Summary
Lets start with the issues… because oh boy – are there issues. Most of those stem from two primary problems. First is the technical implementation and the second one is a design choice of “console first”.
From a PC Perspective the game has a multitude of crashes and FPS issues. With options breaking the game and even an GTX 1080 not able to pull a stable 60FPS. Many players couldn’t even get it to run due to missing libraries and driver issues.
The design problem stems from a PS4 choice in relation to the UI interaction. With little to no effort put into the PC. Scrolling in a menu seems to have been forgotten from the magical land of no mans sky and forbid the heavens if you tried to drag and drop in your inventory.
Especially the inventory provided a TON of issues with both it’s annoying use and limited size mostly hindered gameplay instead of enriching it.
Speaking about inventory size, you’ll be doing a lot of jumping back and forth and gathering materials time and again over and over because you cant carry enough with you. Out of fuel? Heh, go gather because no way in hell you could stock up on it. Need upgrades for your character ? Time to relinquish that inventory space you desperately need.
Coupled with the massive number of items you ‘ll gather and no map to find trading posts, you’ll be frustrated endlessly.
While initially the space exploration sounds like great fun, by the 5th star system and 20th planet it all blends together an you mostly just stop caring and start following the blinking light to the next stop, only getting the bare minimum you need. Exploring is time consuming and bland, and the number of tech you find is often duplicate and thus a waste of time.
All of this gets better the longer you play and the closer to the galactic core you get, but honestly, after 20 hours “getting to the good part” isn’t solving the rest of the mundane survival experience that other games do better.
The best part of the game in my eyes is the language system with words being learned one at a time and literally needing to figure out what aliens are saying.
Overall, no mans sky isn’t a terrible game, but it is flawed and in serious need of patching.
So while I would recommend the experience for those who love survival / exploration games, i would only do so after they resolve the many many PC issues and only if they discount the title.
Right now, this is one you might to hold of on.
Conclusion
No Man’s sky promised a galaxy worth of adventure as deep and complex as the oceans. Sadly, it delivered a starsscape of waddling pools.
