Rewind to August 2016 when developers Hello Games launched No Man’s Sky, remember that? I do, didn’t even buy the game there was so much anger being hurled around it but I adore space-adventure games so stayed quietly curious even as the internet howled at the “why-you-promise-multiplayer?” moon. Every update since I read the patch notes, watched streamers & twitter feeds – always hoping. Then No Man’s Sky: Next arrived in 2018 and I finally jumped in.
Within days maybe even hours I was hooked on space-exploring!. First I needed to get off that frost-bound planet, then I needed to find one that wasn’t poisonous or burning – woah water planet and what on earth was that ship?! I needed it and to see every star I possibly could busting out the guides, links, and spreadsheets…That’s how it began for me while teamed up with my significant other, who raced ahead of me with building, exotic collecting, s-rank scanning, and the Atlas questline. I was way too busy taking screenshots all over the NMS galaxy!
TWO THOUSAND AND NINETEEN
No Man’s Sky was the favorite game among my writing peers here at Gamespace, or at least the game most of us were logging into at the same time for the longest while. This action-adventure survival title gave us everything we needed to unwind at the end of a hectic online and offline schedule. What NMS achieved that I was prepared for was feeding my love of exploration, achievement and treasure hunting. What I wasn’t prepared for though was how much I enjoyed chatting about this game with friends – sharing the planets we discovered, exclaiming over the ships we now owned and bonding over those frustrating freighters. NMS became like a digital watering hole we enjoyed relaxing at with each other, without needing to be in each others game.
Then life got hectic, encouraging a hiatus from gaming altogether. I have logged into No Man’s Sky numerous times this year but never for long as this game is a binge session or nothing – no in between- so the announcement of NMS Beyond was a pleasant surprise. The perfect excuse to get back in the game and finish everything I started however that would prove to be more difficult than I anticipated.
Logging into the same saved version of NMS as my space-partner in crime started off with not being able to see our last saves on the menu so we started new games. Not terribly exciting after spending 150+ hours in the last save with a base we hoped to finish BUT we wanted to try Beyond! 3 hours later and an accidental relog we discovered if I logged in first and he joined my game our old save was no longer unavailable on the menu. 5 hours in total and a lot of stopping to research, google and watching Twitter feeds for bugs we found the Nexus!
The Nexus is the hub for players inside the Anomaly you can summon via your ship and meet other players to start missions together, get cooking recipes, greet other NPCs – or just show off your spacecraft! So I ran around stopping to talk to every NPC and other players as I ran passed them. What is even cooler is there is also a port available to visit the bases of whoever is in the Anomaly at that moment with you, or at least that’s what it seemed like I wasn’t actually able to port anywhere discovering after another update that it was only my bases though still I couldn’t port to them so fingers crossed this works soon. The Nexus is a brilliant addition this bug aside spending hours there already indulging my spacecraft and screenshot addiction! Best galactic garage EVER!
Admittedly the last few days of No Man’s Sky Beyond were spent testing things more than game play so I am unable to share as much of the content based on first-hand experience like I had hoped. Combing planets to scan, harvesting plants to hopefully cook and wondering if we would ever see our old bases that weren’t reachable yet via the Anomaly has been my rinse, repeat game time. Finding each other has also had a mind of its own – so much so I am currently playing solo until the bugs are gone. Which is fine for the short-term; I have data to farm for building recipes, vehicles and an underwater base to build and pets to tame! I also celebrated NMS Beyond with a race change into a sexy Gek – Gekxy to take off the frustration edge inspiring me to just continue planet hopping like a lone cowboy out in wild west. The visual awesomeness in No Mans Sky is so amazing we decided to get it on XboxoneX also just to enjoy the fascinating worlds this game has in 4K. I just can’t get enough of how vividly stunning this game is but I also fear this is all NMS will be good for if glitches/bugs aren’t elimnated BEFORE launching or immediately after.
BEYOND THE BEYOND
What else I can’t get enough of is how hard the Hello Games team is working to make No Man’s Sky the best space-adventure game there is on the market. Updates have been rolling out and Sean Murray shared a new build today on Experimental which is available on PC:
A new build has been propped to experimental on PC providing a preview of improvements that will make their way to PC, XBox and PS4 soon.
Including key-rebindings, improved docking and more…https://t.co/8GBp9LlQxO
— Sean Murray (@NoMansSky) August 21, 2019
The dedicated work ethic of Sean Murray and his team almost makes me want to buy VR just to experience this game in that environment while also supporting them but I know my eyes just aren’t ready for VR so I will (not so) quietly be jealous of anyone who is able to set foot in this game via virtual reality and accomplish all my building dreams with or without any bugs that are the only thing now stopping this game from being the full-blown masterpiece it truly is.
It's been a crazy 7 days since we released Beyond. Thank you to the more than two million people who have played in the first week.
Adding big ambitious things to an already big ambitious thing is never easy ?, but we are humbled and overwhelmed by the reaction ?
— Sean Murray (@NoMansSky) August 21, 2019
Now is the perfect time to start playing NMS if you haven’t before especially since tutorials are more streamlined with the Beyond update and I wish Hello Games nothing but good vibes thanking them for giving me a game that is going down in history as one of my favorite of ALL time and I am sure the favorite game of many of the two million who have logged on in the last seven days.
Happy hunting out there and to all those sexy space ships riders whose ships I drool over every time I am in the Anomaly – I /salute you!
