So a month ago, Cheap was talking about No Man's Sky getting a major update, so I got curious. Before that, the game was strictly used as a joke between my brother and I (as well as a metric for failure, deception, hype, etc. as it was for most of the internet). I remember at one point, I told him "you know, NMS is never going to be a redemption story, but at least the devs didn't say "It's better than nothing" and run off with the money.”

But seeing that it finally had real multiplayer, I decided that maybe I'd pick it up if it ever went on sale. About two weeks ago, it was part of the PSN weekly deals at $25, so I grabbed it to see if Sammy and I could at least get a few hours of fun together, since she loved Minecraft back in the day, and it feels like The Forest is never coming out on console (despite being promised like three years ago).

And anyway... my initial impressions were that the game is fun as a co-op game, but would get boring real quick if you were playing it solo. After four hours together, Sammy and I had a nice habitat made on the second planet that she found, and she called it a night.

Sammy initially spawned on an uninhabitable Arizona planet where she was taking damage before she even had control of her character.
She named it accordingly.

I didn't really feel like continuing on my own, but right before she went to bed, we had picked up a few Blueprints for our house. She had learned how to craft a teleporter, and I had learned to craft... a window. sitting alone in our home, with the steady glow of the teleporter being the only light source in our dark shelter, I decided to craft some windows real quick, just to make the place look nicer before I logged off.
Only, you apparently need glass to craft a window (who knew?), and you could only find that on an ice planet, of which there were none in our solar system.
So I looked at the clock, said screw it, and took off into space.

As the morning sun peeked through the blinds six hours later, I warped back to our planet with my convoy of battle-hardened trade and combat frigates, having... seen things you people wouldn't believe.

I landed on the peaceful beach of our home, instinctively removed the safety from my blood-caked rifle as I got off the ship, and... realized that I never did learn how to craft glass...

Welp...

Anyway, I've put a total of twenty-five hours into the game since I started, and while it's up there with God of War for my favorite "new" game of the year... I really don't know of a way that I could recommend it to people. It's not a "game" so much as countless pieces of a game, and tons of "moments". The things that you could compare with other games, those other games probably do it better, but the thing is that this game is loaded with them, so it would be a sum-of-its-parts game on paper, but its greatest strength is simply... exploring the worlds and their vistas, which is unrelated to the countless mechanics, resource ecosystems, loot and jobs, RPG elements, story and lore, etc... But also directly tied to them through the way it all works together.
That fantastic planet that you visit? The journey was made possible by the upgrades to your ship, which were only possible from the units and nanites that you earned doing jobs, which were manageable once you upgraded your Multitool with the resources that you found exploring local planets, which you had to upgrade your exosuit to survive in by trading with local habitats and trade centers...

It's all earned.

And there's more to the game than that as well. There is a rep system where different species and factions interact with you, which affects jobs and options available to you in different systems. There is a trade/investment system with frigates akin to Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood's recruitment missions. There are seemingly two different storylines (Awakenings and Atlas), and a mysterious anomaly with two friendly strangers who simply monitor your progress (for now). It all adds intrigue and investment, without it becoming a simple investment system.

Even something as simple as running into a previously-discovered planet and looking at the named lifeforms is a joy.
Sammy has a straightforward naming system.

But again. How do you pitch it to someone? The combat's not great, the space battles are rudimentary, inventory management is an absolute pain, co-op elements are super wonky, the trade and upgrade economies are overly complicated, and you're constantly having to cut the fun short to gather more basic resources just to be able to survive or move from your location...
All in the name of... exploration.

And those resources seem to run out at the worst possible times sometimes...

I don't know. But I can't put it down. Every new alien word that I decypher, every single inventory slot that I grind hours for, every new star system that I visit, every resource that I've hoarded to sell at a profit, every pirate ambush that I survive, every frigate that I add to my fleet... it's all hugely satisfying and earned.

And the game keeps giving me a sense of wonder. During one of the missions that I sent ships on, one received heavy damage. I was given a choice: continue the mission, or recall the ship?
I chose to recall the ship, and after a few moments, it warped back to my frigate, and was labeled as "Damaged". I flew over to it, and saw that it had a landing zone. I landed on it, and the captain hailed me, telling me where the damage was. I got out, of my ship, with the stars and coldness of space all around me, and made my way to fix the visibly damaged component.

The fact that the game never went to a loading screen, or simple drop-down menu for superficial management, but physically brought the ship to my location, and then I had to physically make my way to the damage to fix it... It was new to me. Sure, fixing a damaged area is as simple as interacting with it, then feeding it a specific resource to magically fix it, but the fact that there's a sense of responsibility caught me by surprise. I sent the ship out to something it couldn't handle, made the call to bring it out, then had to see the consequences of my initial choice, and had to personally see to them.

In my defense, I bought the ship because it wasn't exactly a pushover.

And even though it's ostensibly a "relaxing" game, there's some great stuff that can happen.
During one jump, I warped right into the middle of an existing space battle between a trade convoy and waves of space pirates. It felt like the Dreadnaught moment in Mass Effect 3. I also realized that in the middle of the fight, I could summon my personal fleet to the battle Star Trek style (again, note how easy it is to compare this game to other things).

Anyway, I love the game, and it has a Photo Mode, so it's weird to think that it really has become the redemption story that I never thought it could be. So congrats to Hello Games, they've done a great job to earn that "Mixed" review score.

we mixed now bois pic.twitter.com/kx8eiBwWVp

— Sean Murray (@NoMansSky) July 25, 2018

And lastly, here are some more pics that I've captured from the game. They're okay, but if you look at some of the amazing images that the official twitter has shared, there are wonders out there in that universe that I haven't even scratched the surface of.

The Return of CQB.

I never tire of ringed planets.

Befriending Local (seemingly-peaceful) critters. I've seen Galaxy Quest, tho...

And trying to befriend the non-peaceful critters.

The third star system that I came across.

Planet proximity causing weird clouds.

Finding some neat eggs!

A spicy planet completely covered in these weird mounds. What tunneled below them, I wonder?

A little salty about this rough landing...