I’ve covered No Man’s Sky multiple times on TouchArcade in recent years, via the PC version on the Steam Deck, the Nintendo Switch port, updates, and more. Even in recent years, it’s still incredible to see how much content Hello Games has added to it, and ahead of its eighth anniversary, I decided to once again write an article about No Man’s Sky and talk about how much I love it. The love of it, and the feeling of playing it.
This isn’t an updated review of the game now or anything, but more of a blend of why I love No Man’s Sky now, a trip down memory lane, and what it felt like to be there from the beginning. Before I get started, because I pre-ordered the vinyl of No Man’s Sky before it came out. At the time of release, I thought No Man’s Sky was a great game with great music and a lot of potential. I can see the vision of being able to explore a world that feels like stepping onto the cover of a science fiction novel, but it hasn’t come out as a full version yet.
Back in 2016, when No Man’s Sky debuted on PS4 and PC, I ended up buying it from the import store on PS4 because the limited edition I ordered was being shipped to a friend in another country, I cannot change my pre-order. I’ve committed to buying it twice and you can tell I’m super excited to play it and I’ve been since day one. On PS4, I ended up playing about 15 or 20 hours and enjoyed many aspects including the exploration and music, but it wasn’t technically great and a lot of it felt undercooked. After a few weeks of on-and-off gaming, I’ve had enough. I still have the physical PS4 version from day one, and I actually installed it on my PS4 Pro without any patches to see how vastly different and upgraded the game is today compared to what’s available on modern platforms. How does it feel.
Before looking at how No Man’s Sky has evolved over the years, what drew me to it in the first place? There’s something very appealing about having a space exploration game that allows you to seamlessly fly across planets and explore at your own pace. The nature of the program could go either way, but this aspect always makes me more curious to try and push things to see if I run into repetition or boredom. Trying to finish the “story” early is not a good idea. Immerse yourself in the unknown.
The survival aspect has always been my least favorite element of No Man’s Sky, and Hello Games is slowly allowing players to tweak the experience however they want. This got me started playing No Man’s Sky more on different platforms. With custom modes and even creative modes, I see No Man’s Sky as a relaxing experience outside of the main save. I used to fire it up when I needed to and explore for an hour while seeing everything the planet had to offer, or just fly around. I never get tired of it. Who knew how easy it would be to play static music for 65 days while exploring space.
One thing I’ve seen people want to know is what you actually do in No Man’s Sky. Today, that can be almost anything you want. If you want to follow the guided path, perform the mission in normal mode while slowly building up your ship and character. Don’t like combat, survival, crafting and gathering? Play in creative or custom modes and adjust your own difficulty. The appeal of No Man’s Sky has always been about exploring and discovering new things, planets, creatures, and more. It helps that its aesthetics and audio design are excellent across the board. Even taking into account the procedurally generated aspects, I think No Man’s Sky is still one of the most visually stunning and endearing games out there.
Since launch, No Man’s Sky has received countless updates, bringing new game modes, new content, quality-of-life improvements, massive visual improvements, combat enhancements, additional features, and basically The game transforms into the most advanced experience available. After playing almost every update to No Man’s Sky, I thought it would be fun to revisit version 1.00 on PS4 and see how it feels today. While the visual changes and improvements back in 1.00 are quickly missed, I forgot how much better the game plays now compared to the release version. I also forgot why there was no third person mode in 1.00. The lack of a quick access menu is another huge loss, but I still find myself seeing what made me fall in love with No Man’s Sky back in version 1.00.
The PS4 release date disc installation file size of “No Man’s Sky” is less than 4GB. I’m playing offline so it doesn’t try to patch while I’m playing. Then, after my console came online, I did a 19GB (or so) update that upgraded the version on PS4 from 1.00 to 5.02. You can’t really quantify the amount Hello Games has brought to No Man’s Sky since launch, but considering the size of the base game, it’s interesting to see the size of the update archive. By 2017, it already felt like a brand new game, but 2024’s No Man’s Sky feels like a combination of multiple sequels and enhancements, delivering everything I wanted and more. The image below is from the unpatched version 1.00 on PS4:
In addition to the 2016 PS4 release, over the years I’ve played Nobody on Xbox One, Xbox One X, PS4 Pro, Steam Deck, PS5, Xbox Series X, Nintendo Switch, macOS, Nintendo Switch Lite, and Steam Deep Space Deck OLED as the latest system. Aside from some cuts being made on Nintendo Switch due to technical reasons like multiplayer, the team has somehow managed to bring the full experience to all of these platforms. I can’t get over how good the Nintendo Switch port is, and how amazing No Man’s Sky looks on my PS5 and Xbox Series X, but the Steam Deck OLED is hands down my favorite platform to play on, and that’s thanks to For a gorgeous display with HDR and the ability to use the trackpad for precise aiming. Having all of this on a portable device is absolutely amazing.
Back in 2019, when Ace Combat 7 was released, I purchased Thrustmaster T.Flight Hotas 4 and decided to try it out with No Man’s Sky on the Steam Deck. As you can see, it really works and makes for interesting photos. I ended up using it while gaming on the Steam Deck on my monitor and everything worked great. No Man’s Sky is clearly a very flexible and scalable game that runs smoothly on every device I own, including a MacBook Air. I don’t know if this is possible, but crossover progression is probably my only real wish that hasn’t been addressed yet.
Following this month’s update for the first part of No Man’s Sky, there’s more planned via a video showcasing the patch. Sean even joked about the number of updates. Hopefully this becomes a reality and also gives us a way to give back to Hello Games, because No Man’s Sky is so much more than the gift we keep giving. Visually, No Man’s Sky is even more incredible now than it was a few years ago, and I can’t believe that almost all of it is available on the older systems the game debuted on. The significant improvements to the Nintendo Switch version since launch also serve as a reminder that No Man’s Sky is a technological marvel on Nintendo’s hybrid platform.
Another aspect worth mentioning about No Man’s Sky is the community on Reddit and Twitter sharing screenshots, anecdotes about the adventure, player journeys, and more. I love reading about other people’s experiences playing No Man’s Sky for the first time, or hearing about how people discovered the game after playing it. The team has somehow managed to gather a very passionate community who have stuck with the game and it feels like it’s growing with every update. The last thing I want to highlight is TouchArcade co-founder Blake Patterson’s own No Man’s Sky blog.
If you read this and are wondering what the point of this post is (this is not a review), I just wanted an excuse to gush about why I love No Man’s Sky today and what draws me to it Going back to it back in the day will hopefully allow you to give one of my favorite games a chance. After countless hours invested across various platforms, versions, updates, etc., No Man’s Sky went from a potentially great game to one of my favorite games in years. The road to redemption in No Man’s Sky began in 2016 and ended a few years later. Now it’s well beyond that and one of the best examples of over-delivery. No Man’s Sky 2024 is so much more than I thought it would be, and even with what we’re seeing in the sequel, I still can’t believe all of this was added for free.
Whenever there is a sale on Steam or I see a game on sale on a console, I encourage some friends to give it a try. In its current state, No Man’s Sky has something for every type of player and has a variety of game modes, so I’ll be playing it across platforms on a regular basis. I haven’t played a game that does space exploration so well, and I’ve been looking forward to playing No Man’s Sky for years. Hopefully the next time I write about No Man’s Sky on TouchArcade, it will involve the potential iOS release we’re all waiting for. Until then, No Man’s Sky was one of my favorite games, and it got better and better with every update. Now giving us a new vinyl soundtrack version with more music, Sean.
