Have you ever dreamt of traveling into space and hopping from planet to planet like in some epic sci-fi adventure? Well, how about 18 quintillion planets? If that’s the case, I would like to introduce to you the game “No Man’s Sky,” a game that has been in production for the past six years and is finally being released on Aug. 9. In this game, you take control of a planetary explorer whose goal is to search for a planet in the center of the many universes that can possibly be found in-game and locate the most habitable one.
Now, this game is truly special in that there really are 18 quintillion planets that you can explore. The options in this game are practically endless, with each world having its own unique ecosystem, whether it's friendly to mankind or not. While we don’t know all of what this game has to offer, we have gotten glimpses as to what the game is centered around in the four main trailers that have been released for it. Each cover a different aspect of the game that players can choose to capitalize their time on. Those four aspects are Exploration, Fighting, Trading, and Survival.
1. Exploration.
This is what I imagine players will be doing the most. Like I said in the beginning, there are 18 quintillion planets that are possible to travel to. By exploring through the vastness of space, you can locate planets and land, seeking out the different lifeforms that live or once lived there. Players are able to find relics from alien lifeforms of the past and are able to document it, as well.
One really great feature about this game is that it has an online multiplayer function which allows you to share data that you’ve recorded with people around the world. Through this method, players would be able to determine what planet has what, whether it has the right materials necessary for crafting — another big part of the game — or if they want to avoid whatever environment the world may hold.
2. Fighting.
In “No Man’s Sky,” you are equipped with weapons and a spaceship that are used to help traverse the worlds. From what I’ve seen so far, weapons come in the form of guns. They can be used to defend from predators or to aggravate them if you wish. You’ll also be using these guns against Sentinels, which are robots that maintain order on any given planet. If you attack Sentinels, you’ll have a “wanted level” which would show how much of a threat you are to the planet. For those who have played the GTA series, you’ll notice that these are very similar to each other. The threat levels range from one to five, and if you get to five, you better pray that you live for the next minute because that’s all you’re going to get.
3. Trading.
“No Man’s Sky” is a survival game, which means that players will need materials to help them survive. And that’s where trading comes into play. By obtaining resources from a planet or somewhere in space like an asteroid belt, you can go to a trading post that can be found all throughout space and as the name suggests, trade. This is especially useful for the crafting feature that I mentioned earlier.
4. Survival.
Now if you’re going to be playing this game, one thing you’ll be encountering in this game are the many inhospitable planets that it has to offer. Planets range from friendly to definitely not, with different levels of toxicity and radiation, varying temperatures that go to well below 0 degrees Celsius and far above it.
One of the goals of the game is to survive these environments, and that can be done by having the right equipment. Once again, crafting plays a huge role in this feature, because by crafting equipment you are able to create armor specialized for a planet of your choice. Let’s say you want to go to an especially radioactive planet. You’ll need whatever items necessary to protect yourself from it if you want to explore effectively.
So that’s “No Man’s Sky!” If any of those features tickle your fancy, I highly suggest you pick this game up on its release of Aug. 9, because I know I will.
