Note: Review based on all content as of the 2024 Adrift expansion on the PC version of the game. There is VR support, but I had no VR equipment to test it with.

Ever since men were able to reach past this terrestrial plane and explore the solar system, and even before then, many have wondered what it would be like to explore new worlds and the bounds of space. No Man's Sky is a game that seeks to provide a potential answer to the question, in a very well-done way.

A little background. In 2016, No Man's Sky was released in a rather unfinished state that disappointed quite a few people. The developer listened to fan discontent and has since gone above and beyond to make up for this, releasing tons of free content to flesh out the experience far and beyond what was originally promised. It is still getting regular updates as of the time of this writing.

The story is rather simple. You are an explorer whose ship lands on an alien planet and you must repair it to resume your journey. After getting it repaired in what is a clever tutorial slipstreamed into the game, you have a plot you can follow after, but otherwise, you are free to explore wherever you wish among the stars.

No Man's Sky is best described as Star Trek, Minecraft, and Breath of the Wild blended together. It inherits the Star Trek concept of exploring strange new worlds and meeting new civilizations while boldly going where no man has gone before. Like Minecraft, there is a heavy game element of using resources found on planets and in space to craft new tools and means for further exploration. And like Breath of the Wild, it features a vast open sandbox that encourages frequent exploration.

The core gameplay loop is divided between planetside exploration and space exploration. On planets or anywhere else with a walkable environment, you must investigate flora and fauna, find alien relics and technology, and otherwise get a better idea of the planet in question. You can even build a base and other structures if you feel the urge to put down stakes. In space, you must pilot a number of different craft through the vastness of space to find worlds to explore. There is a loose plot to follow, but the main focus of both modes of play is exploration and discovery. Ultimately, the plot is "whatever you want to do within the bounds of the game world", with the story being whatever you want to pursue.

No Man's Sky uses procedural generation and a shared universe with many players. This means all planets are randomly generated and some may have been discovered by players other than yourself. This is designed to make the game universe feel like you are not the only explorer. Cooperative play exists so explorers can team up though single-player play is also supported. Further, the level of difficulty is fully up to the player. Full survival mechanics and enemy threats can be toggled on and off to any degree the player wishes, and there is even a full creative mode for those who simply want to explore with no hassles.

The sheer amount of content added in free expansions boggles the mind, and I highly advise new players to look up information on the latest added features. Suffice it to say this game has a lot to do and has so much possible content it would take a 1/5 of the lifetime of the Earth's own sun to see all of it, so it's unlikely this game will run out of anything new for any player.

One last thing worth noting is that this game aims to be a completely seamless experience. Aside from one long load-up sequence, the actual game is utterly seamless with no loading screens. A player can go from planet side to space with no transition, to the point of being able to accelerate out of planetary orbit and into space and back again in real-time.

Graphically, this game uses a cel-shaded aesthetic with a definite lean into bright and vibrant colors. It also tries hard, despite the procedural generation, to make sure no two planets look alike, so no matter which one you wind up exploring, you are unlikely to see repeated content. This results in bizarre and interesting alien flora and fauna no matter where you are.

Sound and music tend heavily toward the ambient. The experience is low-key, with only enough sounds to fit the mood and whatever is happening onscreen, which heavily complements the lone explorer concept. Everything from your mining tool to the thruster sounds of your spaceship feels impactful, so when combined with the ambient music, I found I could lose hours of time just exploring. I especially recommend wearing headphones for the full immersion experience.

Keyboard and mouse or Steam-supported gamepads are both fully supported. I found I preferred the former but the latter works just fine as well. Keys are remappable if the player prefers, though the stock setup is very comfortable. Tutorials are provided by the game to explain the basics of control patiently and I got the hang of it very quickly. There does not appear to be support for any custom controllers like flightsticks, likely to avoid issues between switching from planetary to galaxy traversal on different platforms.

No Man's Sky is generally stable, though on higher settings requirements can be rather high. I have an excellent gaming laptop and found it can turn things into a fireball if you try maxing all settings. Even on some lower settings, this game can still look quite beautiful, so I recommend experimenting with settings until you find a happy medium. This game runs natively on Microsoft Windows. It is also Verified for the Steam Deck and will run on Linux via Steam Proton with little issue. There is a modding community for the PC version. While modding is supported, frequent updates could cause issues with mods and I found it was quite playable out of the box without any mods at all.

Morally, this game doesn't have too many issues.

Violence is quite mild. At most, the player will engage in self-defense against aliens and animals, though they can be the aggressor if they choose. There is some mild blood from some animals and aliens, but nothing else, and bodies will disappear soon after death, often with an option to dispose of the body in some manner. Blood and even combat can be entirely disabled to remove these elements.

The language is quite clean. There is little speech in the game, and while the player can communicate with some aliens for trade and other purposes, they must discover the language of said species to communicate intelligently, and the language is kept simple.

Sexual content is entirely nonexistent. All players are rendered in a full environmental exploration suit that precludes any physical details. Alien races wear entirely practical outfits suitable for their environment.

This is a very hard sci-fi game. There is no mention of occult or supernatural practices. There are unspecified glyphs and artifacts of a potentially religious nature for some alien races, but they are merely meant to learn languages and are treated entirely as anthropological curiosities.

Morally and ethically you can do some unsavory acts, like smuggling and piracy. However, this is entirely optional and the vast majority of the gameplay is focused on legitimate self-defense and exploration, and with combat disabled the experience is quite innocent.

As a game for exploring the vast bounds of a notional universe, I found No Man's Sky to be a cerebral yet comfortable experience. Morally, it's mostly wholesome, and with a few tweaks, any possible objectionable elements can be toggled off, meaning parents could easily allow their non-teen children to play this. It goes on sale often, but even at full price, it offers more than enough to justify the price.