5 Reasons to Play No Man's Sky
Stranded on a giant hunk of space rock amidst the dark churn of the cosmos, the struggle to stay alive becomes a bleak but fascinating adventure in No Man's Sky. Few sci-fi survival PC games are as epic or as stunning as this impressive offering, which is capable of pleasantly eating up massive amounts of your time as you craft, catalog, and explore the depths of space.
Is No Man's Sky a perfect outing into the stars? Not quite, but it's also not the crash and burn you might expect if you just relied on disgruntled player reviews and comments to form your opinion. After many hours exploring, battling, building, and rocketing through space, I've had an absolute blast with the game despite its shortcomings. if you're willing to look past the hype leading up to launch and the recent backlash from angry players who feel the game didn't meet up to their extremely high expectations, sci-fi nerds will a lot to love here.
Still on the fence about whether No Man's Sky is right for you? Here are five reasons why you should definitely dig into this captivating journey.
1) Just about everything is procedurally generated
From the types of alien species you'll encounter to the climate, terrain, and look of the many planets that you can uncover throughout this procedurally generated universe, everything is completely unique and randomized. No Man's Sky's boasts an incredibly diverse range of climates and worlds to dig into, and rocketing down into the atmosphere to land on a newly discovered world (once you repair your ship enough to venture into space) is an exciting prospect each time. Just how many possible planets are there to find? Somewhere in the ballpark of 18,446,744,073,709,551,616. Yeah. That's craziness.
No Man's Sky gameplay footage, courtesy of YouTube
2) Hit the dirt, hit the skies
Half of the fun in No Man's Sky comes from hoofing it around the planet surface to scavenge for rare minerals and resources needed to craft crucial items, maintain your life support systems, and upgrade your suit and ship. The other half, of course, comes when you point your ship skyward and rattle through the atmosphere into space, where you can warp travel, engage alien ships, raid massive fleets of star craft, and dock at stations. It's a seamless transition that really drives home the size and scope of this huge bustling universe.
3) So much cool space bling
Resource management is the key to survival on the many beautiful but harsh planetscapes you'll encounter, though everything you scavenge can also be combined to create upgrades for you suit, your ship, and your handy mining blaster (which doubles as a tool for combat when the local critter inhabitants decide you look like a tasty snack). Mining and scavenging are absorbing task, and they also tie directly into your exploration capabilities. Plus, who doesn't love carving weird faces into huge of space monoliths? Collect-a-holics will find plenty to obsess over in this galactic playground.
No Man's Sky gameplay footage courtesy of YouTube
4) Absolutely stunning atmosphere
Visually, No Man's Sky doesn't skimp when it comes to the magic of discovery. Every new world you encounter feels vibrant and brimming with life, and the mix of crazy creatures and unique vistas offer many spellbinding moments for players who love sightseeing. The fact you can catalog, collect, scan, and name your discoveries adds to the fun. And that's even before you start to encounter the distinct sentient alien races and the mysterious artifacts strewn throughout the cosmos. Mystery and intrigue are layered on the deeper you explore, and the visual surprises are frequent.
5) To infinity and beyond
For players who crave structure, there is a more guided path that points you towards the center of the galaxy to unravel your way through the game's light story -- your ultimate objective in No Man's Sky. Of course, you can always ignore that and wind a meandering path to wherever your warp drive leads you. I've spent entire days sidetracked with fun exploratory adventures on single planets. Basically, if you feel inclined to drink from the sci-fi firehose, there's far more content to catalog and explore than one person could possibly tackle in a lifetime. It's really up to you to decide just how much of this galaxy you want to sink your teeth into.
No Man's Sky gameplay footage courtesy of YouTube
For all of its vast celestial marvels, No Man's Sky requires a fair amount of grunt to run without any hiccups. To ensure smooth sailing through the stars, we're recommending the ROG Strix GL502 for getting the performance out of this vast, gorgeous space exploration and survival experience.
Note: While the PC version initially launched with some issues, it has already been patched several times with major fixes to improve gameplay.
By Nathan Meunier
Recommended system requirements
OS: Windows 7/8.1/10 (64-bit versions)
Processor: Intel Core i5
Memory: 8 GB RAM
Graphics: ROG Strix RX 480 / ROG Strix GTX 1060
Storage: 10 GB available space
Author
Popular Posts
How to adjust your laptop's P-Cores and E-Cores for better performance and battery life
How to Cleanly Uninstall and Reinstall Armoury Crate
How to configure your PC's RGB lighting with Aura Sync
Introducing the ROG Astral GeForce RTX 5090 and 5080: a new frontier of gaming graphics
How to upgrade the SSD and reinstall Windows on your ROG Ally or Ally X
LATEST ARTICLES

ROG Travel books another killer vacation in second video
Troy Baker and Ned Luke team up to offer a killer vacation plan in a post-apocalyptic paradise.

Surviving Frostpunk 2’s frozen hellscape
Frostpunk 2 is a bold sequel that pushes the franchise into uncharted, exciting territory.

ROG teams up with iconic voice actors in cheeky new video
The ROG travel agency is open for business.

The best AAA games for the ROG Ally and ROG Ally X
The ROG Ally is a new breed of handheld, capable of handling large-scale AAA games with great performance. Here are some of our top games for the system.

The best relaxing, casual games to play on the ROG Ally
Need a break from the fast paced, heart-racing games you usually play? Cozy up on the couch with your ROG Ally and these relaxing games.

The best ROG Ally games to play in short bursts
Sometimes you have a few hours to game, sometimes you have 10-15 minutes to squeeze something in. Handhelds like the ROG Ally are perfect for those quick sessions.