No Man’s Sky is a relatively new game that has struck controversy within the gaming community. It is a science fiction game in which players receive a spaceship with an inventory, and they can travel the Universe upgrading their ships, exploring new planets and sectors of space, while earning units (a galactic currency) from mined materials and such. It was initially advertised at gaming conferences as being the biggest game ever made, meaning it had the most explorable territory of any game ever. I have played the game, and this certainly holds true. Players can travel to eighteen quintillion different fully explorable planets, which is incomprehensibly huge. No two planets are exactly alike; every single one has different terrain, alien creatures, crazy plants, etc. There are plenty of outrageous creatures to encounter. My friends and I have come across a giant hopping hostile pineapple, a 30-ft-tall moose with gills and fins, a group of long flying eels, dinosaur-like creatures the size of bugs, and more.

    In my eyes, the game introduces a fantastic sci-fi world that is so vast, many parts of it have never been explored by other games or movies in this genre. The music can be serene or fast-paced, depending on if the situation in the game is peaceful or perilous. Some perilous situations might include being chased by a predatory alien creature, going through harsh weather conditions on a planet, flying past giant dangerous battle ships, etc. Many gamers argue that this game lacks the thrill of combat missions, and battling enemies. There are some instances in which players get to engage in combat with enemy ships, but it is very limited. The interactions between humanoid aliens across the Universe are mostly just verbal. I find the missions and objectives to be interesting enough to continue playing and enjoy myself, however some gamers simply require the ability to go shoot weapons at enemies whenever they please in a game.

    There are in fact weapons in No Man’s Sky, such as the “boltcaster”, however its intended use is for breaking into secret rooms and facilities to discover key information. This information helps the player learn about alien species, which helps them become friendly acquaintances with aliens of that species, which helps them gain new materials and tools from those aliens, which helps them upgrade their ship and equipment, which helps them on the main secret mission of the game… to find the center of the Universe and whatever mysteries lie there. A huge part of what makes the game fun to many players like myself is the constant discoveries of new and mysterious things. Evidently the greatest discovery awaits all players at the center of the Universe.

    Additionally, the game recently released a new update that offers a “creative mode”. This feature enables to build bases. There are unlimited resources and pre-built items to add to the bases. There is also a “survival mode” that makes predatory creatures and harsh weather conditions more abundant, causing survival to be a true challenge. The game is yet to add a feature focused on combat, but some predict that once the “creative mode” option is more developed, players may be able to locate and attack other players’ bases.

    The game lacks some of the qualities that gamers typically search for, but I find the concept to be unique, the graphics to be pleasing, the story to be appealing, the aliens to be interesting, and the expansive universe to be absolutely awesome. I think it is a worthy buy, and an excellent addition to the gaming world.