No Man’s Sky Beyond
Another step for Hello’s ambitious space sim
Though sadly not a crossover between Hello Games’ spacefaring sandbox and Quantic Dream’s Ellen Page vehicle, No Man’s Sky Beyond does at least represent the most feature-rich and coherent version of the game to date. With a list of additions and improvements equivalent to a sci-fi Domesday Book, it’s not only a big step forward for multiplayer, but the best way to start your journey into the great beyond – sorry, Beyond.
That’s in part due to some sensible overhauling of the opening tutorial, which has grown and morphed into something totally different than the few hours of floundering new players were met with at launch. Not only is it easier to get your head around the core systems of resource gathering and crafting now, it’s also that touch more enjoyable. Funny what a few nourishing lines of narrative text can do, even if they’re being dispensed by hunks of space junk and abandoned ships.
Broadly, the journey from clueless moron to grizzled galactic survivor is simply more pleasant. Even if the first four – four – planets you settle on have poisonous atmospheres and are prone to terrifying toxic storms every night. And that graduation is marked by your arrival at the Nexus, where you’ll now find more unique travellers dispensing additional mission types, including base building. If that sounds like another way of saying ‘it feels more like an actual game now’, that’s exactly right.
NO MAN’S HI!
The headline feature on the giganto-patch list, though, is expanded multiplayer. The player count’s expanded to 16 in the Nexus, and eight out in the universe. Given that the universe is – you
THE JOURNEY FROM CLUELESS MORON TO GRIZZLED SURVIVOR IS SIMPLY MORE PLEASANT.
know – universe-sized, the chance of bumping into other players by accident is probably roughly equivalent to being jolted by a lightning bolt into the path of a winning lottery ticket as it flutters through the air, but the promise to include it was made many moons ago and now, like so many others, it’s eventually been ticked off the list. You can even see people’s ship customisations if you do cross paths. PS VR players now get full functionality and seamless switching between VR and screen, not to mention multiplayer across screen and VR players. No Man’s Sky has become incredibly feature-rich in the fullness of time, and however you felt at launch you’ve got to hand it to Hello Games for its persistent and substantial updates in the interim.