On Tuesday, I loaded up No Man’s Sky for the primary time in almost two years, and I used to be extremely confused. If, like me, you’re coming again to the sport after a protracted hiatus, lured in by the promise of multiplayer, then put together for a steep studying curve.
No Man’s Sky NEXT is mainly a brand new sport, full cease. Practically all the things has modified, with even easy refuelling now requiring a extra complicated crafting course of. I envy anybody lured in by the replace to play No Man’s Sky for the primary time – that is the sport it ought to have been at launch, full of missions, storylines, constructing alternatives and buying and selling items, all lined in layers of graphical flourish and topped off with that coveted multiplayer mode.
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As somebody who purchased the sport at launch, I can’t assist however really feel just a little bit cheesed off that the majority of my progress has been undone – even the planets I so fastidiously named have been written over with procedurally generated monikers.
My save indicated that I final performed the sport in November 2016, and a hell of so much has modified since then. For a begin, most of my stuff has gone. My multi-tool and exosuit have been plagued by icons saying ‘obsolete technology’, with the one choice to dismantle them into ‘technology modules’ (which could be offered for a whopping 50,000 models). It appears all the tech tree has utterly modified, and even the uncooked supplies are unfamiliar – plutonium is gone, for instance, changed by di-hydrogen crystals. And all these blueprints I scoured the universe for have disappeared. To change all my candy, life-sustaining upgrades, I wanted to trace down extra blueprints with up to date formulation for crafting new gear.
The upshot of that is that I used to be about as susceptible as a new child lamb within the vacuum of house. After 50 hours of play within the weeks after the sport launched in 2016, I’d constructed myself a fairly deadly mining device and an exosuit that would stand up to no matter hazards a planet might throw at me. Now I might most likely die from going out within the rain. My unique plan when loading up the sport was to construct a base, then maybe head off to search for some close by gamers to mingle with. But as a substitute I spent my time simply attempting to remain alive. Over the subsequent two hours I wandered about like a bewildered outdated man returning to his now-unfamiliar childhood city. But as a substitute of remarking “There’s a Starbucks where the library used to be”, I used to be muttering “What’s chromatic metal and how do I get some? And what the hell are nanites?”
It does all look slightly fairly although. The graphical overhaul is complete, and planets are plagued by pretty touches like scudding clouds and dramatic planetary rings. In truth, I spawned in an area station proper subsequent to a phenomenal-looking ringed planet. The house stations have additionally modified dramatically – slightly than a single, tiny room carrying one lonely occupant, the stations are actually teeming with sentient species, and there are half a dozen retailers promoting all types of upgrades. There’s additionally a nifty look personalisation suite so you may modify how your avatar seems to be within the new third-person mode. I opted to develop into a Korvax in a spangly inexperienced swimsuit, however you can even be a Vy’Keen, Gek or Traveller – or only a plain outdated boring human.
It was at one of many retailers that I found the Merchants Guild providing a choice of quests, with these mysterious nanites as a reward. And then I discovered that the Technology Merchant might promote me valuable blueprints for mentioned nanites. I chosen a few quests, hopped into my spaceship and set off to a close-by planet for my first mission. Unfortunately, this quest was to restore some damaged equipment, and I didn’t have the required supplies. More to the purpose, I didn’t know the way get them – and a few, like chromatic steel, apparently have to be refined. How on Earth do you go about refining stuff? Does it must occur at my base?
And talking of bases, I had no concept the way you go about constructing one. I scoured the brand new in-game information for data, however got here up brief. In truth, I had no concept what I ought to be doing. I spent some time scanning wildlife, which now offers you nanites every time, I performed round with the brand new terrain manipulator, I obtained right into a dogfight with pirates and appreciated the dramatically improved starship controls (the third-person view is particularly helpful right here). But after a night’s play, I used to be nonetheless confused in regards to the radically modified sport techniques.
The reddit boards revealed that I’m not the one one having issues. Veteran gamers have reported that they’ve basically been put again to sq. one, stripped of their base and a number of starships, being left with only one barebones ship and their freighter. It appears it’s doable to retrieve your base in a while, however everyone seems to be in the identical boat of getting their upgrades made out of date.
I used to be nonetheless feeling aggravated that the upgrades I spent dozens of hours buying have been stripped from me. And like lots of the reddit commenters, I started considering merely beginning over with a brand new save – at the very least then the tutorials might information me by all of the unfamiliar new sport techniques.
I went to mattress feeling pissed off. But the subsequent day I resolved to return in and provides the multiplayer a go – and the expertise was transformative.
My pal Stephen is a equally lapsed No Man’s Sky participant, drawn again into the fold by the guarantees of the NEXT replace. He joined my sport with no issues, and instantly there we each have been in an area station, chatting about how bizarre it was to see one other participant on this most lonely of video games. We experimented with the brand new gesture system, admired one another’s ships, and commiserated in regards to the lack of our out of date expertise. Then we took a pleasure experience all the way down to a planet.
Exploring in No Man’s Sky with another person in tow is a really completely different expertise, making even mundane duties thrilling. Naturally, we began off by taking a commemorative picture of us stood in entrance of Stephen’s ship earlier than setting off to discover the planet.
There have been close to misses after we wandered too removed from the ships and our hazard safety fits ran out of juice. We discovered and mined a copper seam, I lastly labored out how you can construct an ore refiner, and Stephen proudly pointed on the new machine because it churned out that valuable chromatic steel. We left the planet in the hunt for someplace extra attention-grabbing and flew straight right into a cloud of house pirates, and forcing us right into a frantic battle – Stephen saved the day by swooping in and taking out the final pirate because it was about to fireside on my shield-depleted ship.
We have been doing the kinds of issues which have been the core of No Man’s Sky since launch, however, with firm, it was recent and energetic. After an hour or two extra, Stephen declared it to be one of the best multiplayer expertise he’d ever had. “It’s just so relaxing,” he mentioned, completely not like most different multiplayer video games, which are inclined to give attention to competitors.
My stunning, stunning refinery
Still, it’s not with out its flaws – we skilled quite a few bugs, like ore disappearing and reappearing, bizarre sound glitches in hyperspace, Stephen’s cockpit randomly opening throughout interplanetary flight (an issue that’s been reported by quite a few customers) and an particularly bizarre bug after we each obtained zapped to a brand new location and flipped round when attempting to go away a planet’s ambiance. And for some purpose, a planet that I’d uploaded a brand new identify for the day past nonetheless confirmed up as undiscovered in Stephen’s sport. But none of those issues actually detracted from the grand outdated time we have been having.
No Man’s Sky has at all times been about merely pottering round house, deciding by yourself goals and exploring for the sake of exploring. But pottering with a pal is exponentially extra enjoyable. If you’re a veteran participant who’s returning to check out the NEXT replace, be ready for some confusion and frustration, which could be significantly lessened by journeying with a pal. But in case you’re experiencing the sport for the primary time, I’m exceedingly jealous.
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