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No Man’s Sky is a game I’ve been looking forward to for a while now. In fact, if I could swap all the releases of 2015 in return for “No Man´s Sky” today, then I probably would. There are so many reasons why I’m excited for this game but here are seven reasons why I, (and probably you as well) should be excited for No Man’s Sky!

Exploration is a huge part of “No Man´s Sky”.

7. Pure Exploration – 18,446,744,073,709,551,616 Planets

You’ll spend a lot of time exploring in No Man’s Sky, going to various solar systems, visiting space stations, joining convoys, and landing on one of the many planets. (18,446,744,073,709,551,616 if you wondered). There’s a huge variety of wildlife to discover, ranging from the average looking creature to the damn right bazaar. Planets are so big they can take days just to walk from one end to the other. There are caves to discover and oceans to explore; No Man’s Sky even has its own periodic table.

Many games have done various degrees of exploration, but none have done anything to this scale, simply seeing the star map alone is enough to make your eyes water and jaw drop. If you were to spend a second on each planet, that would equal to around 5 BILLION YEARS! Our sun would have gone super nova and we’d be dust, so No Man’s Sky is pretty damn big. A major concern is that the planets will likely be the same, but that’s not entirely true thanks to maths and minds at Hello Games. The team have managed to make sure each planet will be different in some kind of way; you’ll find baron planets rich in minerals, various climates, weather conditions, planets thriving with life, hot planets, cold planets, planets with vast oceans, radiation, and so much more. The scale is mind-blowing. It’s safe to say No man’s Sky is going to offer the hardened explorer one hell of a challenge.

There will be plenty of guns in “No Man´s Sky”.

6. Is that a gun? Oh it’s a laser? Did you just blow a hole in that mountain!?

In No Man’s Sky, you aren’t unarmed. You have a weapon, a very versatile weapon than can be upgraded to kick all kinds of ass. Kind of like Judge Dredd’s nifty little side-arm, it can do everything from scanning sites for potential mining to kicking off mass extinction events. Your side-arm is more of a multi tool rather than a run-of-the-mill handgun, and it’s imperative when it comes to making discoveries, you scan creatures with your weapon and then have to upload them to a database which in turn grants reward! Your weapon can be upgraded to blow obstructions to pieces; you can also use it for mining and find hidden caverns to discover for even more goodies. In an issue of Edge Sean Murray talked a little about the creation of your trusty side-arm “In a lot of sci-fi games. All their weapons are basically AK-47s with some red stripes down the side,” Murray says. “We don’t like that; we want something that feels advanced and cool. So you have this multitool, which is a little bit like a tricorder.”

Spaceships are a big deal of “No Man´s Sky” as well.

5. SPACESHIP!

Spaceships are cool. They can shoot stuff, fly really fast, carry your entire luggage and take you to distant worlds. There are lots of spaceships in No Man’s Sky and when I say lots, I’m talking thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands. Hello games, create their Spaceships the same way they create everything else. They’re procedural. There’s a huge variety of them ranging from fighters to cargo ships. However, there are two truly important things you must know about Spaceships in No Man’s Sky, firstly, it’s a good idea to remember where you parked your ship and not to stray too far away from it, you can’t simply just teleport to it, and it can be a very long risky walk back if you have plenty of loot in a hostile area. I die. You will lose all your stuff, but you do teleport back to your ship. You need to be even more careful while you’re in space because if you are shot down, you lose you lose everything, including your ship and awake at the nearest space-station. There is a run-of-the-mill ship available, but it won’t have a hyper-drive, and you’ll have to buy a new one. This creates an attachment to your ship. It’s your ship, and you need to look after it!

Yep, there is wild life to be found in the world of “No Man´s Sky”.

4. Wildlife!

Aliens, they’re everywhere; they’re probably watching us right now! In No Man’s Sky there are loads of them, and they’re in all shapes and sizes. Some are small and odd-looking. Others are absolutely huge! There are creatures that only appear at night or in certain climates, some might try to attack you, others will simply run away. Recently, Sean Murray showed off how they go about creating the creatures of No Man’s Sky and it’s a little mind-blowing when it comes to the variety of creatures, there are to discover in No Man’s Sky, whether they’re on land, in the sea or in the sky there’s going to be something interesting to discover. This is without a doubt one of the more compelling aspects to No Man’s sky. I can’t wait to go and see what’s out there. It’s not just aliens you’ll come across. It’s also possible to meet other players but according to Sean Murray that will be a rare occasion due to the Universe being so vast.

There will be both space pirates and an galactic police force in the game.

3. Galactic Police Force

When something starts to resemble ED209 you better prepare for trouble. Now, there’s always going to be some kind of consequence if you do something bad and in No Man’s Sky. If do something naughty there is a galactic police force that will lay down the law in the form of heavy fire power, similar to what you have seen in Grand Theft Auto. If you go around killing poor defenseless animals, mining planets too heavily, attacking convoys and just making a nuisance of yourself, and the wanted rating will increase along the level of hostility. You can obviously escape or fight, but it can lead to lasting repercussions. Crime doesn’t always pay but you can play that way if you want, as long as you have the ship and firearm to handle a severe situation, but be warned it’s not going to be easy. As John Bunnell says, “Life’s one high-speed chase, and you’re riding shotgun!”

Believe it or not, but everything really is everything procedural in”No Man´s Sky”.

2. Everything Procedural

This is one of the main talking points about No Man’s Sky, and that is the fact everything is procedural; the Universe, star systems, planets, creatures, ships, and more. This is without a doubt one of the most ambitious procedural games in development, considering its being developed by a team of 12 it equates to an incredible feat. You may have played games like Elite Dangerous that have done this to an extent; No Man’s Sky’s procedural planets are going to shake things up a bit. When setting foot on a planet, there’s no telling what you’re in for until you land, it could be barren icy planet rich in minerals, and you might even get eaten by an Earthworm!

Planets even have their own cave systems, which are procedural too, even the sounds each animal makes are procedural. In other words, there is going to be plenty of variety in this game. However, there has been an argument which some planets are going to be the same or similar. Nevertheless, Hello games have made sure it won’t be the case by sending out bots to search out planets and send gifs of what each planet is like and find out what’s going on out there to make sure that everything is working as it should be, and that each planet isn’t just a copy and paste of another. The Music in No Man’s Sky is also procedural, and its good music too, a band called 65 days of Static are making the soundtrack and from what I’ve heard so far, it’s incredibly impressive.

Your story, your world, your rules.

1. Your Story

One of the most common things said is “What are supposed to do in No Man’s Sky? There’s no story” The same could be said about Minecraft but we all know that there’s plenty to do in that game just as there will be a variety of things to do in No Man’s Sky. Basically, you are the story. You create it. You choose what you want to be and do. Everyone has the objective of getting to the centre of the galaxy but what you do on the way there, what you discover is your story, your adventure.

During your play through you may see many different things or visit a planet that no other player has done before. You can be a space pirate, a trader, an explorer; you can just stay on a planet if you wanted to. No Man’s Sky is without a doubt my pick of 2015 (I’m hoping for a 2015 release) this game looks to set a brand-new standard for video games. It’s something new and fresh. It’s art style is compelling and unique, and out of all the games coming out this year, this looks to raise the bar higher than anything else!

***Disclaimer***
This is a personal opinion of the writer, and it doesn’t necessarily represent the other writers (nor The Gaming Ground´s) opinions.

Sharn Daniels
The Gaming Ground
Twitter: @SharnOfTheDEAD