I’ve covered No Man’s Sky a few times in recent years on TouchArcade through the PC version on Steam Deck, Nintendo Switch port, updates, and more. Even in these recent years, it has been incredible seeing how much Hello Games has added to it, and ahead of its eight year anniversary, I decided to write about No Man’s Sky once again covering what I love about it, how it feels to play in 2024 compared to its launch, and more.
This isn’t going to be an updated review of the game right now or anything, but more of a blend of why I love No Man’s Sky right now, a trip down memory lane, and how it has felt having been there from the start, or well before the start, as I’d already pre-ordered the vinyl soundtrack before No Man’s Sky released. At launch, I thought No Man’s Sky was a good game with great music and a ton of potential. I could see the vision of being able to explore a world that felt like stepping into a sci-fi book cover, but it wasn’t there just yet as a full release.
Back in 2016 when No Man’s Sky debuted on PS4 and PC, I ended up getting it from my import store on PS4 because the Limited Edition I ordered was being shipped to a friend in another country and I couldn’t change that pre-order. Having already committed to buying it twice, you can tell I was more than excited to play it, and I did from day one. On PS4, I ended up playing it for about 15 or 20 hours and liked many aspects including the exploration and music, but it wasn’t great technically, and many areas felt like they were underdeveloped. I had my fill from it after a few weeks more of playing on and off. I still have the day one PS4 physical release, and I actually installed it without any patches on my PS4 Pro to see how it feels today compared to the massively different and upgraded version of the game available on modern platforms.
Before looking at how No Man’s Sky has evolved over the years, what drew me to it in the first place? Having a space exploration game where you potentially could fly across planets seamlessly and explore at your own pace was very appealing. The procedural nature could’ve gone either way, but that aspect always had me more curious to try and push things and see if I would run into repetition or boredom. Trying to rush through the “story” early on would’ve been a bad idea. I still think playing No Man’s Sky to optimize or quickly earn a lot of money is not the way to go. No Man’s Sky is a game about exploring and soaking in the unknown.
The survival aspects have always been my least favorite element of No Man’s Sky, and Hello Games slowly allowed players to tweak the experience as much as they wanted. This made me start playing No Man’s Sky more across different platforms. With custom mode or even the creative modes available, I treated No Man’s Sky like a relaxing experience outside my main saves. I used to boot it up whenever I felt like it and just explore for an hour while seeing everything on offer on planets or just flying around. I never got bored of it. Who knew how relaxing it would be having 65daysofstatic music playing while exploring space.
One thing I used to see people wonder is what you actually do in No Man’s Sky. Today, that can be almost whatever you want. If you want to follow a guided path, go for the quests in normal mode while slowly building up your ship and character. Not a fan of combat, survival, crafting, and gathering? Play in creative or custom mode with your own difficulty tweaks. The draw of No Man’s Sky is always going to be exploring and discovering new things, planets, creatures, and more. It helps that the aesthetic and audio design are fantastic across the board. Even with the procedurally generated aspects, I think No Man’s Sky remains one of the most visually striking and lovely games out there.
Since launch, No Man’s Sky has received countless updates bringing new game modes, new content, quality of life improvements, massive visual improvements, combat enhancements, added features, and also basically transformed the game into a superlative experience right now. Having played No Man’s Sky through almost every update, I thought it would be fun to revisit the launch 1.00 release on PS4 and see how it felt today. While the visual changes and improvements are immediately missed going back to 1.00, I forgot just how much better the game plays right now compared to the launch version. I also forgot how there was no third-person mode back in 1.00. No quick access menu was another huge loss, but I still found myself seeing what made me fall in love with No Man’s Sky back in 1.00.
No Man’s Sky’s PS4 launch day disc installs with a file size of under 4GB. I played it offline so it wouldn’t try patching while I was playing. Having then taken my console online resulted in a 19GB (or so) update that brought 1.00 to 5.02 on PS4. You can’t really quantify the amount that Hello Games has brought to No Man’s Sky since launch, but it was funny seeing that update file size given what the base game was. It already felt like a brand-new game by 2017, but 2024 No Man’s Sky feels like multiple sequels and enhancements combined in addition to delivering everything I wanted and much more. The image below is from the 1.00 release on PS4 unpatched:
Aside from the PS4 release back in 2016 and through the years, I also played No Man’s Sky on Xbox One, Xbox One X, PS4 Pro, Steam Deck, PS5, Xbox Series X, Nintendo Switch, macOS, Nintendo Switch Lite, and Steam Deck OLED as the most recent system. The team has somehow managed to bring the complete experience to all those platforms aside from a few cutbacks on Nintendo Switch for technical reasons like multiplayer. I can’t get over how good the Nintendo Switch port is and how amazing No Man’s Sky looks on my PS5 and Xbox Series X, but the Steam Deck OLED is easily my favorite platform to play it on thanks to the gorgeous display with HDR and ability to use the trackpad to aim precisely. Having all that on a portable is definitely amazing.
Back in 2019, I bought a Thrustmaster T.Flight Hotas 4 back when Ace Combat 7 was releasing, and I decided to try that out with No Man’s Sky on Steam Deck. It actually works and makes for a funny photograph as you can see. I ended up using it when playing on my Steam Deck dock on my monitor, and it all works well. No Man’s Sky is clearly a very flexible and scalable game that plays well on everything I own including my MacBook Air. I don’t know if it is feasible, but cross progression is probably my only real want that hasn’t been addressed yet.
After this month’s No Man’s Sky Worlds Part I Update, there is even more planned going by the video showcasing the patch. Sean even joked about the number of updates. Hopefully that becomes a reality, but with a way for us to give back to Hello Games because No Man’s Sky is well beyond the gift that keeps on giving. Visually, No Man’s Sky is even more incredible now than it was a few years ago, and I can’t believe almost all of this is even available on older systems where the game debuted. Seeing the Nintendo Switch version dramatically improve since its already impressive launch is also a reminder of how No Man’s Sky is a technical marvel on Nintendo’s hybrid.
One more aspect about No Man’s Sky worth mentioning is the community on Reddit and Twitter sharing screenshots, anecdotes about expeditions, player journeys, and more. I love reading about other people’s experiences playing No Man’s Sky for the first time, or seeing how people find the game now after playing it at launch. The team has somehow brought together a very welcoming community that sticks with the game all the way, and it feels like it grows with each update. One last thing I’d like to highlight is TouchArcade co-founder Blake Patterson’s own No Man’s Sky blog.
If you made it this far wondering what the point is of this article that isn’t a review, I just wanted an excuse to gush about why I like No Man’s Sky today, and what drew me to it back in the day to hopefully make you give one of my favorite games a chance. With countless hours put into it across platforms, versions, updates, and more, No Man’s Sky went from a good game with potential to one of my favorite games ever through the years. No Man’s Sky’s redemption arc began in 2016 and ended a few years after. It is now well beyond that, and one of the best examples of over delivering. The No Man’s Sky of 2024 is far beyond what I had ever imagined we’d see even in a sequel, and I still can’t believe all of this was added for free.
Every time there’s a Steam sale or I see the game discounted physically on console, I make sure to nudge some friends to give it a shot. In its current state, No Man’s Sky has something for all kinds of players, and the various game modes make it so I keep coming back to it across platforms regularly. I haven’t played a game that nailed space exploration this well, and I look forward to playing No Man’s Sky for many years. Hopefully the next time I write about No Man’s Sky on TouchArcade involves the potential iOS release that we are all waiting for. Until then, No Man’s Sky is one of my favorite games ever, and it keeps getting better with each update. Now give us a new vinyl soundtrack release with more music, Sean.