No Man's Sky: 10 Valid Complaints In A Sea Of Hate

3. The Whole Experience Boils Down To Too Much Grinding

We've already touched upon the fact that the essence of No Man's Sky forces it into a set of changes that are very skin deep, but the fact that the overall experience is so deeply embedded in grinding through different mechanics is even more frustrating still.

Some of the planets are huge and well-populated enough that you could truly spend days just exploring their surface. This would eliminate the issues of finding the same things over and over in multiple galaxies, but it doesn't fix the fact that there's just so little in the way of gameplay variety on offer anywhere.

The whole experience boils down to an exercise in collecting commodities and, apart from aiming for the centre of the universe, the only goal is to surround yourself with slightly improved goods and gear. A new ship or multi-tool may tide you over for a few hours, until you see a new one that looks a little better and you collect the relevant currencies to obtain it.

No Man's Sky could easily have been renamed 'Galactic Wealth and Trading Simulator', but that doesn't quite capture the imagination.