I bought No Man's Sky on release day and was terribly excited about it, "16 Quintillion" was a saying I just used to say to my friends when they would talk about the game, which was in relation to the amount of planets supposedly in the game. I installed the game which was a surprisingly small download 6gb if I recall correctly, I sat down on the lounge, made myself comfortable and settled in for the long haul, at the start I really loved the game. The sheer scope and possibilities of the game really excited me, for a while I just sat there and marvelled at the universe and what was out there.
I played for about 5 hours in my first sitting, I got to a part where I thought I was about to break out and really become a powerhouse, so I logged off and went to bed, dreaming about the universe that I was about claim as my own. The next day I did all the things I was supposed to do, went shopping, made lunch, went for a walk, did some chores and went to work, all with the thought in the back of my mind, what will I do when I return to the universe of No Man's Sky when I get home. Excitement peaked on the drive home and when I walked in the door I got comfortable on the couch started the PS4 and got stuck in to it... it was about another hour in that I realised, this is all there is, all I'll be doing is going from planet to planet looking for resources so I can unlock stuff and move on to another planet or solar system. Which was impossibly disappointing considering 2 days earlier I dropped $80 on it. However disappointed I was, I stuck it out and unlocked as much as I could because I'm stubborn like that.
Then once I couldn't take the boredom anymore after a couple of weeks, I stopped playing it whether it was because I got another game or picked up an older one I wanted to replay, I can't remember. The game just sat there on my hard drive until I needed room for another one. I hadn't thought about it for a long time until they said they were releasing a big update which was adding building and other vehicles. Which was good, but where was the multiplayer that was promised from the start.
Now I'm going to state here that even though it wasn't what was promised originally, I still really enjoyed the original No Man's Sky. BUT I have been hanging out for what it is now with the NEXT update which has just been released.
With the NEXT update I can finally tour the universe with my pals and create monstrous space bases and everything makes a little more sense than it had previously, the crafting and creating is a lot more thought out and makes more sense, everything seems feel like this is the game that Hello Games wanted to make in the first place, but due to time constraints or budget constraints they weren't capable of making the end product they originally dreamed of. It's sad that it had to happen in that way and they couldn't release a completed game for whatever reason but now that it's come to a head, they can see the fruits of their labour and hopefully keep creating games and get to make them their own way from now on.
The NEXT update brings a whole heap of new things with it mainly to do with crafting and creating but they've also added a whole heap of layout overhauls within the space stations and the buildings on the planets, things also look like they're sewn together a lot better on the planets, there's no random caves that just seemed to happen because of the way the planet was generated. Also there's a lot more aliens to talk to and get quests from which is awesome but they're still awfully static, I would love to see them have movement and patrol paths so that the space stations feel more alive. The crafting has been completely overhauled and there's heaps more ingredients and things to craft which is always a good thing for people who, like me, enjoy that sort of thing. I don't know, ever since playing the latest update it just feels like what I imagined it should have been like from day 1, and now I've got that it's all I want to play! The game does crash from time to time but the latest update was absolutely massive so there's bound to be a few teething problems with it and I'm not really to fussed by it if I'm honest...
I hope in the future they continue to create more and more elements to make this game even better, I know people are left with a horrible taste in their mouth after the original release but I think that this game has become an incredible edition for anyone who loves space and exploration games this could be the be all and end all, it's almost there, in the future, who knows!
VikingHammer Out!
