I had the original so I got the update for free. It auto-updated even. (I bought the digital version originally.)
Last I checked in the PS store it was $30. For me, that’s a good price for this game. (I paid the full $60 originally.)
If you are looking for a “realistic” space sim like Elite Dangerous or something then you will probably be disappointed. Still, the most frustrating aspects of Elite Dangerous were 1) not getting to walk around anywhere, and 2) so much flying through basically empty space. No Man’s Sky has none of that.
The planets are unrealistically close together but in some ways that actually adds to the coolness factor. The fact that I can see a planet with rings in the sky while I’m walking around on some world and then just decide to hop in my ship and fly straight there… kind of fun if you like that sort of thing.
Note: they have a hard-code survival mode and one with permadeath. I’ve not tried those. The ‘normal’ mode is enough challenge for me while still allowing me to take a breath and look around at the scenery. Also, I’d stay away from permadeath until they get all of the glitches worked out. 2 out of the 3 times I’ve died in my current game were because of glitches in the game. Though one of those was kind of funny in retrospect…
When you get a freighter, you can totally reconfigure the halls and rooms and stuff inside. Part of this is that you can put your own cargo containers in like you’d have on a planetary base. Unfortunately, there is a geometry glitch where it doesn’t properly blend to the other scenery and leaves big gaping holes where you can see out into space. Guess what: those aren’t just visual artifacts… you can step right through the gap and fall into space and die.
Here is a gallery I made for some of my co-workers after getting my second frigate:
I’d never done it before but the PS4 automatically records video… so I tried uploading some NMS gameplay. There’s no commentary or anything so I imagine it’s pretty boring… but here are some videos in all their glitchiness:
Finding and infiltrating a factory starting from my freighter:
My standard procedure when jumping to a new system (when it has a starbase):
And then once I’ve found a trading post, setting up a simple base of operations:
No editing, no voice-over, no explanation… just me having found the record button. hahah.
I was persuaded into No Man’s Sky after the recent update too with a £20 price-tag from steam at the time. As @pspeed says, a massive time sink… about 250 hours so far I think. It has some bugs, more than I would expect, but nothing game-breaking. The multi-player is mostly ok, but doesn’t feel like it adds a great deal. Some bits can get a little tedious, but it’s not too bad.
Yeah, I say it’s very “grindy”… especially early on. Finding lots of drop pods helps a lot, though… and after a while you figure out just to keep lots of certain types of elements on hand.
I don’t feel the grind especially hard anymore except when building new bases or trying to fuel up my fleet of frigates. And because of the former, when I’m on a planet with lots of pure ferrite, I compulsively grind without thinking about it.
I’m not setting down lots of bases as you can teleport between space-stations and your base, as long as you’ve put the teleport device down. I only have 1 proper base, a mighty-fine double level base in the air, so I can park Colossus underneath, making inventory available almost anywhere on my base. I had enough ferrite grinding for that, once off. And yeah the recent change to frigate missions has resulted in tedious Di-hydrogen->Jelly->di-hydrogen cycles to create enough. I’ll be heading to the centre soon, so I’ve bought a new explorer now with over 2000ly range.
My standard operating procedure for any new planet is to find a trading post and then drop a base marker next to it. Less critical now that I have a market terminal on my freighter but it’s still my standard procedure (and it’s relatively cheap). Sometimes I feel like dropping actual base buildings there, too… if the storms are frequent and/or I feel creative. Also, a well placed building can make it easier to get back up onto the landing pad.
…the way I play, I can go hours and hours without having to reup my launcher fuel because I always land on pads.
I tend to stay in a single system for a while and explore the planets, though. I don’t really have a desire to go to the center and I’ve been putting off advancing the Atlas quest (though that is tempting again).
