So, with all the updates, is it worth picking up? I'm interested now that it is coming to Xbox, but I'm afraid it won't hold interest for too long.

I'm kind of excited about this coming to Xbox. During its pre-release hype, I thought it looked like a relaxing game. I like the idea of just exploring and looking around. It's a good end of the day thing to do.

Thanks for sharing this, I didn't know it was coming to XB.

I thought No Man's Sky was fine when it launched. It wasn't great, and I ultimately didn't find it super compelling, but it was neat, and pretty, and I had a good fifteen hours just chilling in that game.

Well, next week, the NEXT update hits (along with an Xbox release). The big updates they have done in the past weren't enough to bring me back, but this looks pretty neat, and it's enough that I've reinstalled the game on PS4 in preparation for checking it out.

-Waypoint-

Digs into their relationship with the community and press. Doesn't really cover what NEXT will entail outside of a few details. Does confirm that the experience they're targeting is a meditative Sci Fi experience.

Dang. I really think it's something I would enjoy (even the original version, flawed or not) but I'm having to drastically cut back recreational spending for the foreseeable future and I don't think $60 games are going to fit into that plan. Here's hoping for a major sale someday.

I just found out about the Galactic Atlas.

It appears to be community driven and it should be a super interesting way to explore the universe. I love the idea of finding out about this cool spot in the universe that someone found and tracking it down.

There's an element of this that reminds me of the first Destiny trailer, about striking out and exploring the universe. I definitely enjoy what we got out of Destiny, and am also thankful that NMS delivers that wonder of exploration I was also craving.

I am glad to hear it is coming to XBox and that the updates have been impressive so far.

I played it on PC when it was first available and I had a great time exploring and naming planets and life forms. But after awhile it got to where it just needed more elements to keep it interesting.

$50-60 is probably not in my price range right now. But I plan to keep an eye on it on XBox. Would love to give it another go!

That also reminds me I should jump back in to Subnautica some day soon and see if they have done anymore with that game.

Third person view is cool. Really digging it.

The terrain generation is immediately noticeably better. That was honestly one of my biggest issues with the game--it was sort of ugly. Everything had bad, muddy textures, and the worlds didn't feel "real" in the way they were put together. The few planets I've seen have all felt more natural and realistic, and while the texture work still isn't amazing, it is much better.

It's also much better at on-boarding and giving a little bit of direction, if you want that.

It's still too early to tell, but I'm in real danger of being sucked into this game. It might actually be the game I sort of wanted Elite Dangerous to be.

I played a few more hours tonight. Killed some pirates attacking a freighter and the Captain rewarded me by giving me his big ass ship. It's cool--it works like a mobile home base that can house multiple ships and base-building areas inside. So you can use your freighter to travel between systems, then hop in your regular ship to explore that system.

I'm still amazed by the new terrain generation. Planets are just much better now, and much more compelling than they were before.

The crafting and survival systems have been heavily overhauled. You now have a portable refinery you can craft to refine the base materials you mine into advanced versions that you need to craft blueprints.

NEXT is such a drastic improvement over the base game. However, that isn't to say that the game itself has drastically changed. If you didn't like it before, I don't think this is enough to change your mind. The gameplay loop is still the same. It's still largely aimless wondering, mining supplies to craft fuel or whatever. Base building is neat. It seems sort of weird to build bases in a game that is ostensibly about exploring trillions of planets, but teleporters allow you to visit a built base from anywhere in the galaxy. So if you find a planet you just really love the look of, you can build a base there and teleport to and from it at will.

If you already owned the game, I would highly recommend jumping back in and giving this new update a try.

I found this encouraging:

Reviews are really subjective, and in recent years I've learned to try to find people whose taste seems to line up with mine. Alanah's usually pretty close to how I end up feeling about a given game, so I tend to take her more seriously. YMMV, of course.