10 Video Games You Shouldn't Have Played At Launch

6. No Man’s Sky

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Hello Games

No Man’s Sky stands out from its company on this list by at least releasing in a more functional and playable state (which really shouldn’t be a compliment we have to give). However, what made its launch notable was the collective sound of disappointment it produced across the web. As if a legion of gamers pulled a face and went “oh”.

The hype for the game was pretty palpable before release as Sean Murray, the creator of the project, had promised some big things. A space exploration title that would boldly go further than any other game of its ilk, it promised a procedurally generated universe with an almost infinite number of planets to explore.

Whilst technically this was true, gamers found the title to be severely underwhelming. The planets were boring, the ships were samey and the game was missing a lot of content that had been promised, not least of all multiplayer functionality. The truth was that Murray had removed the feature last minute and so physical copies of the game even mentioned online play where it didn’t exist.

Regardless, No Man’s Sky kept trucking along. Free updates to the game have certainly restored faith in the studio amongst its core fanbase. On release, No Man’s Sky was one of the worst reviewed games on Steam - and now it’s officially “mostly positive” which is quite the impressive redemption.

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The Red Mage of WhatCulture. Very long hair. She/they.