9 Ways Hello Games Should Have Made No Man's Sky

Nov 24, 2016 November 24th, 2016

1. Don't Lie About Or Embellish Features That Aren't Locked In

Since launch, Murray and anyone associated with No Man's Sky haven't tweeted or clarified any of precisely why the final product differs from that which was advertised and discussed, and while I'm sure this is down to their PR wing yelling, "Just don't say anything for a while!", it's resulted in a drop-off of 90% of players since launch.

At time of writing, it's still up in the air as to what Sean Murray was referring to when he discussed things like being able to "grief" other players, but as for being able to see each other in the game world - yeah, that just isn't in the game.

People naturally took the assumption of 'meeting up with your friends' to equal 'exploring the galaxy together', but it we focus on the specifics that were discussed, the only major smoking gun comes from Murray's appearance on Stephen Colbert, where he quite literally said we'd be able to see each other in-game.

I'm more than willing to give Murray and the team the benefit of the doubt with the amount of things that were discussed. Many elements of game design change over time, and it's natural that aspects get cut, refined or ditched altogether - the problem, comes in advertising the game off the back of features and functionality that aren't present or fully implemented.

To this day, the 'gameplay' trailer listed on No Man's Sky's Steam page shows an outdated version, highlighting creature models that aren't in the game, a HUD that isn't the launch version, and creature animations such as charging through forests that are nowhere to be seen.

The problem isn't that No Man's Sky isn't a brilliant game - it's a wondrous balancing act of innovation, mathematics and sci-fi wish-fulfilment - but more that what was advertised and embellished upon, still isn't what your money can buy right now.

If there's one thing that should have gone another way, it's most definitely this.