A Bad Breakup
The watering hole for gamer news that is No Man’s Sky has had its well beaten path trod upon once more. Many outlets and industry watchers begging the question. Is this all too little too late? As an early day apologist for it, among my peers, I wanted nothing more than No Man’s Sky to live up to the glorious age of space exploration it was to embody.
Honestly, after the blatant misleading nature of the games promotion became evident, I would have been happy with a half the hype. Hell. Even a quarter. By the start of November 2016 I had spent more time furiously communicating with PlayStation, trying to get my money back, than I had spent exploring one of those billions of worlds.
“No really, I’ve changed.”
So, here we are, second major update. And I’ll admit, I was intrigued. Had this old flame of mine really changed their ways? Or would it be revisiting the bitterness of our previous tryst. The deciding factor to spend my time revisiting something that caused me so much irritation was a simple one. I was stuck with my copy of No Man’s Sky. If what was a broken dream could be fixed to resemble even something I could kinda enjoy, the purchase would be validated.
The vows of new ships for different play styles, multiplayer interaction, and immersive yet fun exploration; these all were old refrains that made me nervous just hearing. But base building? Gardens? Quick access to your local star port? Vehicle construction and NPC recruiting? Well damn. I once again had stars in my eyes. This time, I was sure they wouldn’t let me down.
Bottled Magic
To be fair, they didn’t technically disappoint me. It was all there. The things they had promised in the latest batch of updates. With only the tutorial keeping you from getting your hands fully on all the new toys, (if you are like me and poorly chose to start fresh.) it took me little time to interact with the new things. With little under six hours of play with my new save, I was able to start a little base, collect some nice resources, find a planet I really liked to call a home, and even have a couple of NPCs who I don’t constantly feel were going to peel my skin off and wear it.
So they didn’t mislead us. This time. It is there. If you really want it. I even found some creatures that I thought looked cool, and not goofy. One looked downright horrifying. But the magic was gone. Memories of arming myself with for a marathon run at launch, the excited pacing back and forth while I counted down to the release. I couldn’t recapture it.
Sorry Hello Games. It looks like you got your act together. But it isn’t you. It’s me.
Victim of your own Success.
If you didn’t buy into the initial hype, go for it. It is a fine game. It delivers on what it is currently promising. And it looks like they plan on more and more stuff. But I just can’t get excited about someone who treated me so badly, wouldn’t talk to me for months – with no explanation, and then shows back up with a bunch of presents (some of which it promised long before we split.)
However, I will be keeping my eyes on the stars. I’ll bitterly read more update articles. And maybe one day I’ll be able to come back to this game. It’s a fine game. I hope people are really enjoying it. But to answer the question, yeah. For this gamer, it is a little too late. This would be come back is self sabotaged by their previous levels of hype. For those previously enthralled, it is a feeling hard to recapture.
Old Man Mordaith 