6 Ups & 9 Downs From No Man's Sky

7. Combat Is Floaty & Frustrating

Both on the ground and in space, combat is probably the least satisfying aspect of No Man's Sky overall. It is something you might even actively avoid, given how satisfying so much of the solitary exploration can be.

After all, this is not really a game sold as a shooter at all, and Hello kept the combat mostly under wraps until recently...with good reason. Ground combat typically consists of taking on Sentinels of varying levels of aggression and perhaps also stray animals who don't take kindly to you.

This is simple enough, but the floaty aiming means you'll probably miss almost as much as you hit, and needing to reload or recharge your gun from the game's menu mid-battle feels majorly counter-intuitive.

In space, you'll typically be assailed by space pirates at random, and are required to fire at a reticule in front of your target in order to line up shots. This can prove frustrating due to the frantic nature of the battles: though most players should cope fine with a few enemy ships, it's just not very satisfying and proves to be an irritating diversion above all else.

When players are actively avoiding a game's combat, you know it's not good.