The Less Interesting TimesTemper Your Enthusiasm

2016/08/30 No Man’s Sky is an Introvert’s Game

According to Steam, I have played for 36 hours since the game came out. I’ve got my Atlas Pass v1. I’ve only jumped a few systems so far. I’m still using the Omega bonus ship. I’ve installed about a dozen mods. That’s the sad part. That I like the game. I’m enjoying it. But I can’t deny all the complaints. I know exactly what they’re talking about. I can feel it too to a degree. And I’ve installed those mods to breathe a bit more life into it, still hopeful that the devs will add more content in the future. And after thinking about it, for just a few hours (not 36), I think No Man’s Sky is an introvert’s game. It’s not about a glorious adventure through the stars where you team up with your friends to take out pirates, track down Alosaurus size fauna, run and blast sentinels while doing… I don’t know what. No Man’s Sky is chill. It’s slow. It’s relaxed. It’s existential. Yes, there are hundreds of thousands of players out there. Every planet has hundreds of stations with about 4 out of 10 containing an alien. And the stations have an alien. And every ship has an alien. A single alien. Alone, sitting in solitary, interacting through barely understandable dialect and sometimes through a counter or even a view screen. And you’re there too, jumping from planet to planet, in your tiny ship. All alone. And the universe is proc-genned. It doesn’t care about Continue Reading →