Thunder Plays: No Man's Sky

By: ThunderHeavyArm Space. Many have commented on it, but the one that is most apt is from The Hitchhiker's Guide. Space is really big, and nothing encapsulates that more than No Man's Sky [NMS] developed by Hello Games. It is worth noting that this is an indie company that has managed to produce a AAA level of game. With a reported four quintillion worlds (that's a four followed by fifteen zeroes) the game can seem daunting. Oddly enough, the best quote for this feeling also comes from Hitchhiker’s Guide, "Don't Panic."First off, let's address the elephant in the room that is player's individual expectations. I'm not going to jump on either band wagon with what others thought this game was going to be. This is about my personal experience and those of my friends who play with me. Alright, with the disclaimer done we're moving on. So the game begins with you flying through the universe with stars flying past. Every few seconds you see a system name appear before your field of visions continue on as you head towards a glowing light in the great distance. With a flash you find yourself on a planet, with your exosuit system running a diagnosis on you. All your systems are go...well except for your ship and then you have control. And I don't just mean with your character, you literally have full control over everything that you want to do. And nothing represents that more than interacting with the mysterious Atlas device and the first of many irrevocable choices. Do you forge your quest with guidance from the game or do you go completely free. Personally, I turned the guide on to help me know where to go and what to do since this is still very much a new game. This reminded me heavily of Minecraft and their achievement system. You can follow them to progress through the game and defeat the bosses. Or you can do basically anything else, it's a completely open world. With that familiar feeling of nostalgia, I began my epic journey. A quest for the ages, an adventure that would have no equal with great achievements and success. And then I was defeated by a hole in a ground. Now I know what you're thinking, "You're a sophisticated space man with high tech gadgets. How in the world did a hole beat you?" Well, that's because this was no ordinary hole friends. This hole lead into a cave. And in the cave was the bane of all adventurers and explorers: loot. Well, that's because this was no ordinary hole friends. This hole lead into a cave. And in the cave was the bane of all adventurers and explorers: loot. So of course, being the responsible space vagabond that I am I laid claim to everything in site. Then I hit my scanner, a device that reveals nearby materials and interactive objects. Deeper in the cave was more things. Now this cave was cold and barely illuminated. It would be irresponsible of me to leave it lying around right? See I knew you'd get me. After about fifteen minutes of wandering the cave, giggling about how much loot I had, I realized it was time to head back to fix my derelict ship. And then five minutes later I realized I had a problem. I had no clue where the exit was. Now I wasn't alone during this, my good friend was chatting with me through Facebook. He was...amused when I said I was lost in the cave. He started laughing at me when I started going insane trying to escape.What turned into a fun strip mining operation quickly turned into a panicked search for an escape. Every tunnel looped back in on itself. Every crystal outgrowth of Plutonium and Emeril mocked me with their secret knowledge of the exit. All the while, my exosuit's constant voice telling me everything was running out of power drove me deeper into insanity. Meanwhile, my friend continued to laugh at me through chat. Enjoying himself at my expense. After 30 minutes, and a deep conversation with a pillar of gold with some very interesting political views, I came up with the idea for my escape. I would melt some of the iron stone, just enough to know where I was. And as I used this new method, I made a promise that I would never enter a cave again and that the first thing I saw I would rename it immediately to freedom tree. Regardless of it being a tree or not. And that's how there came to be a strange pillar like outcropping, on a planet called Roravoisovi, in the Iklasischnu-Etag XVIII system with the name "Freedom Tree."So I know that I rambled on for what seemed to be a very uninteresting story to some and hopefully a very enjoyable story to others. But this is basically the game in microcosm. Exploration, resource gathering, getting distracted by said resources, forging my own path with no fear of punishment from the game, nearly being destroyed by my own decisions, and in spite of them coming out successful. In reality, this is less of a game and far more of an individual experience with some fun things to do along the way. Want to be a pirate? Be a pirate, I'm certainly having fun shooting down ships as they exit space stations and then outrunning the cops. Want to be Indiana Jones? There are so many monuments scattered across the galaxy for you to find you've basically got the world's largest Easter egg hunt. Even though every player has started the game with the same sequence, the same initial goal, and the exact same equipment no two players are going to have the same experience. And that's what makes this game so fun. It's not just the game play itself, it's the storytelling you get from sharing your own heroic, infamous, or even embarrassing story to other players. That being said there's a few points where the game does need some tweaking. While I understand that this probably isn't meant to be a combat game, when you give players a gun we will make it one. There's really only one enemy for players to fight, the sentinels, and they're pathetic. I've found myself easily taking out a half dozen of them at once just tanking laser fire with really no threat to my death. On the other spectrum, space combat is incredibly unbalanced and difficult. The AI is capable of making amazing hair pin turns that are difficult for players to match. I've even seen some ships skim across the ground to avoid laser fire and peg you from your blind spot. An interesting quirk that I discovered as well when I was being a pirate is the space sentinels are easy to avoid. There is no consequence to destroying ships, I've got a kill count of 30 civilian ships myself and I've avoided any real combat by landing on a space station. I think the game could use with some balancing in this department like making the enemy ships be less maneuverable and also removing the quirk where landing in the space cops base makes them not want to find you anymore or just make it impossible to land during combat. As I said, I know this isn't a combat game at it's core, but the elements that the game brings to the table need to be addressed to make the game a more enjoyable experience. Now for the hard part. Who is this game for. I could say that it's for the die hard Minecraft players, the resource managers, the explorers, the perfect game runners...honestly anyone. And that's the problem, this game is perfectly enjoyable for anyone. This game is perfectly enjoyable for anyone so long as they find their groove. If you can't find it then this game is going to be massively insane. If you fell into holes over and over then you'd be asking for your money back. It honestly depends on your tastes and whether or not you can find enjoyment where the game has no rules or guidelines to tell you what to do. If you decide to play this game, which I strongly recommend for anyone who's still straddling that fence, then I just have two words for you. Avoid holes. [yasr_multiset setid=2]