No Man’s Sky: 10 Huge Changes That Finally Make It Worth Playing

7. Overhauled Procedural Generation Gives Drastically Different Planets

Another immediate criticism coming out of last year's launch was just how quickly you'd start to see the same skeletal structures for world geometry, creatures and bases.

We knew Hello Games had crafted an elaborate "If X, then Y" series of algorithms dictating how their planets self-generate, but the result wasn't as eye-widening as first hoped. Thankfully, by taking the time to 'alter the calculations', as it were, now we have drastically different planets, ranging from floating rocks and molten surfaces to worlds made entirely of water with underground cavern systems.

Desert biomes are now far more popular, as are planets with wilder weather conditions. You can go from a sun-scorched wasteland where just being on the surface is a risk, to a winter wonderland populated by giant floating squids - which is another thing, because giant creatures are now totally in.

Seen in the early trailers, we wanted dinosaurs and larger beings, and now we have them. On just my second planet I was trekking through a forest and started seeing a large eight-legged... thing coming the other way through the trees.

Thankfully it wasn't hostile and skittered off immediately, but I'll leave it to you to go face-to-face with some unknown space horror.