This game was released in 2016 by Hello Games and was one of the many interesting releases that year.
It is offered on different platforms, like Playstation (where it was initially released), Steam, Xbox, and Game Pass. It offers VR immersion into the vast universe that has no limits.
This review will provide you explanations regarding the features and benefits of this game, pros, and cons, and factors to consider before purchasing, as well as alternates if you decide that is game is not worth the money.
No Man’s Sky
In a procedurally created world, the only rules are the ones you choose to obey. Unlike other games, it has its own economy and offers different modes, each with its own unique experience. If you don’t have a VR headset, you can also play with motion controllers or a gamepad and even a keyboard and mouse on a PC.
Alternate #1
Astroneer
In this game, you play an astronaut on a space station in the 25th century. You crash on a new planet where you must adapt to its new environment. The game mechanics offer VR support feels and has an appealing aesthetic.
Alternate #2
Elite Dangerous
This game is another exploration game much like No man’s sky, but instead of walking, you spend your time on a spaceship, collecting bounties and trading. The higher-tier solar systems are much like the Artemis story path that no man’s sky offers.
Quick Summary of the Main Product
Anybody who knows about No Man’s Sky can see that it’s an extremely complicated and tremendous game that is basically boundless.
It is not free and is available to play on all platforms, even without a headset. No Man’s Sky is based on top of Hello Game’s progressive procedural age framework.
This creates billions of planets across a large number of star frameworks and reproduces plants, creatures, territory, outsider species, economies, and more.
The game’s exploration gives a naturally occurring element that makes you want to explore sooner than later.
The center of interest of your story is sorting out what’s at the focal point of the universe.
It’s really an extremely guided adventure that offers an aesthetic appeal, for example, planets casting shadows.
Features and Benefits
Gameplay
To introduce you to the no man’s sky VR experience, as a new player, you’re given four save slots, ‘Normal,’ ‘Survival,’ ‘Permadeath,’ and ‘Creative.’
You can even play with your pals if they’re online for combat encounters on the same planet, bounty hunting, and dealing with alien encounters.
It offers a multi-tool that can be improved using the game’s secondary currency. The analysis visor and the multi-tool both are helpful in scanning, mining, and weapon modules.
Do note that the game will require attention, focus, and patience so you can play at the speed that Hello Games designed this game for.
There may be seemingly monotonous tutorial quests at the beginning but they are important to guide you through the game.
Immersion
The spacecraft, multi-tool, and the analysis visor are all important keys that provide further gameplay interactions that help in making the experience really fun.
The multi-tool is also the most used tool in the entire game that helps you realize that you’re traveling through the world rather than living in it.
It allows for multiplayer gameplay, and even if you don’t happen to have a virtual reality headset, you can play on a physical keyboard instead since a Valve Index might be expensive.
The game’s flatscreen mode might not provide the same level of enjoyment, but you can still enjoy the individual elements that make it fun.
Comfort
There are real elements that make the game amazing.
There’s creature taming, advanced base blueprints, ice storm, big text boxes, black hole charting, and the serious turbulence experience within the VR game.
The dull conversation between a few handwritten NPCs can be distracting from the real journey and a new player might get bored and may find themselves losing track of the environment.
While there are a lot of immersion-breaking bugs and poor optimization in some parts of the game, the peripheral vision it provides adds to the wonderful deep game experience.
Technical Tips
If you choose to play the game on desktop mode, there are some changes you can make manually to make the game’s systems work better. Do note that the Hello Games company is working on a sky VR update.
This VR update may make the game’s deeply flawed space odyssey into the solar system better for you. However, for starters, you can use recommended settings to set them to your preferences.
You can adjust the field of view if you are prone to motion sickness in VR mode. Additionally, you can play with motion controllers or a gamepad, or even a keyboard and mouse.
Factors to Consider Before you Decide to Buy No Man’s Sky VR
Availability of Different Platforms
No man’s sky in VR can be played on PS4, and if you have your PSVR headset, you just place it on your head and you should be in cinematic mode at the home screen.
For PC users, you’ll likely launch it through steam. You can use Rift s as your PC headset. Not only that, but you can also play in desktop mode.
Performance Issues
There have reportedly been some crashes whenever a user tried to open the program.
There have also been some technical issues like users being locked out of gameplay because they clicked on a feature in the game.
Uploading things one by one instead of uploading them all at once is a very time-consuming feature in the game. There have also been some broken user interface elements that may hinder the experience altogether.
However, Hello Games has taken charge and is working on fixing the issue.
Comfort and Movement Options
You might turn comfort blinders on and off and choose between snap-turning and smooth-turning, transportation, or hand-followed smooth movement.
Besides, if you need to play with a mouse and console or a gamepad, you are not expected to use motion controllers.
There’s also a helmet display inside the VR that offers scanned systems that help you find things that allow for survival in the game.
Most Used Tools
You will utilize the multi-device the most. Prepare the multi-device by reaching behind your shoulder with your right hand and tapping the grasp button.
If you point your right hand at your left wrist, this is where you access your whole stock, and bring our spaceships when outside, like turning on a light switch.
Quality
It can be a bit of an issue depending on different hardware to hardware. It may fluctuate between 5-30 fps which can make the VR game hard to play.
However, instead of you giving up and losing track, Hello Games is working on its bugs and within no time you will see a new update on its site.
Advantages and Disadvantages of No Man’s Sky
- Offers a unique experience to anyone who loves gameplay
- Gives an aesthetic, artistic experience
- Has an endless variety in exploration
- Fun updates to look forward to
- Provides a great soundtrack
- Unlimited freedom within the planet, there is no storyline to follow
- Offers VR support
- No real endgame
- Game may crash after some time of playing
- Is only for those who love exploration, it is not for every one
Social Proof
In the No Man’s Sky’s brand, there is much to offer. However, instead of looking at those, you can read what the people have to say about it.
Some players have noticed that playing around with the solar system, and using the same character can feel a bit repetitive.
Nonetheless, things like watching alien ruins, star systems, and even the solar wind is unlike other VR games.
The game offers great VR support and tries to make the No Man’s Sky VR experience better.
No Man’s Sky Alternatives (Recommendations)
#1: Best Advanced Stimulating Game - Astroneer
Astroneer was released in December of 2019 and quickly became one of the biggest releases that year. You are tasked with traveling from planet to planet, however, there is no civilization.
Being a survival game, you’ll need to find resources so you can explore out of the safety of your shelter. There is no list of objectives you have to follow, you make your own rules and goals to pass the game.
Your character will carry a backpack with resources that you may need so you don’t run out of oxygen in the middle of the game. It contains sci-fi exploration mixed with some real fun when passing a level.
Factors to Consider Before you Decide to Buy Astroneer
Availability of Different Platforms: It very well may be played on Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Microsoft Windows, and Xbox Cloud Gaming.
The multiplayer usefulness exists inside Astroneer for up to 4 players utilizing clients on a similar stage: PS4 with PS4, Steam with Steam, Switch with Switch.
There is no choice for co-op crossplay other than the Windows Store and Xbox versions.
Performance Issues: The major concern with this game is that it lags whilst it’s running which causes the fps to become lower.
However, to fix that problem you can update your drivers for new functions to avoid further malfunctions.
Comfort and Movement Options: The game offers wide frames for maximum comfort and durability. It offers crafting and base management.
You can physically slot materials into 3D printers and wait for things to snap in place, which can be satisfying to play.
Most Used Tools: The most used tool is the terrain tool that offers different modes to manipulate lands. It can be used to create trenches and caves.
Quality: The fps rate can be a problem, but it’s easily fixable since you can update your drive for maximum enjoyment.
The post-processing, texture, and shadow quality are immaculate and will surely make you want to play the game more.
This game offers unique art style. Instead of having an avatar stand in front of you and dealing with NPC in No Man’s Sky.
You get to interact with alien structures and seemingly dusty planets for a great experience.It’s effects quality when improved makes the game more enjoyable in VR mode.
- Maybe better than No man’s Sky in terms of quality
- Lovely visual aesthetics
- Contains light puzzle solving elements
- Tutorial is short
- Is accessible to all ages
- Offers wider concept for exploration
- Cheaper than No Man’s Sky
- No auto-saving feature
- No pause feature and multiplayer text chat
- Lots of lags which affect frame per second rate
Best Advanced Stimulating Game
Astroneer is a tremendous slew of extraordinary mechanics that complete one another to shape an exciting, and colorful framework, which is then given an unconventional and child-like marvel.
#2: Best Original Critically Acclaimed Game - Elite Dangerous
The game was released in 2014 and it starts with you in the year 3300. Money is earned throughout the game and you can use it to purchase ships.
You can customize your ships using modules. The secondary currency’s name is Arx and it can be used for coloring and changing the cosmetics of the ships. It generally received positive reviews from critics.
You are allowed to explore freely and gain experience points to get one of the three ranks which are combat, exploration, and trading. The points are divided among these three roles.
Factors to Consider Before you Decide to Buy Elite Dangerous
Availability of Different Platforms: It is available on Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Microsoft Windows, Xbox Cloud Gaming, and Macintosh operating systems.
Performance Issues: It mainly has lag issues and low frames per second problems but that can be easily fixable by going to CPU settings and setting a high priority when playing in virtual reality.
This is also fixable by getting rid of junk files and updating your drivers.
Comfort and Movement Options: You can set your preferences if having the camera sideways, turning or spinning makes you dizzy.
You can also disable the camera shaking from explosions, hits, and collisions.
This game is perfect to fly the different ships and allows for examination with various load-outs, and there are many tasks to carry out in Elite that helps keep the experience new.
Most Used Tools: There are a ton of third-party tools present. For example, INARA can be used to help aid players in tracking their activity in the game. ESY allows players to experiment with builds.
Quality: It is a very good-looking game and has done marvelous work in some areas like Star and planet detail, however, the ship and station textures are inconsistent with the rest of the aesthetics.
- Cheaper than No Man’s Sky
- Provides bits of realism
- No subscription fees
- Has simulator features
- Offers a great soundtrack and visuals
- Offers customization according to preferences
- Variety of roles
- Slow development
- No chats, no sense of community
- No alien or any other life form interaction
Best Original Critically Acclaimed Game
Elite Dangerous provides galactic core combat and trading systems for bounties with a rewarding system in place that makes the game fun for a new player.
Buyer’s Guide
If you want to consider some factors before making a decision, the following may be helpful.
Availability of Different Platforms
No Man’s Sky is actually cross-platform. This means that people with different types of computers, consoles, laptops, smartphones, or tablets are able to play together.
This is because the game will be run on a single server instead of different servers for each platform.
Players can play with each other on PC, PS4, PS5, or Xbox One. This way, players won’t feel left out and players can play with people they know so the game feels more fun.
Additionally, players can explore the same world with their friends and family, and can ever work together in teams.
It also means that players won’t have to buy expensive consoles to play together.
In addition, they won’t have to buy two copies of the same game either. It makes a great way to spend time with people from all over the world with different languages and cultures to come together and play an exploration game.
Performance Issues
The most-reported problem is regarding the server connection. There have been constant server outages ever since its release date.
The color pattern is also inconsistent with the rest of the game which makes for a poor player experience.
Comfort and Movement Option
The combat isn’t really fun for the player since it’s not easy to escape within the game. You also spend way too much time on the busy menus, because inventory management is very important to survive.
The game also crashes when playing and you would have to start back at square one again to finish the game.
Key and controller bindings are customizable as well, meaning you should be able to play using whatever device you prefer.
Most Used Tools
The main, most used tool in the entire game is the Multi-Tool, where primary functions are to locate and harvest resources for the player.
Players may own up to six Multi-Tools and can switch the active Multi-Tool via the Quick Menu in the utility section.
Owned Multi-Tools may be traded in to offset the purchase price of a different one.
Quality
The game also lacks variety. Most of the art in the game is similar to one another and it’s very easy to get bored.
However, while the textures and colors in the game are inconsistent, it has a lot to offer in virtual reality. Hello Games is constantly working on updates to make the game quality better so there’s less lagging.
In fact, Hello Games work by targeting and working on the graphics settings for each specific console. They’ve also come out with a Nintendo switch game so players can play easily.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Is No Man’s Sky an infinite game?
It is an exploration and survival game with over 18 quintillion planets so yes, it is generated to be an infinite game. The planets are to scale with real planets.
The game also comprises 255 unique galaxies. It is built around the specific player’s story, and you are free to roam and explore.
How many hours is No Man’s Sky?
It is about 30.5 hours, however, if you really love exploring and want to see every aspect of the game, it would take you 144 hours to obtain a full 100% completion.
Is there a storyline in No Man’s Sky?
No Man’s Sky has a story that players can decide to follow or overlook, but the story is not even close to the complex.
The story addresses different philosophical subjects which end up being exceptionally intriguing, in any case, and goes about as an extraordinary prologue to the frameworks across No Man’s Sky.
The fundamental storyline of No Man’s Sky, also called the Artemis Path, includes the player character revealing the secrets of Artemis and the Fourth Race, as well as the real essence of the Atlas, the Portals, and the universe of the game in general.
Is there combat and is it fun solo or with other players?
There is very little combat in the game since it’s more about exploration, base building, and sightseeing. The combat is very avoidable and you can finish the game without being involved in any combat at all.
In space, pirates may be an issue but you can easily defeat them through an upgrade in weapons or shields by collecting Nanites which is the secondary currency in the game.
What are the basic resources in No Man’s Sky?
The basic resources are carbon, oxygen, sodium, di-hydrogen, ferrite dust, and tritium. Carbon is necessary for the use of the multi-tool.
Oxygen is necessary to keep up your life and sodium helps with colds or radiation. Di-hydrogen is used to refuel the starship’s launch thrusters and is also used in crafting and refining recipes.
The ferrite dust is for crafting recipes, it is useful in the beginning stages of the game and is very easy to find. Lastly, tritium is for traveling with speed in space.
Wrapping Things Up
The activity experience endurance game that is No Man’s Sky by Hello Games was one of the VR world’s most expected arrivals of 2016.
Navigating and finding its produced universes is now one legendary experience numerous gamers would readily immerse in.
In any case, Hello Games has taken it to a higher level by making No Man’s Sky’s VR experience better compared to what most different engineers have on their games, making it one of the most outstanding VR games.
Nonetheless, being one of the most incredible VR games available that experiences bad execution inside the headset even on insane very good-quality frameworks. Constant updates are the main priority instead of optimization within the game.
What do you think? Let us know what your opinion is in the comments below.
