After five years of development, No Man’s Sky is finally blasting through the atmosphere with its release on PC later this week. For Sony Playstation 4, it was released yesterday at midnight EST. As the first release for the small developing studio Hello Games, all of the hard work, experience, and dedication seems to be paying off. Last night, streams flooded onto the internet for anxious viewers that couldn’t wait to see what all the fuss was about. For some, it dissuaded their interest. For others, we’re on the edge of our seats and itching to get our hands on the next major survival game.
No Man’s Sky has set itself apart from the crowd as one of the largest and most immersive sandbox games to date. The open universe is a multiplayer experience with very little human contact. The expansive procedurally generated worlds are populated with beautiful creatures, NPCs, structures, and even some things to shoot here and there.
“For one small moment, you might feel like you’ve stepped into a sci-fi book cover,” said Sean Murray in his most recent blog post as he recollected the development of No Man’s Sky. Players can make the world their own by scanning and logging their own names for creatures, plants, etc. into the database. According to the AMA hosted on Reddit yesterday, a total of 160k discoveries were made within the day before it even released.
No Man’s Sky actually got a Day Zero patch for its release with unique ‘paths’ to follow, tweaking the algorithm of the Universe, correcting biomes and terrain generation, and increasing the inventory threshold just a little more. In an effort to avoid spoilers, we won’t post the entire patch notes here, but they are provided on the official site to peruse at your own discretion. Even through all the spit and polish, the game will continue to receive updates and features through its lifespan. At the behest of feedback, building bases and owning giant space freighters are confirmed to be coming to No Mans Sky along with visual updates.
Unfortunately for Xbox One gamers, there isn’t a guarantee that No Many’s Sky will ever come. According to Microsoft’s agreements, indie studios are supposed to release their titles across all platforms at the same time. According to a post on express.co, Xbox chief Phil Spencer is usually willing to work around that clause depending on the individual case.
For now, that isn’t a concern for Hello Games. The PS4 release didn’t come with a vacation. Instead, the small studio is intensely focusing on the PC release which they are still currently tweaking to specification. “We’re just racing to get all the extra options and stuff we want,” Sean explained further in the Reddit AMA.
It’s time to make our one small step for man, and one giant leap into the realm of the unknown. Preorders are available through Steam and retailers like GOG.com. The game is expected to finally be released around 2:00 p.m. EST August 12th release. Or you can make everyone else jealous and play it right now on Playstation 4.
