No Man’s Sky: Beyond

Another year, another No Man’s Sky update. It’s the game I keep going back to, but I just can’t seem to commit. Every year No Man’s Sky gets a major overhaul patch, this one being Beyond. And for 10-20 hours I do enjoy my return to this procedurally generated universe. But I never seem to stay.

I guess it’s because despite all of the new features, quality of life improvements and system overhauls, the core gameplay loop of No Man’s Sky has never really changed – it’s still a game about gathering resources in order to travel to another star system, in which you’ll gather more resources in order to travel to the next star system, in which you’ll gather . . . and so on.

And that loop is fun, for a time. But if that loop wants to sustain my interest – to keep me engaged – then No Man’s Sky needs to stop building more layers upon its original foundation, and instead return to that original foundation and improve upon it.

 

Don’t get me wrong, all the new features, mechanics and quests they’ve added have done a great job of providing some much needed direction for the player as they progress through the game. One of the key issues I identified with No Man’s Sky when I initially played it back in 2017 was that the player needed more direction and incentive to explore – a reason to push on.

And over the last couple of years with the Atlas Rising and NEXT updates, that’s exactly what the game began to deliver. Beyond continues this trend – not only overhauling and improving existing systems, but also building upon those structured systems to provide a more robust and engaging experience for the player.

 

But like I said, what No Man’s Sky really needs to do now is return to the original foundation, because it’s that foundation that hasn’t really changed since release. At its heart, No Man’s Sky is a game of exploration. It’s about travelling from one planet to the next. But in the last three years, despite these major updates, you’ve still seen pretty much everything No Man’s Sky has to offer in terms of planets, environments, plants and creatures once you’ve visited just a handful of systems.

Once you’ve travelled to several systems, you’ll have seen pretty much everything No Man’s Sky has to see. I said during my NEXT update that – ‘once again, I still think they need to massively expand the flora and fauna components, as repetition becomes a serious problem once you’ve visited several worlds.’ It was true at release, and it’s still true today. So if we are going to get another major update to No Man’s Sky, I seriously hope that’s what they focus upon.

The Beyond update also overhauled the multiplayer / co-op aspect of No Man’s Sky, but because I don’t have any friends, I can’t really comment on it. It also added VR integration into the game, but because I don’t (currently) own a VR system, I can’t comment on this either – but I do plan to pick up a VR set in the near future, and I’m sure I’ll give No Man’s Sky another spin when I do.

One thing I think it’s important to note about Atlas Rising, Next and Beyond is that these major updates of No Man’s Sky, have all been free. Some may argue that, given the state of the game at release, they couldn’t really charge for fixing and adding content that was originally promised.

But we’ve now moved far beyond (pun intended) those promises, and No Man’s Sky has evolved into a very substantial experience. I certainly won’t complain if they keep knocking out these major updates for free, but I also won’t blame the developers if they do decide that the time has finally come to start charging for them.

I said at the end of my original review of No Man’s Sky that – ‘It has its moments. It’s okay. I probably won’t play it again.’ How wrong was I? And I’m glad I was. I guess I’ll see you again, same time, next year.