No Man's Sky - Early Play Review

I spent a good six hours on this last night and discovered and explored eight planets.   I started on a nice, fairly hospitable planet with abundant gold resources which I was able to mine and sell in the market place, giving me a timely boost to funds.   The drones didn’t pester me too much, but they can be annoying.  I have a long way to go to be able to afford a decent starship, which is needed, because you soon fill up your inventory.  It’s actually quite frustrating,  I think they need to raise the maximum limit on the number of resources you can carry at a time.  For example,  a 1000 carbon instead of 250.  You soon hit maximum and end up being told ‘inventory full’ a dozen times.

Overall, it’s a wondrous game, which appeals to the exploratory nature in all of us.  Not knowing what is going to be on the next planet or moon is a thrill - I feel like I’m in Starfleet exploring for the Enterprise.  I think it is a great game to just pick up, on and off, and spend a few hours eating away at.  You could spend your hours just on one planet, or even your whole day.  When you’re not being attacked by pirates and drones, it’s very relaxing especially with the soundtrack.   Piloting your starship is an excellent feeling, even though it took a while to get the hang of the controls - be prepared to hit a few asteroids as you learn the ropes!  The graphics in the space are also mesmerizing sometimes, I spent a lot of time just staring at this beautiful, cyan aurora around one particular planet.

I’d like to see more geographical features on the planets, some higher mountains, deep valleys etc  I’m being picky though, there have been some amazing caves I’ve ventured across and even floating rocks, which were cool.   The fauna is incredible too, I came across a T-Rex like species last night which I accidentally shot and sent into a fit of rage against me.  Unfortunately I had to blow it up with a plasma grenade, which I felt bad about but it was me or him.

Some tips:

The space pirates are brutal and in the early game, I don’t see how it is doable to defeat multiple enemies.  Save your valuables in your exosuit and not your spaceship!  Otherwise when your ship gets destroyed, you will lose everything you’ve been mining the last few hours!

Be nice to the aliens, they always give you good rewards but respect the monoliths and artefacts – don’t go prying into them or you lose credibility.

You need to learn as many new alien words as you can, it’s the only way to make sure the puzzles aren’t a complete guessing game.

Verdict: 4/5

It will be interesting to see how this game develops and the patches and DLC that comes out for it (if any).  It’s got massive potential but could so easily swing the other way, in the light of all the other great games coming out soon and the next few months.  But for now, I’ll be endeavouring to reach the centre of the galaxy.