No Man's Sky : Next - First Impressions - a short review by Ggt

Introduction

Like I do in the beginning of all my posts, I'd like to go ahead and share a little about myself, the writer; to you, the reader. I'm Ggt and I love everything to do with video games! Some other things I also find interests in are reading, writing, sports (More specifically MMA) and food. Enough about me though, lets jump right into what today's post is all about; No Man's Sky!

Recently I've found myself intrigued with the sci-fi genre. My YouTube feed's constantly filled with videos about this game 'No Man's Sky.' I can recall memories about the game and how terrible people said it was when it first released. So what's the big deal? Why is everyone so hyped and excited about this game now, two years after it's initial and failed release? I had to find out, so I logged on my Xbox (Something I haven't done in a while), went to the store page and bought myself a copy of No Man's Sky.

Vast; but not empty.

When it comes to space we often hear the term "Vast and empty." In my short dozen or so hours playing No Man's Sky, I can certainly say that with this game that term just isn't true. Yes, No Man's Sky is a vast and massive game on a scale I've never seen before but no, it's not empty; it's actually far from it with seemingly endless upon endless hours of quality content.

No Man's Sky is classified as an action-based survival game set in a sci-fi genre. The game was released back in August 16, 2016 for PlayStation 4 and PC but has recently alongside it's 'Next' update come out for Xbox One. 'Hello Games' is the notorious indie studio behind No Man's Sky. I'm sure you've all heard of the indie studio and their infamous team lead, Sean Murray. We'll be getting into him, 'Hello Games,' and No Man's Sky awful release later on in the post but right now we'll be focusing on the game and what it's all about.

Like I stated before there is endless amounts of content to be played through in No Man's Sky. There are thousands upon thousands of unique and procedurally generated planets to explore, each with their own set of unique terrain, inhabitants, animals and plant-life. No one planet is the same; in fact, all planets are very different. What you do on each of these varying planets is honestly up to you the player to decide. You can explore and document new life, industrialize the planet for it's resources, trade with it's inhabitants or simply move onto the next adventure.

Whenever you're not on a planet, you're probably travelling through outer-space. Space is just as full of stuff to do as the planets are, with space stations to visit, galactic battles to fight, asteroids to mine and the list goes on. And you don't have to do any of this alone, because with 'Next', No Man's Sky's most recent update, co-operative multiplayer was added! Yes, you can play this amazing game with friends!

Better late then never.

The game that No Man's Sky is now wasn't what it was two years ago on release date. Not even close. The game's indie studio, 'Hello Games' and their lead, Sean Murray, had promised a product that just wasn't what it was made out to be when finally released (There were tons of delays!) I mean, just watch this hilarious video that perfectly depicts what I'm talking about.

You see what I'm trying to get at? They showed us all one thing then gave us the other. When everyone jumped up in arms against 'Hello Games' and their lead Sean Murray, they weren't to be found. All the community got in response to their outrage was silence. One of the most ambitious games of our generation that was meant to push boundaries and lead us into the next generation of gaming was nothing but an epic failure.

'Hello Games' although silent began pumping out back-to-back free content updates adding in parts to the game they promised to be in the game but weren't there at start. After two years they released their biggest update yet, No Man's Sky: 'Next', giving us the game we were originally promised years ago and oh so much more.

Sean Murray and his team could've just disappeared. They could've taken everyone's money and ran like most people normally do (Heeeyy heeyyyy heeeeeeeeeeeeeyyyyyyyyy). Instead they chose to stick by their product, fix it and clean up after their mistake. Because of that, they earned my respect. 'Hello Games' did something no one thought they would do. Better late then never I suppose.

My First Impressions/Thoughts

So after buying and downloading the game I hopped on with one of my buds, joined his world and started off on my space-themed adventure. Off the bat I found myself shipwrecked and stranded on a hazardous planet with some abnormally violet locals. All the animals tried to do was eat me, heck, even some of the plants attacked me!

That didn't dissuade me though as I went about gathering resources, learning the basics and fixing up my ship before travelling off into space. I met my friend at the planet's local space station. From there I sold some minerals I mined back on the ground, bought some supplies for my journey and was off to find a new planet to explore!

This earth-looking planet had caught my attention. My friend and I landed on it, cut down some trees and each setup our own little homes. The planet was nowhere near as dangerous as the previous one. I did some roaming and happened to stumble across a duo of intelligent lizard men. They were also pretty fat. I communicated with them, learned some of their language and tried to buy a cool-looking shotgun that was way out of my price range. That's where I last left off and that's where I'll be picking up later today when I play the game again.

Right from the start I was hooked. The game runs relatively smoothly on my Xbox One, looks gorgeous and the game-play super addictive. There's so much to explore, discover and do. I see myself sinking at least two hundred hours into this game, probably more depending on if I get bored or not (Which I don't see myself doing). If you're into survival and exploration games, No Man's Sky is definitely for you.

I personally wish there was more to multiplayer than just co-op, but it doesn't make or break the game. It's just personal preference. I'd love to go out and meet players in space, then blow them up. That's just something I'd enjoy doing. Besides that, no complaints. Game so far is great and I look forward to playing it again.

Conclusion

Thanks to everyone who dropped by and read today's post, I really appreciate it! I hope you guys enjoyed the post. If you did, drop a reply down below and if you didn't, leave some criticism. Otherwise make sure you all have a wonderful day and remember to always make sure you have enough oxygen when exploring space!

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