AAISHA KALLIER
Released in August 2016, No Man’s Sky was inspired by classic science-fiction adventure and imagination. This action-adventure game was developed and published by a small indie studio called Hello Games. Developed for both Playstation and PC, the game is built around exploration, survival, combat, and trading.
The game starts you off on a randomised planet situated within a galaxy of 18 quintillion planets. You are able to explore and discover planets and creatures that no players have seen before, and perhaps never will again.
No Man’s Sky is such a large game that every star you see is the star of a faraway planet which you are able to visit and explore. Equipped with the basic essentials to excavate resources from rock and plant life, you are also given an exosuit and tools to build and repair your broken-down spaceship. The character, referred to as a traveller, is set to embark on any journey the player sees fit. The game has very little structure, so there is an unavoidable element of repetitiveness but also adventure.
The bugs in the game do not boost the image of Hello Games and players are flooding the discussion boards with complaints. Though there are constant bug fixes through the updates, the small team at Hello Games seem to be having difficulty catching and fixing the bugs on time, frustrating players further.
For those gamers who are contemplating trying their hand at No Man’s Sky, there are a few things to keep in mind before making that purchase. The game is retailing for around R899 on Playstation and R599 on PC. As the game is generated procedurally, it relies on computer hardware to create the best gaming experience for the player. The specifications needed to run the game on PC would be an i7 processor with at least 8GB of RAM, and for graphics cards a Nvidia GTX 480 or equivalent is the recommended minimum.
No Man’s Sky is still a growing game in terms of its potential and what the developers have in mind for its future. For now, the game is definitely filling the space in a tiny niche market that is keeping players enthralled for hours on end. some of South Africa’s best comedians.
