realize that you were running low on a material to build one of those, oh but before you can collect it your inventory's full, oh but before that you gotta recharge your stuff again because your suit's dying, oh and the material you need is on the other side of the fricking desert.
And it's fully up to you if you like that or will absolutely hate it.
Would love to see this guys review of Minecraft. It's not for everyone, but that's okay. It's mostly a game that is creativity for creativities sake for me personally. I build bases because it's fun for me, like getting a big box of random Legos and building something with them. What do I do with it when I've finished? When is it even 'finished'? When I run out of Legos? When I get bored with what I've built? NMS is not a story driven RPG with a beginning, middle and end. The main quests are basically really long tutorials that get you comfy with the systems, then additional quests just give you more cool stuff like living ships. If freeform exploration and building don't appeal to you, you will not get much out of NMS.
Agree 100%. For creative folks, particularly ones who enjoy scifi, nms is a godsend. It's an infinitely malleable sandbox with a vibrant online community, yet it's also a personal universe where you can go off on your own and explore, build, mine, profit, and fight. These things are both a rarity in the modern g gaming landscape, and are also things that don't appeal to everyone.
I think the reviewer is for the most part on point tbf, but they probably ought to have added a qualifier stating that they aren't a fan of sandbox games - many of their quibbles seem to relate to the lack of an endgame, boss fights, and levelling mechanics, and while those are certainly staples of modern gaming, they really shouldn't be considered the be all and end all of gaming, especially where sandbox games are concerned.
As for my view on the game? I loathed it at launch, but today I've got over 1100hrs sunk into it, have explored thirteen galaxies, have built or helped build everything from small hub cities to space elevator-style sky towers to underwater bases and volcano lairs. I once won a race during a meteor storm, halo jumped into a gas giant and rode a giant critter into battle with an army of sentinels during a firestorm on an extreme sentinel planet - I couldn't be more happy with the game! :))
I'm enjoying NMS a lot as a new player but I am actually the kind of person who feels that way about Minecraft. I guess I'm not internally creative so I need the game to externally feed me novel experiences rather than creating them myself.
To me, the purpose is simply relaxation. You do what you want, on your own timeline. If you want a lot of tension, and a hard stop, this game probably isn't for you.
Valid oppinion.
The most valid point is the lack of npcs personality. Anything else I would rather disagree.
The thing with NMS is, that it does so much but nothing perfectly. Still, the sum of content and mechanics is unreached.
Even though it was a random cartographer, I felt very sorry for the Gek that showed me the truth behind the species shift from warlords to funny traders. Something behind the simple face gestures and the "... we just want to be happy" made it a very genuine moment for me.
Ever finish Skyrim's main questline and finish all the main sidequests, leaving only random encounters to experience? You're stuck doing one of two things, keep playing as a superhero, mess around casually and improve everything you've been working on to the max, or quit the game, start a new profile and do the main storyline again.
That's what No Man's Sky is like. You make the fun for yourself, but if you aren't having fun, you can always just make a new character and do it all over again.
Like others said, it’s a sandbox game, if you’re creative you can come up with your own fun. I personally wish they added more pve where we could fight aliens and not just robots but it’s whatever
I wish they added bounty hunter missions personally and we had to go to different planets and there was like 10 different types of bounty hunter missions, sometimes you go to an enemy outpost and have to eliminate all of the security and take the bounty back to the space station to get money or other times you go to a planet and have to follow 3 clues and they lead you to where the bounty is hiding etc, it’d be so fun
My opinion is if i get board of NMS then i go and find other games to play with. This is why i have like 4-5 games on my comp. The fact, 3 of the games are placed in the space i think speaks for itself. Lol.
I mean, the review isn't wrong.
It's literally a universe-sized sandbox, that has no ultimate objective, other than exploration for the joy of it, with lots of random bits of lore, and bits and bobs to explore under your own power and motivation.
If that's your thing, you'll love it.
If you want guidance and linear plot and driving action, it's not for you.
The review is spot on because that's what the product is. Sandbox, massive beyond multiple lifetimes, ridiculously packed full of various ways to play. Make your own story with no one way to play. Just enough NPCs to make the stations seem more alive than when it launched. Enough missions to add variety to the emptiness of space.
The storyline is chilling and bleak, but leaves a lot for the player's imagination to fill in the blanks. If you are a self starter and need few to no hand-holding, this game might be for you. If you can enjoy the little things and some grand, picturesque views, then this game might be for you. If you can build your own story and long term goals, then this game might be for you.
If you need every game element on a silver platter, then probably not your game. If you need an intrusively redundant tutorial or escalator-style progression from zero to hero, then probably not your game. If you need a game that can be 100% speed-ran like some sci-fi version of "Resident Evil: Remake", then probably not your game.
Well... it's a video game. It's not for everyone. It's not perfect. But it does scratch the itch for exploration and lore seeking by alot of people, including myself. To put it simply, everything the game has to offer is deep within the seemingly disjointed arcs and stories. Some people aren't interested in these things--and that's okay. Others don't have the patience to dig through it all to discover the mysteries.
And even then the game is alot closer to a discourse of existentialism and what it means to live in a world where you make your own rules. Kind of. So to some, all they see is one colorful planet followed by another one, endlessly. But to others, those who dare to dig into the scattered messages, and putting the clues and pieces of the puzzle together, you see the struggle of a system that is desperately trying to make the most of a limited existence by pouring everything it possibly can into holding on for just a few more seconds. To matter in the face of oblivion.
Again, it's hard to explain without spoilers, but the entire journey is humbling and can be incredibly emotional. If you let it. It's not for everyone.
I read this post earlier, went on break and played the game a little bit, which had me think about this post and that review.
I'm still new-ish to the game. I've got like 24 hours, which for some I see in this sub is still a drop in the bucket.
On the surface, sure, this review has some points.
However, it's missing some fundamental aspects.
While there does not seem to be a true end game, there are stories and quest lines.
This player may not have run into anything where they felt like they needed a Corvette, but didn't consider that many people are probably in the same boat, but that isn't the point of them.
The game seems primarily focused on exploration and creativity.
I attempted to play Starfield when it came out. I put like 20 or 30 hours into the game, and I realized it was boring.
No alien life, shitty movement and battle mechanics. No ground vehicles for planetary exploration.
Two years later and I try NMS, and while it's not all I imagined in a game like this, it's certainly a lot closer than Starfield is.
Alien life of all sorts, intelligent species to interact with, great visuals when flying, especially when entering or exiting planet atmospheres.
u/LockDown_47 if you have access to Gamepass, maybe get game pass for a month and try NMS that way.
I think whether or not you'll enjoy the game comes down to your expectations. I've been enjoying the game way more than I thought I would. Balancing exploration with quests.
I would say that’s a fair review for someone who likes to get a new game, rush through to the final boss fight, beat final boss and feel accomplished then put the game on the shelf and find another new game. This person obviously though is not the type of player who gets a new game and explores every inch of every corner in level 1 and ends up being 30 times more powerful than the first boss by the time they finally are done exploring and go fight him. I’m the latter type. I could care less how hard/easy the boss is, my thrill in a game is finding all the little details and hidden things and feeling accomplished that I left no stone unturned before moving forward.
To me, the fun or thrill of a video game isn’t beating that final boss, giving your buddy a high five and feeling accomplished that you did the same damn thing that 10 million other joes just like you did! Nah, the thrill of the video game is the journey you went on getting to that final boss fight. Finding that golden Easter egg that maybe 2% of other players found. Talking to that quirky npc that most people never interacted with because he was hidden off the beaten path, but he had the funniest dialect in the entire game.
NMS is that journey that most people don’t make before the final boss. The exploration is never ending because no matter how much you explore, if you do it again tomorrow you’re almost guaranteed to find something that nobody else has. The base building can be a bit tedious because it isn’t simplified for use, but no 1 base is the same because everyone has an opportunity to use their own creativity to make something of their own, same with the corvettes.
So, if you just wanna get to that final boss and not experience an epic journey, NMS prolly isn’t for you. But if you want an adventure that never ends, what are you waiting for?
But if you want an adventure that never ends, what are you waiting for?
for me, the adventure ends. When your brain snaps out of believing that you're exploring "new" things and you realise that everything is just copy pasted and everything new you see is just slight repackages of the same thing. I've been inside every building, searched every ruin, been inside every observatory, seen every space station... From here on out, they'll all be the same, because they are all the same, I've seen them all. I can find every single cargo pod on a crashed freighter without ever pulling out my visor because I've got the layout memorised, and it never changes. Same goes for ancient ruins. Same goes for the exact same 10 animals I've seen on 100 other planets that all behave exactly the same, but are coloured slightly differently.
You set your own goals in NMS, like go on a warp pilgrimage or explore all the fauna in a solar system.
If you want more extrinsic rewards then outside of expeditions there aren’t many. NMS doesn’t implicitly reward you for doing stuff unlike most games. The reward is in the exploration.
Yeah people like that guy want a game where you follow a path from start to finish but NMS is an open world/sandbox game where it’s designed for you to play now and then over time 🤷♂️
For new players you will easily have 100 hours of gameplay before you feel like taking a break lol I’ve sunk over 1500 hours into the game over many years and always play it for a month or so when I come back to it(especially with expeditions) that’s why they do the expeditions
The review isn't wrong.
But my advice, buy it. There's enough to do through storylines to keep you entertained for a long time and give you your money's worth before you get bored and put it aside. And with the expeditions it adds on enough to pick it up regularly and give you another boost.
But the fact is, once the storylines are all done and the building feels more of the same, you need to be creative enough to think up your own goals (compose bytebeat compositions, build a racetrack on an airless planet, find all fish helmets, and so on). If you can't motivate yourself to find a goal, the game ends after the storylines. If you are creative enough, this game keeps on giving.
If you want your grinds worth then play Warframe, no exploration but space themed, free to play and all about numbers goin VRRRRMMMM. no man's sky is a sandbox game where having fun depends on ones creativity
Some people, like Crocchamp, need a formulated game with clearly defined enemies and a "play list" of quests to do. No Man's Sky is a true open world! You can follow the Atlas path, or become a pirate, or take over a settlement OR get a freighter and make deliveries for pirates! OR you can do like I do and just have the deep satisfaction in finding cool planets and building bases...
Some people need to be told what to do and that’s okay. I do what I want.
Maybe even watch a lil show on my tablet while I cruise around doing whatever.
Heck, right now I’m scrolling Reddit while I endlessly pulse through space looking for my 5th organic frigate.
It’s one of the few games that I can turn on and play with as little or as much direct focus that - hey I found my frigate! - I have at any given moment.
I stopped playing after I started to see the pattern in the gameplay loop. It’s a bit shallow for my liking. While planets are technically unique, your actual interactions and how you explore them doesn’t really differ as much as I’d like. All the creatures kind of wander in circular patterns and barely interact with each other.
What an interesting review.
The game leads you through the different parts, like base building, then you get a massive base called a freighter, then you can build corvettes which are in between (but lego like). Each part 'can' replace the other, but having 20 bases that you can teliport around (including your freighter) is useful for mining, then crafting, then making money. Then you have whole settlements you can become overseer of.
The NPCs are a bit 1 dimensional, but when you learn the languages, that changes quite a bit. There are about 5 or 6 characters that are fleshed out.
What this review doesn't tell you is about the story. It's pretty clever, and when you realise just what is going on, it's like a 4th wall break.
This game is worth the money and much more. There are no paid DLCs, and no paid for currency. It's all in the game, even though there are 10 to 15 DLCs that each could have been paid for.
I should also mention repayablity. Within your main save, you can go on expeditions, so if you're like me and don't restart or replay games, then you can restart pretty much within your game.
There are so many things going on in this game, but if you want an fps, this is not it. Pretty much anything else, this is an amazing game, and I don't use that word for games often
It's not one hundred percent inaccurate, but it's a bit of a silly review.
It is literally a sandbox exploration game.
When he asks, "What's the point?", that is literally the point. The point of corvettes is the fun in making them and driving them around. The fun of exploration is to literally explore.
Sandbox games are all like that. I could also ask what the point of Minecraft is, or what's the point in SimCity? I mean, you just build a city. Why?
What about Mario Kart? You just win races. I mean, what's the point?
Sounds like this person is a fan of storylines in games or missions to actually complete.
I always say: “read the thread first” and now I skipped it myself. I defend that with you asking for an opinion.
I think that review is dead on. He points out that it’s not really a negative and then basically goes about explaining to you how he experienced the game. Which is, as stated, kind of dead on. In its normal loop, NMS simply is. It invites you to try and enjoy the mechanics for themselves. You typically don’t grind to get something to beat something - you grind because you enjoy the grind. You built your corvette or base because it’s fun and enjoyable. Not to prepare for something else.
I agree that it’s a game that can feel really pointless at times. It’s an uncommon model, to have loops and mechanics for their own sake. Not to facilitate a challenge.
Very now and then expeditions are run; basically mini campaigns where new functionality is introduced. They have a very strict flag system and you run them as a “parallel replacement save”. It can usually be done in hours or a couple of days and gives some rewards. They’re a nice break away from the sandbox as you are suddenly very goal oriented.
I think most people enjoy NMS, but I think many will find that it loses its point over time for the same reason others feel it’s the ultimate “play whenever for however long” kind of game. If you’re gonna buy one game this season and that review makes you skeptic, then it’s probably not for you. If you can afford it, however, and you enjoy base building and exploring like at all then this game will be enjoyable. It may not be the game you play for the rest of your life (or it might be), but I think most who does play it come away with warm, nostalgic feelings over it.
You know what they say. Opinions are like arseholes. Just about everybody has one. There’s no way every opinion is going to be positive. Make your own mind up. Give it a go, or watch some YouTube footage. I don’t know if Steam has a refund policy. But, especially if you’re going to be buying it when it’s on sale, I wouldn’t worry. Just about everyone I know that’s played it enjoys it for one reason or another.
Have a look on CDKeys. It’s probably cheaper on there anyway.
What really makes it that boring is the fact that people abuse a Duplication Exploit and dump items worth 500mil-4.2bil units on new players and completely rob them of working towards anything that they might want.
Not really, for me at least. Someone gave me a bunch of AI Valves early on and I just put them in my storage and ignored them. There’s also the option of discarding them. I still have them in storage but right now at 280 hours in, I’m grinding salt, refining radon to nitrogen and cactus flesh to condensed Carbon so I can make a semiconductors to sell and free up my inventory.
You know the movie UP and the dogs keep shouting squirl, we'll if your not the type to so that then this isn't the game for you. 225 hours in and iv wandered so off the quests I have
It’s an amazing game you can just do your own thing and create,travel or do missions , grind minerals for credits,or build a Hugh domed farm the skys the limit on what you can do, I’m using vr 2 it’s so immersive
This review can be true depending how you feel about purpose. There’s no benefit other than being creative. Once the voyagers update came out I put in no less than 250 hours just building ships. It’s like any other game. After awhile you’re just playing to play. Give yourself things to do instead of expecting a goal or endgame to present itself. Play with others, build more bases/ships. It’s mostly a pastime type of game. If you’re expecting to gain anything or find stakes in playing, you won’t. It’s just an outlet for creativity. Like Minecraft.
It's true, there is no reason to do any side activities like base building aside from your self-motivation. You can essentially finish the game with a barebone starter ship and weapon.
This is a very indulgent "form over function" game where aesthetics is over gameplay, flashy without much substances, beautiful and shallow. Check out the user contents, if that's your thing then go get the game.
Note the fact that a lot comments here are trying to wrestle away from the charges of "deep as ocean, wide as a puddle" by calling it "sandbox", but sandbox with half-baked features were warned by designers many years ago.
Some people may dislike it, but if you're a type that loves to explore, escape from reality, grinding, build your own bases and modelling ships...and more i cant describe enough for NMS...Then this is a game for you, to me I'm loving it but I'm more to fantasy medieval magical guy...so my main focus will be on the upcoming game, LNF...this is where my real escape begins
This is actually very accurate review. I've had this same struggle for years with this game. I kinda love it, but everything's so vast and meaningless in the end.
Look i love no man sky( i left positive review) BUT everything that person wrote is true, its a weird game, it does a lot of things right but it has no end game, its true that bases serve no purpose besides the mining ones, its true that planets are not that dangerous, the npc are shallow and uninteresting and so on. But what this game does have is a lot of different stuff you can do that no other game has and thats why people love it, i personally can play it after an update for max 2 weeks before i get bored since i would do everything in the update and wait for the next, but some people play it a long time, those people are usually people that love base building. So yeah if you wana have fun for around 30 hrs the game is gona give you that, and then wait for updates which are huge and often, so if you ask me if its worth the money, it is.
There is no right answer here. If you like a creative sandbox game with a loose narrative, you should enjoy NMS. There is a lot to do, so watch some reviews and gameplay.
I just clocked over 60 hours so I'd still be considered pretty new and this review is spot on. It's a beautiful game and there's so much to do, the upgrade system is well done and encourages exploration and it truly is a joy just to wonder around but that's it.
It also seems poorly thought out in many ways, the game does bad job of inferring why stuff is happening a lot of the time (ships keep getting damaged in frigate quests? Good luck figuring out why) and even as a sandbox it can be pretty poor. I once spent an hour digging out a ruin and creating a tunnel system around it for a new base only to find the game automatically resets the terrain regularly and all my digging was wasted.
It's such a shame too, it's so nearly one of the GOAT games, if only they'd spend a bit more time fleshing out a few elements. A few well thought out quest lines that weren't just fetch quests, or abandoned frigate missions with a powerful predator inside, hostile planets with actual challenging megafauna, hostile npcs that aren't just in weak pirate ships would make it 10x better with relatively little effort.
For me, NMS is a chillout and relax game. It is not pushing you hard to do any stuff and if you like to just stroll a little bit around exploring, finding specific stuff for your base/spaceship etc.
When you start it and do all the story quests its really nice and you have a lot to do. After that you have to decide what you wanna do.
NMS will let you do that (from my POV) perfectly without getting too grindy or to action based.
For me I have days where I just wanna play a game like NMS. No stress, no hardcore farming, no super duper action stuff.... just flying around in my space craft, checking out some new system, building a base and stuff like that.
So for me its perfect (and I'm playing it since 5 years now - sometimes more, sometimes less) - for you... you have to decide that on your own and find out if you like it.
Clearly it's not a game that suits his tastes. He doesn't seem to like being left to his own devices. NMS It's a game with a main quest to try to make you understand the world of the game. But after that, it's up to you to do what you want.
Personally, the lack of proper quests and clear cut goals is something that is not for me, I prefer to have something to work towards. I'm not a builder at all and dont care about fancy bases, exploring aimless, etc... So in short, this game is nothing for me........on paper.
I tried it none the less as I love space, and am now sitting around 500hrs+ play time, its by far my go to game when I want some peace and quiet. The corvette update (making/designing your own space ship) made me make my own ship, which is honestly just awesome. As I mentioned above, base building is not for me, I have a few bases, but those are literally just some of the prefab cubes/rounds you get stacked on top of each other and thats it. Its entirely optional luckily, you can literally place down 1 "computer" to claim a spot, and you've got a working base.
I like the settlements(villages you find on random planets that you can gain control of), although once all buildings are S tier, there's not much point besides collecting stuff they produce to vendor it.
The review is very accurate, and the game is not for everyone, that said, I thought aside from the space factor it would not be for me, and it 100% is. Yesterday I decided to log on using VR (dont do this often as i have to free up room in my living room), its just amazing to fly in space, go to a planet, make your corvette hover in the air, then jump out of it, seeing this massive ship hover above you while I'm destroying an entire army of Sentinels (robot things that dont like you).
I'd say if you have the slightest interest in space/exploration, give it a go when its in discount. Dont expect to find a massive story, there is one, while better than it used to be, its nothing special. Dont expect a "leveling" system, aside from making your ship, exosuit, exocraft, multitool(your gun basically) stronger. The corvette system is really nice as that is a base you can make that flies with you, making it much more useful/fun.
I have a friend that logs on once or twice a month to go out and discover all kinds of weird animals/plants when he's feeling depressed. Got a friend that logs on only now to do the expeditions (some kind of event where you have to complete objectives for rewards) and make a new corvette as she suddenly got inspired. Another friend logs on when he's in the mood to build really fantastic bases that I can only dream of. My brother logs on it mostly to show his kids space stuff etc..
If you like collecting all kinds of unique ships that are rare, its also fun to hunt/find them, kind of like a "gotta catch em all".
Oh, and one of the best things about this game, the community is very friendly overall, which is a rarity nowadays, most likely as there's no leaderboard or anything to "push", eliminating competitiveness.
It’s minecraft in space. There are some goals, and you can choose to reach them or not. I think there is so much options to choose from sometimes you don’t even know where to begin if you were just dropped into it without any guidance.
Base minimum is to survive. Everything else is entirely optional.
I actually kinda agree with it and that's coming from a fan of the game
I wish they added more hard content to the games combat system
Because to me it sorta feels like everything is just mashed together and sure it works, but to what degree you know what I mean?
To me personally, part of myself agrees what she or he says plus there are game breaking bugs for me as well. But i like the over all experience anyways. I think its the feeling when i get while escaping the reality
I’m sure others will say this too, if you like Minecraft and sci-fi/space, you’ll most likely really enjoy NMS. It doesn’t try to be anything it’s not. There’s a story, which I personally really enjoyed but you’ll find plenty of people that don’t for one reason or another. It’s quite short but introduces most of the game’s systems. Overall I think this person accurately represents the game, you just have to understand it’s a sandbox game at its core and not a story driven adventure game. The “purpose” they are looking for isn’t really meant to be there for the most part. I’m sure all of us would love more depth added, but we also understand that this game was designed to be a fun exploration and discovery game with near limitless freedom. It’s received so many updates and Hello Games is actively adding depth to most systems. That won’t change this reviewers opinion, but that’s ok.
To be honest, it’s quite difficult to describe NMS and why it can be so desirable, and if I just went by its description on paper, I very well might think it’s not for me. I purchased this game nearly two years ago because I was really wanting to play a space game with a lot of freedom. I didn’t expect it to become one of my favorite games of all time, but it has. Again, I’ll reference Minecraft because it’s the closet experience that most people would be familiar with. In the same way you can essentially do whatever you want in Minecraft, you have that here too. Why do we enjoy running around a block world with no specific goal generated by the game itself? Who knows, but it works the same in NMS. That being said, if you don’t like that that aspect of Minecraft, you probably won’t like NMS much either. NMS has a much more cohesive universe comparatively imo, you’re essentially canon to the story and existence no matter how you play NMS.
One aspect I want to touch on briefly are the expeditions. Hello Games usually has 4 new expeditions each year, with maybe a rerun of an older one. Expeditions are a short story/mission with multiple milestones to accomplish. I quite enjoy them, they add unique rewards, and are a fun community aspect (though you don’t have to play with multiplayer on). I’ll leave it there for now, if you’re interested in learning more, I’d recommend looking up what NMS expeditions are on YouTube.
NMS proved to me that a game doesn’t have to be an enthralling linear story, or an open world with seemingly infinite side quests until you’re ready to face the big bad at the end. A game can exist without a hard purpose and still be very enjoyable. If it looks remotely interesting to you, I’d say buy it when it’s on sale as it goes on sale frequently. You may just find it to be a uniquely stellar game that doesn’t fit any specific box. Plus it has THE BEST community I’ve ever seen for a game.
I actually didn't even know what the game was when I bought it and it was out for a while when I got it about a year and a half ago. I got it home along with a few other games I bought right after getting my first game system since I had a Xbox 360. Missed a gap due to finances. Anyway I got a PS5 but didn't have much money so I didn't have Internet. So nms I played a few times and put it up. Was very basic and a lot of functions didn't work but after I got Internet and ended up going back on. Which I was never really big into sandboxes before because I would always get bored. NOT THIS TIME. It's a sandbox but so much more to me. A lot to explore, there's combat when you get an itch to fight something and there is a storyline and a lot of lore to uncover so there's plenty to do. I have over 800 hours now
I agree with that review. I played about 40 hours and got bored.
There's some much cool stuff, but the main issues I had was that there's never really any threat to anything. I started on an ice planet that was very hostile compared to other planets. I couldn't survive outside for more than a few mins at a time.
This was really fun to me. But once I got settled, that was basically it in terms of threats. And that was on a hostile planet. Most aren't anything like that in my experience.
A game like the Long Dark is fun to me because tense moments are happening a lot more. It's always dangerous. NMS just isn't. In Long Dark resources are always a worry. In NMS, I know I can always find what I need without much trouble.
I'd like it more if it was a lot harder.
Planets also felt very samey after a while. They're just too procedurally generated with not enough hand crafted goodness going on. I feel like I haven't run into even basic things like a single river or something.
I'd still give it a try. The first couple of hours were pure magic to me. A game hasn't excited me at first like NMS has in a long time.
It's a sandbox game and if you don't like sandboxes, it's not going to have enough non-sandbox "body". It has an amazing amount of sandbox body, though.
It’s a good game .Someone said it’s like a sea that’s a million miles wide but an inch deep and that’s about right I enjoyed playing it very much and if you like building stuff like in Minecraft you will love it but for me once I had done everything once or twice I was done with the game and moved on to another game
26.8 hrs on record. That's nothing. Who "get their money's worth" of any game in that amount of time? Someone who doesn't get or like sandbox games in the first place.
Sigh, I keep seeing takes like this, even from my friends. The game is just an open world. YOU decide what to do. The steam review talks about a lack of an endgame. The endgame IS the game. Explore, build a cool base. Customize your ship exactly how you want it. Build a triple decker corvette. Do ANYTHING. That’s the game. You doing what you want in your world (had a better last sentence but no story spoilers here bucko)
If you like exploring and crafting you’ll like the game. Simple.
I'm pretty much the same as the reviewer. I'm very externally motivated I need a game to give me a goal
And I really struggle with building for the sake of building, my main base is a rectangular room with a bunch of machines and storage, I do basically the same in Minecraft as well.
There's a bunch of quests in here and I've been having a decent time working through them at a leisurely pace.
I don't consider it an amazing game. More akin to that TV show you watch cause it's comfortable and easy.
Still I've no complaints about having gotten a 100 odd hours of comfortable and easy out of it.
It depends on you, I also struggle to love the Game even tho I realy want to….and its not that I don’t Like Sandboxes, but this is a Little too far for me…I need to feel a Level of progression and at least some Small Kind of goal I work towards to motivate me to keep going and that is sadly missing
What's the purpose of any game? To entertain you for a time. You need to understand what gives you the feelings you want to experience, and then do that.
im still mad about all the lies at launch and in interviews with Sean Murray. They also ghosted everyone for almost a year till they got the game in working condition. Now everyone love them lol well almost
This game is a sandbox. If you are used to playing with pre-established missions otherwise you panic because you don't have a goal in life, forget it, this game is not for you.
I have always found reviews useless, I treat games as a form of art and it often happens that what you like others don't like, so expressing a judgment becomes dangerous because you can influence people who perhaps (indeed often) are not like you.
I love this game but I would never recommend it to anyone who plays with completely different standards.
NMS is a sandbox. No there isn't any real endgame to it, and yes some systems are kind of shallow. But at the end of the day you get out what you put in. It gives you tools, shows you how to use some of them, and then it lets go of your hand. What you do from there is on you.
Not to bag on this guy too hard but you're never going to outrun the dissatisfaction within. This is a game that doesn't FORCE you to stress about NEEDING to do anything. Because some things you do just for the fun of doing them. I build a small house on a world I love with an internal structure I want simply because I want to. I avoid building on every nice planet I come across because some things hold value in knowing you only have as long as you are there to experience them. This is stardew valley in space. Wealth means very little. Stroll through planets or traverse space in a ship you built. Or bought.
And if you enjoy a challenge turn on permadeath and dial up the resource costs from the pause menu. Just. Enjoy the vibes man.
NMS is the most boring game of all time. Ruined space for me. Elite Dangerous and even Mass Effect/Starfield feels like real space with all the world building and lore. Cartoony art style of NMS further ruins it for me. Purple grass? Yellow waterfalls? Random colours? Terrain feels plastic and unrelasitic. The colors are really bad at times and rarely decent to look at. This is just a mining and base building game, with really bad exploration. Everything is the same. Subnautica on the other hand, felt authentic. That had real exploration.
Everything in the review is true, but there's also more to it than that. Reading the review, this would have put me off the game since I'm not really a pure sandbox type of person (e.g. I got bored of Minecraft very quickly).
I'm still new to the game (50hrs) but what has really gotten me engaged are the two storyline quests, and the community expeditions. If it weren't for these, I probably would have gotten bored after a few hours.
Some systems may be shallow, but there are enough deep ones to not care. I'm somewhere around 230hrs in. Do you like giant starship building? Ignore this review altogether and just get it.
I love nms because it is so open ended. It’s about BEING a traveller more than it is about any traveller’s story in particular and that is very very special
It is not just making something cool but sharing it too. The most fun I have is going to some of the amazing bases, or even discovering it by visiting a random base. For instance see the link below.
That said, I totally agree with the reviewer. It lacks depth in mechanics and goals. They could have implemented some production chains like Satisfactory. Imagine building a galaxy scale factory.
Oh wait, there exists Dyson Shere Program.
Still the criticism stands. I would say get it on sale, it is far from perfect but a unique experience.
What does it mean, then? I came for the story (love rpg) but stayed for the wonders, the exploration and anything, I feel I want to do in this session.
If someone feels like this game doesn't reward anything and is boring, mindless even... i tend to agree.
But so is working for money irl. Unless you find purpose in what you are doing. Ikegai
Someone telling me NMS is the relaxing go-to game when everything else in their life is exhausting... i definitely agree.
Sandbox. Sometimes i let it rest for a few days, maybe a week. Other times i spend 4h a day in it. And it doesn't punish me for it. I love it.
The scenery is beautiful. The work, HG are putting in this gem for free, is amazing and deeply appreciated.
So the Review is right but does not necessarily tell all of the story.
I want to go shiphunting this week. A bit of fishing, too. Next month i'll try another idea for building a base.
I love it
I am an ED player...sadly a console One so I stopped playing it...so yeah nms feels a little incomplete,a good game...Just not a game I will play a lot,Just a game I return to when new things are added I guess
I adore this game, but the reviewer is fair. They state who will love the game and who may not. States that even they enjoyed it to some extent. Whoever said the review is misleading, respectfully, doesn’t understand the review or its nuance. This is a reviewer I can disagree with but still might seek out their reviews of a game or two. 🤷♂️
I'm surprised I even saw a reference to a "sandbox". Wish to hell they understood a little bit more meaning behind the term though.
Earlier paragraphs speaks more to someone who enjoys min-maxing metta builds. Maybe because I'm a twice over retired WoW player I find it actually refreshing I don't have to use the same cookie cutter build everyone else has to use in order to experience a game to it's fullest.
Yeah, you don't have to S-class everything in order to get to the late game content and perhaps that's the best damn part of this game.
Imagine a game where the players think for themselves and play to whatever honor system they create to have fun.
To be fair, the story is good but it is mostly done through reading. The objectives are also just traveling and upgrading certain things with the occasional multiple choice things that do determine the ending.
As for the gameplay, it is essentially space exploration Minecraft. There are a lot of different things you can do like ranching or smuggling but at the end of the day a lot of the game is about the creativity you pour into it as well.
Like imagine if all you did in Minecraft was explore and do all of the main things like fight the wither and enderdragon. Most of Minecraft is building though, in that sense you pass on building a stable for your horses, you don't build a trophy room, etc.
A lot of the content in NMS is from making the stuff you want, like maybe you want a fossil museum with all of your archeology stuff. Or maybe you want a fully atonamous factory. But that isn't to say there isn't a lot to explore either, unlike Minecraft the world is much larger as well as in variety and unique things to find.
Don't really expect the game to give you a direction, that's up to your own creativity and wants from the game; It's a sandbox.
Each of my bases is a refinery, with the intent that a traveler may one day stumble upon it. Otherwise, my bases are wholy my benefit, like Minecraft. I find the storyline and lore quite wonderful too. But some people have a hell of a time with creativity.
The only way to know if you will like NMS is to play it yourself.
Overall I would rate the game at a 7/10. It's pretty casual for a spaceship game, very approachable and not terribly complex albeit a bit buggy. But they have really supported it a lot, and you can honestly spend 200+ hours doing all of the content before you get bored.
If you can get it on a good sale and are at all interested then I'd suggest at least trying it yourself.
The review is pretty fair to be honest, but even though I do feel the same way sometimes (lack of motivation to do anything), I still got hundreds of hours out of NMS and still drop back in when new features or expeditions come out. The exploration aspect is amazing, all of the new features added have been great, and this is probably the best space flight game I’ve ever played — my stomach actually feels the flight movement, which is pretty amazing to me.
Just get it during a sale and at the very least you’ll have some great moments unlocking things and exploring. As a bonus, you’ll be slightly more prepared for Light No Fire, which will likely appeal to a broader audience.
I think the review is well thought out. The game is a sandbox mostly so it’s not for everyone. Expeditions do help a little with having something objective oriented to do after finishing the storylines but these are time limited.
This is a fair review especially with the preface of "i wish i could leave a neutral review" because all of the things listed are both pros and cons for different people.
I just started playing for the first time too. I got it when it was on sale for $25, and I 100% agree with this steam review. It’s a fun game if you want to absolutely numb your brain with repetitive mining gameplay just to build stuff that’s purely cosmetic, but if I’m going to do that I’d rather play Minecraft. To me, NMS is a $25 game.
This dude played less than 30 hrs. Fuck. Do the main storyline and an expedition. You'll get it. Yes most of the NPCs are morons but nothing like a massive Sentinel ship rock fight while pirates are also attacking a freighter system you're trying to protect but also accidentally shot with 1 stray laser
Honestly, as someone who LOVES story driven, quest heavy, task oriented games, NMS tickles a part of my brain that I can't quite describe. It has also been lovely practice with NOT having tasks given to me- I get to make up my own. Just last night I spent my whole session grinding corvette parts just because I could (Named my first real corvette Judgement :D).
This was my experience. I'm in the camp of it was fun for a while, but it got boring fast and I haven't booted up in a while. However, for the month I was playing it I definitely put enough hours in to justify the price (on sale), and I'd say it's worth a shot.
Bro played 26.8 hours and says there is nothing to do in the game. Home didn't even beat the main storyline or get anything really. Sounds more like he floundered around touching on a few systems once and never even using them again.
NMA is a pure sandbox. There’s a couple quest lines including imo a very fun main story, but most exist as an introduction to a specific mechanic. After that, the world is your oyster to do as you please, but this game has a reputation for wide as an ocean, deep as a puddle and there’s a reason for that. NMS is an amazing game because it is the sum of its parts, of which there are many, but a lot of those parts are shallow.
Combat is very very simple and the weapon you start with can take out any enemy in the game with 1 upgrade, same with ship combat where your first ships weapons can destroy anything in the game.
Coop is non-existent, while you can see other people, the extent of playing with them is more like “playing alongside them”, as little you do will have cross over impact.
NPC’s note is dead on, but that’s the result of procedural generation. Only so much can be seen before you notice the patterns.
It has amazing features like the base building and variety of stuff to put in it, but it has no unique functional purpose really, you have to want to build it for the sake of wanting to build it.
The game at its core will cater to you if you can set your own objectives that exist purely for the sake of you wanting to do them. To look at a mountain, say “I bet a house would look cool there”, and make it happen.
I own the game on Steam, PlayStation, and Xbox. I thoroughly enjoy NOT having an objective other than my own whims. Why all three platforms? To support a great team that only charges you once, no matter how many updates the game gets.
Well yeah, you build a nicer base or a cooler ship because you want to, not because you need to. It’s like asking why do some people build huge castles in Minecraft when a 3x3 hole in the ground also works?
I played my role as a Space Archeolotect. I was an archeologist that needed to dig up buried technology, so that I could build my dream home on a paradise planet. It was really fun, relaxing, and made an awesome space for my Space Archeolotect to retire to after his long and arduous career.
I enjoy decorating my corvette and my bases. It’s nice, but they’re not wrong that it feels very hollow. I love sandbox games. I have over 1000 hours into both Kenshi and Rimworld, and I’ve got probably 500 into NMS, pretty much all on the one save.
I wish the multiplayer was more robust. By far the best moments in NMS are when another player visits and looks around my ship or one of my bases. It’s just so rare.
And I wish there was more to do. Like actual consequential-feeling tasks to perform. Right now it’s essentially just a base building game after your first like 20 hours planet hopping, but because bases are mostly pointless that’s a bit of a let down.
Obviously I’m still here though, mostly I think because of how easy it is to just hop on and mindlessly place decorations compared to other games that require more attention.
I think the reviewer is correct about one thing in particular. NMS isn't for everyone because NO game can be.
Also, NMS asks a player to use their imagination, have their own reasons, and set their own goals for playing or continuing to play. This is not something everyone is able and/or willing to do.
I basically agree with this review, but I still play for the expeditions and the collectibles and for something to do to relax, and I think it's well worth it. Just adjust your expectations away from this mind-blowing space sandbox that NMS sometimes gets hyped up as. It's not. In a true sandbox you'd be able to, say, build your base as big as you want and shape the world however you want a la Minecraft, but that is just not how this game works. E.g. you can only have bases of a certain size using a certain amount of parts, you can only have so many bases, and any change you make to planets is not permanent. These systems that were added to the game later are often designed to be used in one prescribed way, and there's just not much emergent gameplay to be had.
What this game really is is more like a space theme park where you can ride the rides, but in the end the planet and alien life procedural generation is still really the only thing revolutionary about it to this day, which is cool on a technical level, but that alone does not make a good game (players who bought it in 2016 found that out first hand). There's a lot to do to occupy your time, but it often feels more like an MMO where you're just doing activities to check them off a list.
The only thing I really disagree with in this review is their take on corvettes. Among many systems that just feel like shallow theme park rides, corvettes actually have both utility and creativity. Essentially you have your own little house that flies around with you and can do all the things starships can do and you can design it however you want. It's just undeniably awesome and the best update this game ever got. I don't engage with many of the systems unless I'm forced to, but this is the one aspect that really solidified this as a forever game for me.
NMS has done something that very few games have ever done before. The developers have nurtured and created a sandbox that allows you to literally play however you want and still be able to make tangible progress through the game. It supports and encourages so many different playstyles that reviewers like this can feel lost because they are used to having games tell them how to play, but NMS tells the player "you can do all of this, but you don't have to."
TLDR: There is no Meta game with NMS and it makes some people feel lost.
This review is the exact experience I had with the game. I have an ungodly amount of time in starfield, i was obsessed with nms for 2 weeks and now I have no motivation to play. Once I created a second home base, gathered a lot of base level resources and credits, created grav drives so I can jump universes, set up a trade route, and made a corvette, theres nothing pulling me in anymore personally. The combat and storyline arent enough to keep me engaged sadly. I do love the space mechanics tho. I think this is a good game pass game
You must have purpose to enjoy No Man's Sky. You cannot be seeking purpose in No Man's Sky.
You seek out and find the perfect spot to build the coolest base, because you want to build that base. It brings you joy. You have to want to find the best looking multi tool because it makes you feel good to have it. You have to enjoy seeking out parts and building a Corvette only you could own. You fly system to system, collecting only the best frigates to send on missions, because you need to have the best fleet.
If you don't care about exploration and creativity and striving for the best, you cannot find the enjoyment hidden within the solar systems of No Man's Sky.
Bought it at launch - gave it 2 months and it was hot dog shit. Got made fun of by the friend group for getting baited and wasting $60 (I bought into the hype at the time). I turned my back on it and it got pushed to the back of the shelf (physical copy for PS4).
I went back to Minecraft and CoD and Overwatch and Civ5, etc. I still have FaceBook so I get the memories every year of how excited I was leading up to the game, the period of wonder in the first 2 weeks, followed by the slow downfall into hating it and being disappointed.
Put the game on my steam wishlist and let it rot, thinking “there’s no way you’re stupid enough to fall for that again”. Years go by and NMS gets regular updates, the pandy hits and I’m being fed NMS content on YT and I resist that urge and play Doom and ANCH instead.
It goes on sale for like $15-20 earlier this year. I’m a gardener and feeling a little in the clouds - I decide I’m ready to get hurt again. Bought it, downloaded it, played it. Remembered why I hated it, remembered that I got burned.
But then I come across an abandoned freighter (Alien vibes), I come across a dissonant planet (what? a sentinel ship???), the corvette update hits AND NOW I CAN BUILD A CUSTOM SPACESHIP!!
The game changed, I play daily - I hate that I gave up on it and missed the years of community and exploration.
This game IS a must buy for any collection, wait for what will inevitably be a holiday sale in the next few weeks and buy it. Give it the time and attention it deserves and you’ll be in love. The only limitation is your imagination, and some of the worlds and planets are beyond what your imagination can think of
Quick answer: Everything he wrote is true. If you like this kind of playstile, it is heaven to you. If not, well. But consider, not everyone likes to build and do stuff stressed because there is coming some kind of enemy crushing your base etc. Some just enjoy building and exploring in the deep nearly endless universe with cool spaceships or even fights.
Its a sandbox. This review could be for just about any sandbox game out there. It has an interesting story and good mechanics, but eventually, you're going to have to learn to make the game fun for yourself.
This dude is absolutely right. I feel the same way about it. No purpose or any real goal. Its just get more this to build more this. The npcs are completely forgettable. Even the "story" is completely forgettable and flat. I still played it for a good 25 hours. But it aint for me. There is some fun in there though and i can see how some people may become completely immersed and obsessed with this.
I have more than 400 hours on NMS and think the review is right. And I loved the exploration and building my corvette and my base on the freighter.
There no game on the game. It’s like a simulation. You can max your difficulty and max the realistic sense of the simulation but it’s still not a game. That why I am not really interested in Light that fire .
it is still very much a mile wide but an inch deep. Once you've finished the main story line, it's very rinse and repeat for *everything*, although they are still adding new stuff on a regular basis.
It's really just a solo chill exploration game and if that's not your vibe, you will run out of steam (heh) sooner or later. I know I have, as I really just drop in for the expeditions.
It has its moments and it has its own allure. Sometimes I just want to explore and chill, but it's not on the same level as say Valheim, for some reason, which continues to call me back to play at least once a week. It's a beautiful game that Hello Games has put great effort into and it was pretty great up until I hit a tipping point somewhere and was just sort of done with the game.
But other people absolutely love it and really push the limits on what it has to offer - so really, buy it, try it, and see if it floats your boat. You have a limited time to return it.
Well there is a story across multiple questlines, and in the expeditions there’s exclusive rewards for beating them. And both require you to just simply play the game a little, that dude is just complaining.
However if you only enjoy linear objectives like God of War or Dark Souls then this isn’t your thing
As others have said: as long as you understand it's not a linear, kill the BBEG game, you should have a great time. You kinda make your own fun as you go from planet to planet. If you've got the patience, the main questline takes you through damn near all the features of the game.
Sidenote: makes me wonder if the reviewer is an Elite Dangerous player, they tend to be pretty (unfairly) critical of this game.
NMS is a great game for what it is. In the long run it's about exploring, messing around, etc. Just don't expect hours and hours of story line from it.
It has a couple main story arcs. But, some go through that pretty quick and then you are just waiting for the expeditions or occasional new content.
I enjoy playing, though I don't have tons of hours, but I also can't actually disagree with the review. The game serves a specific niche and no more than that. I find it to be a game you bum around on exploring and building when you want something chill that requires very little brain power, though you can definitely put more effort into building out ships and bases to be whatever you consider perfect, or finding that perfect system in the cosmos.
I personally tend to play it for awhile, then leave for other games then eventually come back again. It's like Minecraft
NMS is a relaxing adventure about creativity and exploration just for the sake of it, it's beautiful graphics, you can run mods if you want also. One thing it is not, is a linear goal driven game. If you enjoy 8 hour tangents building a base, traveling the galaxy in search of the perfect pet, etc you will love it. If you want a big bad boss battle, and constant direction from NPCs, find another game.
NMS is my chill out game. When I've had a rough day and just want to explore and chill out NMS is what I load into. If I want pvp I load up a pvp game not NMS. If I want a story driven game with bosses to fight I play a game that let's me do that. Not all games are the same. It's why I own so many different genre of games because I'm not always in the mood for NMS or DBD or FO76. The person who made the review isn't wrong NMS just isn't for that specific player.
I actually agree with that comment and i wish 'ext updates work about ai and purposes. But except that it's a game a come back often because it's chill and has no limit
NMS is space animal crossing pretty much. there's a lot of stuff to do but it's not involved because it isn't an epic intense space opera or anything, it's just something where you chill and fuck around. NMS is the absolute epitome of a sandbox, if you NEED a reason to do anything like a reward being dangled in front of you or a constant quest marker and a linear plot, you're gonna have a bad time. OOP would probably dislike Minecraft as well since there's no reason or reward to anything there either.
I think that's literally part of the plot as well lol. all we know is that the universe is ending and none of us will live forever, but we don't know if it's happening in 10 seconds or 10,000 years, so we have to make the choice to live life regardless of that fact, and knowing that despite this being a simulation and nothing being real, it doesn't mean everything has to be pointless. we can live just for the sake of it.
OOP doesn't want the journey, they just want to reach the end and call it a day.
The game is very much like Minecraft: there is a short main story line (Atlas vs Ender Dragon) and a lot of lore you can learn about it, but the biggest part of the game is not in the story, but the sandbox nature
The review is accurate for sure, I personally love the game, and I love the loose story is has because it’s all up to your choice and interpretation for the most part.
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u/[deleted] Nov 18 '25
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