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Can 'No Man's Sky' Redeem Itself With Its Third Free Update? (engadget.com)
An anonymous reader quotes Engadget's new article on No Man's Sky:
Developer Hello Games has gone some way to giving the people what they've wanted Friday with the third major update since the title's launch. "Atlas Rises" (aka update 1.3) adds the beginnings of real-time multiplayer to the space exploration game, though admittedly, "interaction with others is currently very limited." Thanks to the update, up to 16 players can now exist together in the same space. Fellow pilots will appear as floating blue orbs moving about the terrain, and proximity-based voice chat will allow players to plan their next jump together. That's pretty much it, but Hello Games calls it "an important first step into the world of synchronous co-op in No Man's Sky."
Meeting up with other explorers should be a bit easier with the new portal system, which allows players to travel between planets instantly, including to random worlds. Taking a leaf out of Stargate lore, activating a sequence of glyphs on portals can designate specific exit points. Hello Games hopes the community will band together to create something of a database of glyph sequences... There's 30 hours of new storyline gameplay and a new mission system that lets you pick up all kinds of different odd jobs from a forever-updating list. Star systems now are now graded with "wealth, economy and conflict levels," giving you more information on desirable destinations (depending on what you're after). There's a new class of ships, new exotic planet types and a new "interdimensional race" to contend with. Terrain editing is now possible provided you have the appropriate Multi-Tool enhancement, and crashed freighters on the surface of planets serve as new scavenging hotspots... to its credit, Hello Games continues to push massive, free updates for the title, such that the game is now very different to what it was initially.
The game has been heavily discounted to promote the update, and Saturday it became Amazon's #12 best-selling PS4 game -- and one of Steam's top 100 most-played games.
Meeting up with other explorers should be a bit easier with the new portal system, which allows players to travel between planets instantly, including to random worlds. Taking a leaf out of Stargate lore, activating a sequence of glyphs on portals can designate specific exit points. Hello Games hopes the community will band together to create something of a database of glyph sequences... There's 30 hours of new storyline gameplay and a new mission system that lets you pick up all kinds of different odd jobs from a forever-updating list. Star systems now are now graded with "wealth, economy and conflict levels," giving you more information on desirable destinations (depending on what you're after). There's a new class of ships, new exotic planet types and a new "interdimensional race" to contend with. Terrain editing is now possible provided you have the appropriate Multi-Tool enhancement, and crashed freighters on the surface of planets serve as new scavenging hotspots... to its credit, Hello Games continues to push massive, free updates for the title, such that the game is now very different to what it was initially.
The game has been heavily discounted to promote the update, and Saturday it became Amazon's #12 best-selling PS4 game -- and one of Steam's top 100 most-played games.
no.
-linux... they can't *give* that shit away.
That's probably about where it belongs. It was never a $60 game. Still, game is basically dead after all the shit that's happened.
Interest for the game has completely waned. I suspect the people that wanted to player game have long since moved onto others, and are now too bitter to come back to it.
Like Street Fighter 5, these updates have come too late to entice players back.
Summation 2
Won't make it any good
The kind of thought that needs to connect the word 'free' to the word 'update' is so damaged by the current gaming environment that any logical output will be at best a matter of chance, akin a monkey randomly typing a copy of Shakespeare.
Knowledge is power. Knowledge shared is power lost.
Why is it that every update No Mans Sky releases listed as a "Free update?" This seems to be insinuating that at some point they will charge for their bug fixes / patches? I'm glad they are adding new features and items to the game to get it closer to what they hyped to be, but they got a lot of gull acting like they could sell these patches.
I'll admit I just bought the game because it finally went on sale on Steam, as I wasn't going to pay $60 for it, but $20 was fine. Its fun, but it has a limited shelf life. I dont see myself playing it for a real long time. I sure wouldn't buy DLC or patches for it, nor would I pay $60 for it.
Did it deserve the negative hype it got, probably not. However I went into it already knowing what it was, and didn't expect anymore than a space exploration game.
I loved the first instance of the game (played about 30 hours).
This update made me restart a new game.
Irrelevant news and morons using moderation to mod down what they disagree on. 2018 resolution: so long.
But I wasn't interested at all when it released. Big media circle jerk. I bought it this Friday post-patch and have loved the experience. Best not let your expectations get away from you.
I've been rather enjoying the new DLC things in Sniper Elite 4.
Go back and play No Man's Sky? No, I prefer having fun.
I should use this sig to advertise my book ISBN-13 : 978-1501515132.
For new players, sure? It's finally delivering most of what was advertised.
For the fans who bought this early on and were probably the most enthused about the game? I imagine there's pretty much no redemption route for them.
It's less redemption and more disaster mitigation at this point...
For all the, admitted well deserved, hate everyone is laying at the feet of this game at least the developer didn't just abandon it. Many gaming studies gladly cut their losses well beyond this point. But yet the developer keeps doing their best to work on the game. And that's enough to drop the $24 on a copy of it on GOG and try it out.
Direct link
DRM-free as always. Just downloaded from there and looking forward to trying it.
-- Insert witty one-liner here. --
Jesus get over with it ok?
I know it's part of the "science, engineering and space" trend but it's dead Jim, move on...
I know a lot of people have already checked out because they didn't like being sold a bill of goods. I totally understand those people. But for the rest of us who just want good games to play and don't care about the release-time controversy, it's looks like there's a better future coming. Hello Games has now added three major elements that were never announced or even hinted at prior to the original release: Land vehicles, base building, and now terraforming. Were these planned all along? Maybe, maybe not, but it's clear that more content and features will continue to be released.
For all we know, NMS will become a continually-evolving game like Eve Online, Elite: Dangerous, or even Starbound.
Saved you a click.
Now with over 80% of the content we promised at launch...
âoeThe way is shut. It was made by those who are Dead, and the Dead keep it, until the time comes. The way is shut.â
You saved a click.
Fuck PvP, go play Unreal/Quake/etc if you want that kind of shit.
#DeleteFacebook
This screed is just so sad. It makes me cry to read this
I dont get who has the energy to write this stuff.
At this price point, ($59 on Steam), No Man's Sky cannot redeem itself.
It's like the old saying, "Fool me once, shame on me. Fool me twice and I'm not gonna buy your fucking game until you drop the price and maybe not even then because you jackoffs have been promising shit and not delivering all along."
At least I think that's how the saying goes.
You are welcome on my lawn.
Much of that can be laid at Hello Game's feet. Their handling of the post-release shit storm was utterly and completely inept. I sometimes wonder if they were bound by some contractual agreement which forced them into complete and total radio silence.
If at any point they had come out and said, "Guys, we know we kinda screwed up and the whole situation sucks, but ..." and gave even a shallow explanation for themselves the whole thing might have just blown over. Instead, they hunkered down in their fallout shelter and, apparently, kept working on the game while waiting for the shit storm to blow over.
After the disastrous release, people had every reason to assume they had fallen for yet another smooth talking video game designer and that the product would be abandoned after raking in boat loads of cash from the hype tsunami they'd created. The problem with hype is that when things go wrong the hype train converts immediately into a hateful mob.
Who knows, maybe nothing they said could have mollified the nerd rage, but it's hard to argue that saying absolutely nothing what-so-ever did anything but make shit worse. They'd have never made everyone happy, even had a significant fraction of the promised features been delivered. Instead, they made everyone angry, which is obviously a much better state of affairs.
More like Duke Nukem Neverever!
Is it "no" because NMS never needed to redeem itself, except in the eyes of the over-hyped?
I played the original release. It was a fun game, though fairly shallow. I enjoyed my time with it. I'm also enjoying these updates, and revisiting the game when these updates are released. For me, the answer is "no" as well.
Surprised I got a minus one on this. Was trying to be helpful. Didn't think that'd lump me with the trolls hurling obscenities and slurs like frisbees.
Fuck PvP, go play Unreal/Quake/etc if you want that kind of shit.
Fuck FPS, I guess you've never played any RPG games.
But, anything for your karma points, I guess.
RPG is supposed to be against ennemies, not other players.
Just because World of Warcraft has PvP addicts doesn't mean all RPGs should be like that. Hell, even they offer non-PvP servers.
Prices of any item going vertical is a pretty big sign the market has succumbed to irrational exuberance.
I just I am one of the few that did not mind the game when it first came out. It is a nice and relaxing game. These extra features are nice thou
The millennial that doesn't like most of the stuff designed for millennials.
SOme people want to literally explore worlds. You know, adventure!
There are PLENTY of zap-'em games... plenty. It's a number one type of franchise. Leave NMS alone and let it be an exploration game without Alliances, Clans, PvP, micro-transactions, and other crap.
Can it not be a chance to escape life's conflicts, and explore something cool?
The concept of PvP is the total opposite of NMS.
what about hot grits on Natalie Portman?
it's probably something some bored AC has saved as a text file he copy pastes in.