Out of space and into our minds

Come for the procedurally generated universe, stay for the exploration

The graphics and art style of No Man’s Sky call to mind the covers of belovedpaperback science-fiction pulp. —PHOTO: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

A few years ago, a very tiny development studio unveiled an idea that was as big as the universe. The result was the action-adventure survival game, No Man’s Sky , which released a few days ago. It’s been everything we loved about space and dreamed of in a game ever since Star Trek and Lost in Space came out. This is about exploring a living, breathing and growing universe. Over the years, with each subsequent teaser or video released, the hype around the game has grown into massive proportions.

What is it about?

No Man’s Sky is one of those titles without a conventional story, an open world game in more ways than one. The player starts off as a lone astronaut marooned on a random planet with his ship. Yes, no gender equality there, it’s in the title. Once the ship is repaired, you have to chart your own course, developing your story. As the game progresses, you uncover alien civilisations, learn their languages, take part in hostile dogfights against overwhelming odds, and a lot more.

How does it play?

You see, No Man’s Sky achieves a mammoth and unimaginable scope through something called procedural generation. Essentially, it means your computer creates planets on the fly by randomising hundreds of permutations and combinations. The game at the end of the day is all about the sheer fun of jumping into your ship, taking off into space and discovering a new planet.

But there is a steep learning curve as you start off with just a multi-tool. You use this to mine minerals like gold, and to fuel your ship, suit and other support systems.

It’s great to walk around planets, gawking at the art and the brightly coloured flora and fauna. You can also feed the animals that you chance upon and interact with alien species in different outposts, which are like tiny bank branches in villages. They’re all equipped with that one poor teller who got suckered into manning the post. However, the game can get repetitive when a computer plays God.

The frustration first sets in from how small your inventory is. After just a few minutes of mining, you get that annoying voice telling you that both your suit and ship are full. It’s excruciating when you come upon a massive treasure trove of Plutonium: the primary power fuel. The only option is to hoof it back to one of those outposts. Except that there’s no way of knowing where you were. So you’ve lost that moolah.

Another annoying thing is the interface, which is great on the PS4. But when copied on the PC, it does not work as well with its share of bugs, including a bad frame rate.

That said, the PS4 version is quite flawless

For a game about flying fighter ships in space, there has to be some amount of combat. However, it’s not the type you’ve seen in Battlestar Galactica or Star Wars . The ship is sluggish in space and tracking your enemies is a Herculean task. And by the time you’re ready to shoot that foe, you’re dead in a few critical hits.

Despite all these problems, the game is best played where its strengths lie. After wrestling with its shortcomings, you resign yourself to do just that: play No Man’s Sky for what it presents to you. There is nothing more relaxing after a tough day at work to do some mindless mining, getting on your ship and zipping off to see some planets. Possibly getting to one before anyone else and then naming it.

The graphics and art style call to mind the covers of beloved paperback science-fiction pulp, even greats like Isaac Asimov.

There is so much to love about the game: from its trippy visuals to sound engineering and that awesome descent through the atmosphere where the radiation burns around your ship’s cockpit. It’s pure beauty, like a Zen exercise.

As for living up to the social media hype, No Man’s Sky unfortunately does not. It’s definitely disappointing. For instance, we would have loved to see features like the ability to watch other players zip by. So let’s hope Hello Games adds in some more features later.

Should you get it?

This game is an experience all explorers should try. As mentioned above, it’s best played with the right attitude for a most calming effect. Despite its problems there’s a lot to love about the game. Plus, the problems are of the type that will get fixed, as the core of the game is pretty good.