Things We Still Don’t Love
- Planets Still Need More
NEXT has greatly improved planetary detail, for sure. There are now cool rings around some planets, weather including clouds, and much better close-up detail in terrain and water. The increase in visual realism is noticeable, making on-foot planetary discovery much more fulfilling than before. But unfortunately, there’s still a long way to go. Planets still have only one, uniform biome across their entire surface – if you’ve seen one part, you’ve seen it all. There still just isn’t any reason to explore a whole planet, unless you’re trying to get every single one of something, like Buried Technology or Artifacts. Animals still just walk around aimlessly, and there are few truly unique geographical features to set one planet apart from another. No Man’s Sky’s planets, even after NEXT, are still very same-y (despite a few very rare exceptions) and lack that jaw-dropping, “wow” moment that provides travelers with incentive to keep walking and see what’s over the next hill. That is a shortcoming that needs to be addressed at some point.
- The Wonky Galaxy Map
In order to make your way from one system to the next, No Man’s Sky offers a Galaxy Map, a zoomed-out view of the local star systems with faint lines connecting them. The problem is, it’s hard to navigate and unclear to read. First off, it still isn’t very easy to see where you’ve been and where you should go next, since these helpful markers are missing from the map at present. Hopefully, future updates with clearly mark all of your visited systems with a circle, and trace your path so far with a thick line. The three-dimensional nature of the Galaxy Map is also unwieldy, as you often lose your place by zooming out or rotating at the wrong time. As it is right now, fighting with the awkward Galaxy Map is a real kill-joy that saps the fun out of making your way to the center of the galaxy, and I hope that a revamp comes in future updates.
- Bugs, Bugs, Bugs
All games have their bugs, but No Man’s Sky seems to be in a galaxy all by itself at times, especially when you consider that it’s a two-year-old game. From crucial quests that fail to trigger, to damaged frigates that can’t be repaired, to discoveries that fail to register (kind of important in a game about discovery), No Man’s Sky still has its rough edges to be sure. To give credit where it’s due, Hello Games listens to their forums, and has been doggedly working to fix every issue they hear about, but the bottom line is the experience of playing No Man’s Sky is, even after the updates, a sometimes frustrating one for many players. Don’t get me wrong, it’s still lots of fun, but a healthy dose of Zenlike patience continues to be a must for anyone putting serious time into the game. The NEXT update hasn’t changed that, and if anything all of the new features have brought their share of new bugs to deal with.
But despite the shortcomings, the fact is that the updates brought to No Man’s Sky by Hello Games, and especially with this year’s NEXT update, have completely transformed the original game and if you’re a disenchanted player you owe it to yourself to give it a second look. While multiplayer, base building and other extra features make the game a lot more fun, we’d still like to see increased complexity in planets and a smoother technical experience. One thing is for sure – Sean Murray and Hello Games have proven without a doubt in the last 2 years that they won’t rest until No Man’s Sky is the game that we all wished it would be when it released, 2 years ago. What do you think? Have you come back to No Man’s Sky as a result of the NEXT update? Let us know in the comments below!