A Personal Reflection on No Man's Sky, Five Years Later

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It's hard to believe that No Man's Sky came out over half-a-decade ago now. After playing through the game multiple times, I thought I was done after my last video back in 2018. To mark the game's five year anniversary, however, I stepped back in for one more trip to the galactic core, and was very pleasantly surprised by what I found. In this retrospective critique/analysis, I discuss the frustrations I had had with the game up to this point, as well as the technical and artistic changes made to the game over numerous updates that have turned me into a full-blown fan of the game. No Man's Sky, after five long years, makes sense to me now. Thank you Hello Games for your dedication to such a special title.
Timestamps:
0:00 - Intro
4:39 - My Frustrations Up to This Point
9:39 - No Man's Sky is Really Good Now
16:01 - The Real Game Changer is VR
19:36 - The Metanarrative
23:42 - Why No Man's Sky Makes Sense to Me Now
33:00 - Conclusion/My Own Shortcomings
#nomanssky #hellogames #frontiers
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Text intro by Isaac Holland - / drazgames
The thumbnail for this video was inspired by/intended as tribute to the incredible mock-ups of retro-futurist paperback that circulated around the game's launch. I always had in my head that they were official art, but after making the thumbnail and trying to find the source for the paperback art, I found that they were actually fan-made! I'm not sure how to reach ichtyander, but I just wanted to thank them for making such cool, inspirational art, and apologise for unintentionally stepping on any toes. www.pushsquare.com/news/2016/...
Also, if you want a truly amazing video about No Man's Sky, Noah Caldwell-Gervais' piece released a few years back remains the definitive piece about the game as I see it - • Deeper Horizons: A Com...

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29 июн 2024

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Комментарии : 352

@WritingOnGames 2 года назад

Download Core to play and create PC games for FREE at bit.ly/Core-WoG So No Man's Sky is really good now! Also, the thumbnail for this video was inspired by/intended as tribute to the incredible mock-ups of retro-futurist paperback that circulated around the game's launch. I always had in my head that they were official art, but after making the thumbnail and trying to find the source for the paperback art, I found that they were actually fan-made! I'm not sure how to reach ichtyander, but I just wanted to thank them for making such cool, inspirational art, and apologise for unintentionally stepping on any toes. www.pushsquare.com/news/2016/07/these_alternate_no_mans_sky_ps4_covers_look_just_like_classic_sci-fi_books Finally, if you enjoy the videos and would like to directly help me continue to make more, consider heading to patreon.com/writingongames and pledging only what you're comfortable with. Doing so gets you access to things like early, completely ad-free video uploads as well as new patron-exclusive commentaries on older videos! Your support is what allows me to keep doing this and I'll never be able to thank you enough for that. Stay safe everyone!

@suburbannegro411 2 года назад

How was the criticism undeserved? You can't lie as many times as they did and not have people be upset. It doesn't matter if the games good now (And good for them for sticking with it.). Lying is lying no matter when it happens and Hello Games lied at launch. That's their history whether they like it or not.

@nesser52 2 года назад

Pls add cc/subs to your videos thx

@higueraft571 2 года назад

@@LiraeNoir Ok, what in the past three years or less has he not delivered, but promised. Complaining to this level because someone who fucked up and overpromised hasnt delivered the *exact* flavor of what you want, or something not exactly realistic/high on the list of priorities (compared to improving the game) is kind of stupid. Stop focusing on what he promised before the game even released, and more on what they're currently promising. There *is* a good chance at least a good chunk of the promised original *ideas* will actually make it in, such as Multiplayer (which while not open world MMO multiplayer like you and others wanted/keep demanding, *is* a suitably fine system that DOES live up to the promise, especially in Expeditions.) Or you could instead hyperfocus on what was mentioned under pressure forever, and *never* actually find the game acceptable as, even if all those promises were fulfilled, they wont be done *exactly* how you want them to work. There's such things as "Fuckups." Hello Games has admitted to them, amd have legitimately been fixing it for the past 5 years. Yeah i was *absolutely* right next to you on launch, laughing at the dumbasses who bought a $60 game with absolutely nothing it promised, as the Devs went silent to almost *certainly* vanish with all the money, leaving the game to die a few months later with maybe one or two patches in it's lifespan, or if lucky a dozen $30 DLCs that add half-baked crap as a slap in the face. Nowadays, i actually have a Steam copy, paid full price, dont really regret it. Got at least one Permadeath, three Normal saves, two Expedition 3 saves, second primarily to see *how* fast i could beat it (3h6m), and of course a creative and survival. Well past 2k hours.

@higueraft571 2 года назад

@@suburbannegro411 What was being mentioned seems to have been missed, so i'll sum it up. They werent saying that the Criticism *itself* was undeserved, but instead the sheer fucking *intensity* of it. Even without the false promises you had some uh... *rather nasty* responses. And of course the bulk who felt lied to *especially* nasty. I may be confusing it with Fallout 76's launch here but, i remember there was even a colossal shitshow of the reddit(s) being overwhelmingly flooded with hate of every shade towards it. The sort that, honestly in hindsight, was kind of... *yikes.* Especially now that the community has a much better idea of Sean Murray and such than "that guy promising us a REALLY wild space game out the box, who vanished after launch"

@suburbannegro411 2 года назад

@@higueraft571 No summary necessary, I didn't miss anything as far as I can tell. The intensity of the responses came from the sheer amount of PR overhype events and lies this developer peddled 5 years ago. No one forced them to do these things. They did them. And they were one of the first developers in that worrying trend of underdelivering releases to underdeliver as hard as they did. I mean there were parts of that E3 presentation that weren't even remotely there at launch. Just complete boldfaced lies. The gaming community hadn't ever been screwed that hard before and unsurprisingly responded in kind. Hello Games could have easily avoided this amount of negative backlash by...not releasing the game the way they did. I'm sure Sean Murray's a good guy, but in 2016 he smiled at us and sold us a little box of lies at full price and was one of the first people to do it the bold way he did. By just not having the content be in the game at all. So as far as I can see that *intensity* is entirely their fault.

@Lordoftheapes79 2 года назад

The secret of No Man's Sky's success is that it is always evolving and always growing. It's not something most people will play every day for years, it's something you keep coming back to and find it better than you remember.

@andrewn8002 2 года назад

Facts!

@SebLeCaribou 2 года назад

Absolutely. I remember my dismal experience of the game at release, and coming back a year later, clocking 50hours in it, then a year after that again 40 more hours. I just love that game so much now.

@WEAREALLJUSTMEAT 2 года назад

I play 100 hours every couple months

@Leemundo23 2 года назад

Nailed it. Last play was nearly two years ago, I remember saying something along the lines of planets all started to look similar, the barren planets weren’t even worth visiting because they were too barren! Every planet is mostly now a wonder to look at, and oh my word the night sky and luminous surroundings make it better than the day! The interface and general lifestyle improvements are great too. VR with Oculus on Xbox is my dream, the game wasn’t built for VR, VR was built for this.

@fcf8269 2 года назад

The only thing evolving and growing is the colors used for planets, and the number of new assets they add in the game. The core game is the same shallow indie Unity project of a walking sim to collect resources and craft stuff, as it was at release. The content make it feel like something changed; it is the oldest trick in software industry, and if people fall for it, clearly it still works well.

@1810jeff 2 года назад

Anyone else remember how on reddit people were excusing the leaked gameplay because the copy that was leaked had a scratch on the disc so somehow they thought that a scratch made the game lose all the features that were promised.

@ThylineTheGay 2 года назад

reddit moment

@Draliseth 2 года назад

Some people just love the taste of black kiwi polish.

@chillhour6155 2 года назад

Good lord

@WelcometoHellPlus 2 года назад

This video released, by coincidence, at about the same time as No Man's Sky also went over 70% all time steam reviews, listing it as "Mostly Positive" :)

@irecordwithaphone1856 2 года назад

YO That's amazing! And well deserved

@Sanquinity 2 года назад

and also only a few days after a new update released, overhauling the building menu, adding more building stuff, and adding settlements. ;p

@ionseven 2 года назад

It's still garbage. The last update is a mess if you try to do anything that matters with the settlements. Glad I didnt fall for this scam after every cOnTeNt update.

@JaydevRaol 2 года назад

Oh yeah

@JadeMythriil 2 года назад

@@ionseven as if NMS is the only game that messes up an update. There are far worse updates that get a pass from their fanbase.

@hungrygremlin5151 2 года назад

Its funny to me, when we first bought into this game, I could see the heart and soul poured into it; the glimmers of the "project skyscraper" we all wanted it to be. And we could all see how far short Hello Games had fell at launch. And the big difference between a AAA developer and Hello Games, is the AAAs in the wake of NMS who tried to toss us scraps and "fix" it later, they were doing it for money and never delivered the game they promised, weither they intended to or not. And that hurts. And it hurt five years ago too. And here's NMS, built on a dream, and a team that Stuck to the shattered ashes of what they were trying to do. And it's beautiful to see their dreams FINALLY pulling true. And yeah, a lot of its former fan base is so soured by years and years of subsequent betrayals from other developers (and no, its not okay to deliver a broken shambled mess at launch at AAA levels, regardless if you intend to "fix it later") that they're not going to want to give this a chance. But I'm still here. This game is So Close to the project skyscraper the hype train led us all to belive in. Five years ago, I bought a broken, busted game. But they Sold Me on a dream. And maybe I'm a fool, But I'm still here. And I won't have to wait much longer. Thank you for putting out this video.

@TIB1973 2 года назад

Sean did it to himself, he was out weeks before launch saying it had all these features for launch that it didn't have. I even ignored follow up interviews with some of his team saying it didn't have those features at launch cause I wanted to believe Sean and this wonderful (albeit sounding) game. family members and I had planned out strategies to locate eachother and travel and explore together and we knew it would be difficult but looked forward to the challenge.....but little did we know it was all a lie. If Sean had just said it was a feature they would have some day and not bold face lie under the guise of "Well its extremely difficult....." only to have 2 people prove it was a lie within the first week..... was so disheartening..... usually the big companies lie...... Yes I am still bitter about it but glad to see it apparently a reality....and now that its on sale on steam, may pick it up again.

@pixenrush 2 года назад

The five last lines sound do Star Citizen to me (except the last line, i fully expect to wait much longer) I really hope it goes down this path

@tavianbroadhead78 2 года назад

@@TIB1973 You could always buy the game and become a hardened space pirate and prey upon new players to help cope with your immense trauma from launch.

@TIB1973 2 года назад

@@tavianbroadhead78 Actually I still owned the hard disc from launch but recently sold it. I kept it to remind me never to pre purchase a game. I played it a few days ago when I realized its free through xbox. Attacking players in any game unprovoked is a pretty shitty thing to do in any game.

@tavianbroadhead78 2 года назад

@@TIB1973 it definitely is, but because of how the game works if he tried to pirate someone hed almost absolutely get decimated, but as long as he finds his niche, everyone can play how they choose. You can turn pvp off from the menu so it's not a huge deal.

@freekeefox 2 года назад

It's been pretty satisfying being one of the few players who stuck through with NMS since launch. I've essentially had to relearn the entire game 4 times now. I've witnessed some of the early Great Resets and seen the universe I knew change around me. I still have a ship I got in the first version of the game. It's great going from telling people that No Man's Sky was my guilty pleasure to something I could actually highly recommend.

@pltatman1 2 года назад

A fellow Iteration 1, good on you. Even before it launched, I followed the game from 2013 on, read, watched or listened to every interview, trailer, article and podcast I could find. It's nice to see that HG's early vision for the game has been both met and exceeded. I'm surprised at how much I enjoy basebuilding, considering that it was never a feature that I expected from the game nor what excited me about the game before launch.

@-snek. 2 года назад

Thank you for creating this video so Shammy doesn't have to.

@WritingOnGames 2 года назад

Anything to save Shammy having to worry about this goddamn game again.

@JaydevRaol 2 года назад

😅

@benl2140 2 года назад

Wait...No Man's Sky came out 5 years ago? I feel old.

@UNSCPILOT 2 года назад

You feel old? I still remember playing Halo 3 for the first time with a friend back in 2007, it doesn't feel like it's been 14 years even when I revisited that game recently. But I agree, 5 years since the game came out seems like such a short time yet so much has changed about the game and my opinion of it, I went from thinking "why would I ever want that" at first, to now viewing NMS as one of my favorite games, it's wild

@korvincarry3268 2 года назад

It doesnt stop there for making me feel old. World at wars release date makes me feel old. I remember first playing the game on my friends ps4 as we stayed up all night for a school trip early the next morning.

@AshXXMayftw 2 года назад

I can't express how happy I am this game turned out post release. To be honest I wasn't exactly part of the hype cycle and didn't buy the game until 2018 when I heard it had improved significantly and the next update was going to be huge. Diving in I didn't really know what think of it until I began traversing different planets, gathering resources, crafting new items and weapons, meeting new alien races, it felt like my own personal adventure. It wasn't until Internet Historian's video on the game, The Engoodening of No Man's Sky, that my perception of the game changed. Before I just saw the game, No Man's Sky, but after watching his video I saw both the game and the passion Sean Murray and his team put into it. Hearing about all the trouble they went through to get the game out and how they redeemed themselves after launch really warmed my heart. And the fact they're still providing free content to players is amazing. Honestly, I feel they deserve some paid DLC. They've given so much that I really want to give back to them in other ways aside from buying and playing their game.

@HeavyEyed 2 года назад

I have never played No Man's Sky past 20 minutes of misc footage for videos but I absolutely love watching you talk about it

@greenhowie 2 года назад

Love being a lone traveller in this game, really fits in well with the overarching story if you consider yourself to be the only truly sentient lifeform.

@JohnToddTheOriginal 2 года назад

You can do Expeditions with MP turned off.

@UNSCPILOT 2 года назад

Even though I can play multiplayer, I still LOVE solo wandering, no plan, no reason, just exploring, finding things, reveling in the often increadible or surreal views with my collection of favorite ships and tools

@highwind1991 2 года назад

I always see a bad launch as a reason to not pick up a game. But I'm also a believer of second chances. So when I hear that a game got so much better after a rocky start, even if it was years later, I don't mind picking it up after waiting

@JaydevRaol 2 года назад

Same

@VeganCheeseburger 2 года назад

@@JaydevRaol same

@MaeckesPlanB 2 года назад

Friends and family deserve a second chance. But when a company (!) lies to their customers? Fuck them!

@Ozzianman 2 года назад

@@MaeckesPlanB Some of this can be blamed on Sony. They pushed for a early release, despite setbacks caused by the flooding of the dev studio. They let the PR be done by one of the founders of Hello Games and programmer, Sean Murray. They let the creator, a nerdy computer science graduate promote his baby, very bad idea, or good... Genuine enthusiasm easily attracts people. I still think Sean Murray should acknowledge how he contributed to the overhype. I also think US players should acknowledge how WE hyped up the game. We all got caught up by Sean Murray's enthusiasm for his project (as well as the still misleading E3 trailer, that was more like a concept of what the game ideally would be) and it's potential features and hyped it up as the one game to rule them all. It wasn't a hype train anymore, it had become a perpetual hype generator, except that is impossible. Just like how a perpetual energy generator does not work because it breaks the laws of thermodynamics, the perpetual hype generator crashed hard when the game released. *That was terrible, I know, but I am keeping this in because I T T O O K F O R E V E R to write on mobile.* If you think Hello Games were malicious, then fine, we can agree to disagree, cause I believe they were not malicious. They could have taken the money and gtfo, but they did not. They endured the backlash, they bunkered down and worked their asses off on updating the game and after about 5 years, they are still working on free content updates without a single microtransaction or paid expansion.

@JLEC2005 2 года назад

@@MaeckesPlanB thing it’s mostly not their choice and it’s their publishers choice wish means they have no say in when they release it even if it’s unfinished or has a rough landing in release, blame the publishers not the devs.

@gooselord7896 2 года назад

As someone who followed no man's sky development since the 2013 announcement, the issue I had with the game at launch was that it WAS a traditional crafting Sim when what was actually promised was a free exploration game with the focus being ambient environmental exploration without the stresses of survival mechanics. The game they've made is ok for some people but it still isn't what they originally promised to this day

@ColinRylanderWilkes 2 года назад

Now this is the "FACT" NMS was touted as a solo Space "Exploration game" is now minecraft, they may as well reduce the number of planets to 50 rather than billions that are the same as 50. no one who was there from day 1 asked for any of the base building features touted as "most requested feature", it's still buggy as hell, good luck holding on to your discoveries, you'll come back in an find they've been re discovered by someone else. how about 20 updates over the next 5 years that overhauls the original concept of getting in your ship and discovering wonders in the universe?

@Jan_von_Gratschoff 2 года назад

"...That I remember the game being JUST 3 YEARS AGO". Kinda speaks for the effort and dedication Hello Games have put into NMS. I've seen live service titles lasting for shorter periods of time than 3 years.

@arthurjeannin3357 2 года назад

There's so much great stuff in No Man's Sky, and it's SUCH a shame to me that the UI, crafting and stuff are so obnoxious to me. You can get used to it, sure, but it's a pain that is hiding everything cool about the actual game behind it. I AM glad that they're making everything better, though, and it's obviously a game made by passionate people

@iCore7Gaming 2 года назад

I find the UI fine lol

@cobalttj6356 2 года назад

This channel is so goddamn underrated, I adore your videos and the unique way that you see some games that others just dismiss as fun throwaway games like Snakeybus or Trackmania, to massive games like this. There are very few other reviewers that are as compelling as you, and I hope you get a really big break soon, you deserve it!

@JamieLikesGames 2 года назад

That was such an amazing video. Great job! I'm in love with this game. I have so many stories to tell from it and it really does scratch that itch when I just want to play something relaxing that I don't really have to think about

@Infozentrale 2 года назад

I've only played this game casually here and there but the time I've spent with it was really enjoyable and the recent update definitely put it on my radar again. I'm happy they choose to stick with it. Granted I was not one of the people who preordered and got burned. I don't want to make any excuses about the launch but with all the hype behind it I already suspected it would disappoint most people. Happy to have picked it up from the bargain bin down the line. Looking at Cyberpunk it seems most people didn't learn from their experience either sadly

@irecordwithaphone1856 2 года назад

Yeah it also didn't help that Sean Murray himself admitted he is terrible at marketing and interviews, their studio flooded so they lost work, and they were (at launch) an even smaller studio. The launch was just kind of a perfect shitstorm. Sony also didn't help to quell hype at all, because to them they were getting money either way. Thus NMS had to stick to a deadline when it wasn't ready.

@milk_bath 2 года назад

@@irecordwithaphone1856 Sean went as far as appearing on Colbert to coyly hype the game. No sympathy.

@irecordwithaphone1856 2 года назад

@@milk_bath It's pretty clear that they wanted to meet the hype but quite literally didn't have the time. No small studio would willingly shoot themselves in the foot like that, Hello Games overestimated what they could get done and also had to deal with a locked deadline when the game needed more time. Your cynical comment is unwelcome here I think people underestimate how difficult game development is when you don't have millions of dollars and a massive studio They certainly messed up, but it's not like they were aiming to do that which I think a lot of people mistakingly claim.

@AJ-pc9gu 2 года назад

i vividly recall watching an ign first on NMS, 20 mins of solid gameplay. Everything was shown, how the 'economy' works, combat and what the progression there was. Sean said very explicitly in it, something to the effect of 'many of the things i mentioned won't be there at launch'. This is all to say, if you got burned (most didn't, they just bandwagoned sadly) some of it was on you, gameplay was out well b4 (unlike resident evil 3 remake) and it was basically a debut title from an indie studio.

@milk_bath 2 года назад

@@irecordwithaphone1856 But they did shoot themselves in the foot like that. Other smaller studios don't go on Colbert to advertise their game. Maybe they should have spent that part of the budget more wisely because it came off, in hindsight, as deceptive to the consumer to many people. It was a choice, a bad one, and there is no excuse for it other than poor management at best and deceptive consumer tactics at worse. Full stop with your shallow defense. They did own up to it though; so kudos for making a good game... 3 years later. - "They certainly messed up, but it's not like they were aiming to do that which I think a lot of people mistakingly claim." Of course no business is trying to mess up, and no one in their right mind is arguing that they meant to "mess up". You blatantly mischaracterize people's valid criticism of poor management/anti-consumer behavior while simultaneously give blind charity to a company that made multiple public mistakes over-hyping its game that could have been prevented. No one forced Sean to go on Colbert. - "Your comment is unwelcome here." Is this your channel? I think not, I'm just as much a part of this channel's community as you are. Valid criticism of the game/devs/management existing is not a personal threat to you so stop acting like it is. So take your gatekeeping and weak sycophantic defense, and tell your story walking.

@Silverman160Zero 2 года назад

Call me egotistical, but these kinds of stories were the main reason is that there is no end, no goal but the ones we set ourselves, always remind of the Libary of Babel by Jorge Luis Borges. The feeling of insignificance, the endless planets and bookshelves each one has, and the maddening that one undergoes should they try and record it all. I feel the two are very close to that idea in terms of the dangers of infinity, and how some lose themselves trying to find an end to it. That Libary had a profound impact on my life ever since I read it, and with the setting of No Man's Sky being space, that concept of Infinity seems too fitting now.

@Creeper333pl 2 года назад

That thumbnail is gorgeous can’t wait to watch the whole thing

@linkster5564 2 года назад

Honestly, seeing the child of Helios in VR for the first time felt incredible. Just sitting there in my cockpit watching it slowly swim through space, the music, the little clanking sounds of my ship and the quiet whirr of the engine. Man it was incredible.

@laststorm7726 2 года назад

This is very interesting, I am glad that the game found it's footing. And you are so great at putting all the great things of the game into poetic words.

@PlebNC 2 года назад

I found a planet that had a ring that bisected its moon. The area on the moon the ring cuts through is simply very foggy. Still cool though.

@dik56 2 года назад

No way that's sick. I didn't know that was possible. Is anything really possible in this game?

@hsapin 2 года назад

I'm excited to hop back in after the final update releases for this game and see how far it has come. Excellent video.

@raffantt 8 месяцев назад

I feel the same man. I'm in love with this game. Bought it on pre-sale 7 years ago and still keep finding things I've never seen before and Im watching your video now in 2023, 2 years later and it just got ANOTHER big update: Echoes

@itsmorphinetime 2 года назад

Man, the footage where you're just floating in space without your ship makes my stomach turn upside down! Fantastic video!

@DUBUND3AD 2 года назад

Fantastic video man. I too have recently gotten back into NMS and I've been loving every second. Personally, exploring is my absolute favorite. I deliberately take my roamer everywhere to explore planets because I get to see a lot more of the nuanced and strange things that I'd otherwise miss if I just flew everywhere. (Also according to leaks the next big update should be adding to the exploration side of the game so I'm super excited for that.) Also just the sheer variety of things you can do and delve into in the game is getting pretty amazing at this point. The main complaint I see on the subreddit is that a lot of the features that have been added are kind of shallow and lacking proper depth. There's definitely some merit to a lot of these claims (i.e base building, people make these insane builds that don't really have a purpose other than being eye candy), but given HG track record, I have no doubt that at some point everything will be addressed and fleshed out. Overall, if you haven't played NMS at all, or haven't played in quite some time, I highly recommend giving it a go. Don't worry about meta gaming and getting every last unit out of your big sells, just enjoy the borderline infinite universe around you, with all of it's quirky beauty.

@NewMateo 2 года назад

Yes! This game in VR is a site to behold. Probably one of my best games I ever spend time in. Nothing like tending to a space farm with a podcast on in the background. You make no mans sky what you want and theres something great about that.

@pltatman1 2 года назад

I really want to try the game in VR, but I want my first VR experience to be a great one so I'm saving up for a Valve Index. If I get nausea I'll push through it, don't care.

@KaX321 2 года назад

50% revenue 'share'... well, unreal 5 is free now, and it probably doesnt expect you to give them half their revenue.

@albertweber1617 2 года назад

No, but unreal is not exactly easy to start either, and you don't get servers or a platform. Steam, google play and the app store takes a similar cut, while unreal and unity become expensive as you start to make money

@ianmorin8017 2 года назад

I just discovered your channel after watching like all of Whitelight , That Boy Aqua, and GMTK’s videos and this is now my favourite channel

@UltimaKeyMaster 2 года назад

There's one slight thing I disagree on here and it's that the meta-backlash is treated as "The game should've given me what I wanted" as if it was some vague personal thing. It wasn't exactly a vague personal concept when Sean Murray kinda *did* lie about everything the game lacked at launch. The backlash was in literally every time that man opened his mouth in marketing it. I don't blame him COMPLETELY for that disaster, mind, I think he simply spiraled out of control after he accepted the task of being the talking point for the team and couldn't bring himself to shut the fuck up. So when the game hardcore flopped at first, he finally shut the fuck up and just *worked* on the game after that. And after he went silent, what happened? The immense improvements. He learned that trying to market the game the way he did and was probably also told was a mistake, that actually making the game is his strong point. And I'm glad for it, it's a better game now for it. ...tl;dr: The backlash wasn't a personal vendetta. It was literally marketing lies. We all know it was that, trying to frame it as anything but that is kinda dunking on the initial reception as if people didn't know what they wanted when they were literally told what they were getting. I see that the game is better now, but come on man, you're acting like we didn't have years of marketing hype being fed to us.

@thomas.deliot 2 года назад

This. Also the fact that there never was any even small apology, or just acknowledging of the lies in any way, still rubs me wrong. Look, he made a huge mistake in how he marketed the game, I believe from immense pressure being thrust upon him by Sony probably, but all it would've taken was for him to acknowledge it in some way after the backlash. But instead they went completely silent, and re-emerged only to attack the vitriol thrown their way (which is absolutely awful, yes, death threats ? REALLY ?). But they just decided to brush all the deserved criticisms aside in the same move and never acknowledge their lies. It doesn't matter really anymore all this time later with so much worked put into the game, but still leaves a bitter taste.

@benhay2317 2 года назад

I remain in awe of how well you articulate what everyone else cant quite say. Bravo!

@hanfirefly1298 2 года назад

Maybe the real No Man Sky are the friends we made on the way

@Odvinsko 2 года назад

[Those 'FRIENDS' weren't real and you were communicating with a deceased 'TRAVELLER'.]

@RegalPixelKing 2 года назад

For the first time since launch, No Man's Sky has gotten a "Mostly Positive" rating under "All Reviews." Because of how awful No Man's Sky initial launch was, I never thought that I would see a day where No Man's Sky will be rated positive under its overall reviews. I feel like if Shaun Murry were a bit more humble that this game could have had a much better launch and a much better future. But at least we got a good game now.

@vde1846 2 года назад

He talked himself into a hole, and then worked his way out of it.

@fcf8269 2 года назад

For people that purchased it at launch, took 5 years to make it bearable; while for new players probably they are interested in the fact that this early access game continue to get updated; and almost nobody buy this at full price; it is constantly at 50% off. 29 bucks for this game is more or less what is worth, for an indie early access game

@RegalPixelKing 2 года назад

@@fcf8269 I'd say it got good a couple years ago, but that's besides the point. The way in which it launched should not be forgotten, but it should be forgiven. The game was already a commercial success, Hello Games could have dropped the game and ran away with the money. But they set out to finish the game in spite of all the hate, harassments, and already having a financial successful game. I'd say that when the game launched it should be been 10-20 dollars. But now I'd say a 60 dollar price tag is worth this game.

@fcf8269 2 года назад

@@RegalPixelKing Kudos for improving things, yes, but we should never forget. They were about to take the money and run, if it was not for the outcry that came after the launch. HG didn't come back and fix things out of their good heart, they did it because forced by the avalanche of negative feedback. which I am sure you agree with me, were totally justified. It was a success, yes, because people are not that smart and pre-ordered a game without even see it first, without even see the actual gameplay. Sadly the story happened over and over with other games too; which means that if you make games, you can release products and only care if there is enough negative response, otherwise off you go. I am the opposite of you; I think at launch this game was supposed to be called a demo and be free; and as is now, it is worth the price of an average indie survival game in early access... which is 20-29 dollars at most. Space engineers has been in early access for years, is is a pretty decent indie game, and for what it offer (and the tons of clones it spawned), it is priced at a very reasonable price. If NMS was launched as early access, and was for 5 years in early access, the reception would me much different and nowhere near as negative as it was. Instead a small team of indie developers ended up making the step longer than their leg, selling lies all over the place and when caught, they did the only thing that would not bring them in court, which was to fix the lies and improve the game.

@RegalPixelKing 2 года назад

@@fcf8269 I'm sure the mountains of negative feedback had to do with the process of them fixing their game, but the negative feedback didn't force them to fix their game. What I am saying is they could have kept the game at 10-20% positive and ran off with the money. That would mean the death of their company because nobody would ever trust another release from them ever again, but they still could have ran off. A big problem was with this game was the amount of hype that was behind it. I never understood they hype but so many people were treating this game like the second coming of Christ. Pair that with the huge marketing push by Sony, and the fact that Sean Murray didn't have any professional public speaking experience and the game was bound to be overhyped.

@LiterallySomeDude 2 года назад

This was very well written! I wholeheartedly didnt expect to have fallen for this the way I did. Bravo Hello Games

@BasementMinions 2 года назад

I teared up listening to you talk through the cfinding meaning in a meaningless universe" narrative. Your writing and narration evoke such emotion, it's always such a pleasure to experience your experiences.

@takahashierik 2 года назад

I have a similar complicated relationship to this game. Played a lot at release and since then I've been playing it on and off for years, either solo or with friends, at some points I was very involved in the Reddit/Wiki community. I haven't played much lately but it's made me some great memories, and while it's not the *best* game I've ever played, it's definitely one of my favorites

@MarioVelezBThinkin 2 года назад

I started playing again over the pandemic and man, I'm so glad I did. Frontiers all the way baby!

@fizzplease6742 2 года назад

"So far, so Noah Caldwell-Gervais" hahah

@CaptainFram 2 года назад

This was a fantastic, thoughtful piece

@gregorymorrison5818 2 года назад

Excellent video!

@lindsay1422 2 года назад

I personally enjoy NMS just to escape. I work an extremely stressful job as an RN with a hospital that doesn't turn anyone away, no matter how much they might abuse kindness, and is also constantly understaffed. Daily I am screamed at, helping people with their psychologic breakdowns, witnessing the horrible effects of drug abuse, and expected to lift and move obese people four times my size. A 25 year old should not have to see the chiropractor monthly and take multiple supplements to prevent their hair falling out from stress. And yet when I come home, I can sit on the couch and just explore a vast universe, in a way that no human will be able to do in reality. I can do whatever, whenever. It is so peaceful just to see beauty and marvel at being the first to witness it. Very few games relax me in the same way and I'm very grateful for it. I'll get a new job eventually, but in the meantime I have NMS to explore.

@whoxsthxs9897 2 года назад

Dang. That sonds rough... Goodluck with finding a new job, I am pretty sure people appreciate you in your current job, even if it is just a handful.

@achronos178 2 года назад

I think it's time to have a have broader conversation about how eager gamers are to buy just about anything as long as its flashy enough. I don't blame developers for releasing broken games anymore, I blame the gaming community for having zero standards. But HELLO GAMES do deserve praise for their commitment.

@apjapki 2 года назад

"Had in their heads" Because of trailers and presentations

@citizen3000 2 года назад

Also because of a reasonable expectation that a game would have....you know....stuff to do. Something beyond mining.

@NunSuperior 2 года назад

Capturing VR : You can record the Steam VR view. Turn it on in the Steam VR options (the three line hamburger button) "Display VR view".

@cloudbloom 2 года назад

Even at launch I loved this game, I believe I played around 100 hours before shelving it. Played a bit more after the second big update and I might have to dive back in for this latest one. Although the game was considered a disaster and the lies were unforgivable to some, I'll forever be impressed by the dedication and hard work that hello games have invested in it over the last 5 years with the free updates and their involvement with the community of avid players. Quite the redemption story imo✌ great video as always man this was a nice look into your current thoughts on nms

@Modie 2 года назад

I am honest, the best thing that came out of No Man's Sky for me is that I discovered the RU-vid channel Shammy. Best reviews of the game by far.

@wrbrown571 2 года назад

Creative mode nixed the grindathon and removed the annoyance of the constant need to replenish resources. You can still do it, but at your leisure, if you feel like it. This allowed me to wander and build and enjoy the mystery and discovery at my own place. You can focus on what you wish for as long as you care to and that is where it becomes a zendo built for relaxation and meditation.

@unnunn12 2 года назад

i could listen to you talk for hours

@jamallotso8284 2 года назад

Sports (ski, surfing, parachuting), beeing able to share/walk inside the spaceshipe (and more inside shipe features), an autopilot for the spaceship, a "mercenary" robot/alien to help farming/piloting the ship, combat zones and more military features is all thats missing for me. And also... an official Sean Murray Skin (love that guy).

@Skellotronix 2 года назад

I want to see people re review this game again now that NMS got combat movement and flight updates lol. Basically a brand new game only 6 months later even.

@AManOnACamel 2 года назад

Holy shit i can't believe it's been 5 years. I was so hyped for this game!

@StockportJambo 2 года назад

I've been playing NMS since release (on and off, like most people). Got 60 hours out of it at release - that's increased more than ten-fold since. Only a week or two ago, I finally completed the Artemis quest to its end for the first time. It's beautifully written, and quite affecting (I'm still thinking about it and getting my head around it). Great essay that sums up where NMS is right now. Yes, it's good now. And it will hopefully get even better.

@dr.rubbertail5407 2 года назад

I think that's the core of No Man's Sky: Purpose. And to be specific, finding purpose in the universe A question as old as time yeah, but NMS manages to drill that question in your head the first time you manage to leave the planet. "Okay... What now?" You left the planet and are now drifting in space. Thus, you seek purpose In the quest to find that purpose, you get your first new ship, you land on your first space station, you manage to get a settlement, you build your own colony, you explore and question the universe, and yet, you're not clear to what your purpose is. So, you keep searching, and searching, and in the middle you find new and more exciting stuff that just goes along the way with you Huh.

@TheRandomGuyTheFarNoGameCat 2 года назад

I played it for the first ever time 2 weeks in VR and it's the best VR game I've ever played. I adore it. So this video has come at the best time.

@Sophie2570 2 года назад

I'm surprised you didn't mention exploring derelict freighters in VR. I love the experience of derelict freighters, and exploring them in VR is really something else!

@WritingOnGames 2 года назад

I mean a good deal of the footage I use is right next to a derelict freighter!

@Sophie2570 2 года назад

@@WritingOnGames I watched the video again and only saw crashed freighters and a part where you're in your personal freighter, but I didn't see any of the inside or outside of a derelict freighter. To be clear I'm talking about the derelict freighters you can find by buying an Emergency Broadcast Receiver from the scrap dealers at space stations. I like how you went in depth on your analysis of the Artemis quest, and at the end you implied you'd maybe do another video on frontiers in the future? Maybe you could also do an analysis of the Living Ship quest, and the minor ones like the Dreams of the Deep quest, and the little stories you discover while exploring derelict freighters? Flying a Living Ship in VR and fully exploring a derelict is really cool so I think it would be worth your while if you haven't checked out those aspects yet. I love VR and those things are always really enjoyable to me.

@jacobturnerart 2 года назад

I got the game on launch and still enjoyed it. Experiencing each update as they release has been a fascinating experience.

@WEAREALLJUSTMEAT 2 года назад

Frontiers and expeditions got me back into it the fourth time I love mayor simulators lmao

@unnunn12 2 года назад

you have an incredible youtube voice

@robertmaaz7636 2 года назад

No mans sky can be considered as truely inspirational, not only from a business perspective focusing on the community and winning a right to exist “back” by giving people what they want without ever introducing micro transactions. But to me it is inspirational because it shows you a sneak peak of the vastness of space where humanity is heading, most likely in our life times still. It is truely an addition to the sci-fi genre. See you in space cowboy

@xSaintxSmithx 2 года назад

Me: wow another video about No Man's Sky being good now. WE KNOW! 🙄 *see it's by Writing on Games* Me: oh yay 😍 *clicks*

@typo148 2 года назад

Well said.

@Josuh 2 года назад

5 years already? damn

@regisblue2614 2 года назад

The beam actually increases in strength the longer it’s held

@Hazel-Olive 2 года назад

The first settlement the game has me going to is clipping in it a volcano so I can’t build new building because the panel I have to interact with is clipped into the volcano…….

@goldtoothslair3052 2 года назад

I have returned to No Man's sky after my last experience. Left for good while because the game just felt so Bland and like nothing is in it don't just feel so Bland but I have always been taking this journey by myself and refused to team up with anybody in the solar system. Always have in the mindset of I want to be the one that goes in discover all of this stuff and wants to be the one that catalogs and make sure that I'm the only one that went to this planet in particular. I still do have this mindset but now I'm trying new things and trying to actually interact with other people issue is most of them don't speak English or they refuse to talk back. That being said I did wish that I was a little bit more willing to work with others because now out there in that solar system there is one planet that I wish I could find again that will never be found it will be lost to the cosmos forever. It was a unique Paradise planet that was so beautiful but if you didn't build your base up in a tree you would literally be attacked by hordes of these weird ant-like dog creatures and it was excited. Anytime that I wanted to grab the resources I would have to use a vehicle just because of how many of these little buggers will be everywhere almost like they were just infinitely spawning around me at all times without no stop. Sadly this planet is now gone and I can never find it for the simple fact that account was on the Xbox and I never saved the planet accordance and now switched over the PC it's not like I'm going to be able to find another planet like that again which makes me a bit happy but also a bit sad

@joestack1921 2 года назад

“So far so Noah…” YES

@JohnDoe-uf3lj 2 года назад

This video is gonna get big. Cuz it is big!

@benj9878 2 года назад

This is the favourite game of my dad since we've got a ps4 in 2018

@gustavosantos106 2 года назад

No Man's Sky is the Rocky Balboa of videogames.

@IRMentat 2 года назад

No Mans Sky Once a stark warning to an industry Now a project many seek to emulate with none of the financial independence, (now apparent) talent or consumer/publisher patience to carry out such extensive post launch development of a project that was launched in a state that would make the most minimal of viable early access products blush. It's ended up being a weirdly neutral product in my eyes as it's well worth the £20 I eventually paid for it, the gameplay/progression while texture thin has a wealth of side-track options to explore and it's maintained a post-launch development schedule that is up there with only the likes of major MMOs, terraria and minecraft in terms of adding meaningful features and systems where so many other games launch, add in 1-2 minor bolt-on experiences in places that had an obvious gap left in them then fade away until the inevitable sequel shows up.

@undeadbydawn6257 2 года назад

downloading again now in the off-chance my controller finally works. It's the only reason I don't have at least 100 hours in this game

@IAmTheAce5 2 года назад

"There are more combinations for a deck of cards than there are atoms in the universe, but Solitaire, nevertheless, starts to feel a bit samey after the first few billion games" Yahtzee Croshaw, Evolve- and me after playing No Man's Sky for a good long while.

@fhjunior6183 2 года назад

Thanks for the vif

@Gledster 2 года назад

Awesome video and it's great to see No Man's Sky come so very far. Maybe there's hope for Cyberpunk 2077 yet... :)

@MattleWolff Год назад

is there anywhere I can buy the music that plays in this video's background? is it available on patreon?

@jackochainsaw 2 года назад

Even though I don't VR (because I have some eye problems and suffer from motion sickness) the changes that were made during the whole VR implementation made some good changes to other mechanics. The ships looked a lot nicer after this update (chunkier and felt more part of the world). I loved the derelicts toom, there were a lot of quality updates. Hello Games did right by not slowing down, not giving up. I've seen so many other developers take the kicking after presenting an incomplete dog of a game and don't do anything to remedy that. The lame developers either make a sequel or move on to another cashcow, they don't dig in and make it better.

@alucard5841 2 года назад

it was 5 years ago? wow, I'm getting old.

@oneseventytwo3260 2 года назад

how old are you just asking to see if you are getting old

@milesmonacothesequel2294 2 года назад

14:04 *falls over*

@oneseventytwo3260 2 года назад

as a veteran player with over 1000hrs in the game i only play now for a new experdition or a new update others wise i just dont want to play it its just too repetitive same thing over and over and nothing to spend my unlimited credits on or to do the quicksilver missions which lets face it we all wait around till the destroy the pirates mission pops up not just because its easy but because we get to use our ships for a battle this game could be so much more HG will take our feedback for bugs and crashes but wont take our advice on what this game really needs ship customization freighter battles PVP taking over a space station more customization in characters no way of telling if we are m/f (big bouncing boobs) you know ya want it lol boss fights PVP multi-crew ships or exocraft a way to quest and link up really a way to make us get rid of our units so we have to worry broken ships so our ships are destroyed PVP did i mention real pvp even if its a PVP planet in the anamomally we can warp to shared bases the list goes on HG we need more now all of the above stop putting out silly updates no one wants oooh an alien ship ooh an exomech ooh ........etc give us a reason to play this repetitive game

@jeremiasazcona9159 2 года назад

I hope that one day i can play this game, i feel like i'm missing something great.

@JDReC100 2 года назад

its still not for everyone, but go for it if you think you'll enjoy it.

@jeremiasazcona9159 2 года назад

@@JDReC100 No, the problem is that the game is quite expensive in my country, even a t a discount.

@CeanHerzfield 2 года назад

The game looks amazing now but I'm still struggling to get into it. Nothing will ever live up to the brilliance that is Subnautica and Below Zero.

@GeneraluStelaru 2 года назад

NMS is being praised because it fixed its bugs and added a lot of candy. It's still a pointless romp though. There's no economy and no logic to anything.

@IvanoForgione 2 года назад

I missed the huge spoiler alert I guess... no no biggie for me, a day 1 NMS player 😄 ai really hope you get to enjoy Frontiers, it's another nice layer (still in the making) to a forever changing game... or interactive experience, I should say 😄 Love your accent, been a subscriber for a while

@kylorenkardashian79 2 года назад

the beginning of no man's sky is, well, it is what it is... 🤷.. ..

@WqDnbY52l0 2 года назад

nice

@NJHS92 2 года назад

Same as overwatch, i cant believe its been 5 years but adventure time is 10 god damn years old

@atortarr 2 года назад

I absolutely love this game, and I agree with Noah Gervais that it's the best $60 wallpaper generator on the market. I've spent hundreds of hours just going from system to system, getting screenshots of all the amazing places I could find, and then setting up a screenshot folder that my OS uses to rotate wallpapers through every few minutes. Love the extremely meta storylines as well. Just a really, really cool game, and to see it bloom into what it's become now has been such a cool experience.

@lulish1 2 года назад

I sincerely hope that hello games expands on already existing systems instead of adding new ones in the future. Freighters are so cool, yet there is little to do in them. There is little interactivity with bases aside from making them pretty, and the new setlements are kinda barebones. If they connected more freighters with bases, or combat, I'd like it more than making more content islands.

@pltatman1 2 года назад

I'd like to see an equal amount of both. Introducing new systems but also adding complexity and interactivity to existing systems. As much as I enjoy the game, it does need a lot of continued improvement. Imagine how cool it would be to accompany your frigates on their missions instead of reading a text transcript, or experiencing deep and immersive combat mechanics with rewards for achieving combat objectives that significantly impacted the star system.

@R3TR0J4N 2 года назад

Cons: more content the game gives the more taxing the fps

@andreyklimov88 2 года назад

I think some sort of spoiler alert before telling the main story to new interlopers would be appreciated. But still great video.

@WritingOnGames 2 года назад

Massive spoiler warning at the start of the video.

@tybronx2446 2 года назад

Can we just agree as a whole to stop threatening game devs. Like what's wrong with people...

@davehooper6481 2 года назад

I am still on my day one game save from 5 years ago. 2,100 hours and I am still waiting for fixes to things ignored. I have always wanted to build under the ground or into the side of a mountain without it filling the terrain back in. Ships still fly right through mountains and my base occasionally. Base parts have always disappeared and reappeared. Animals walk right through walls that I put up to keep them away. So many new and fun features have been while theses issues are ignored. I heard before release that every blade of grass and every atom and every tree and so on were... I don't remember the phrase but manipulatable by players and would remain that way in our game. If we came back weeks or months later that change we made would still be there. That's not even true for a day. The terrain manipulator is a joke. It works great but for who knows how long. I had a base for a short time that had fire storms in it seven floors underground. Animals running around down there too. Delete base. I keep hoping one day they fix these old problems we all have to work around.

@bungalowfeuhler1541 2 года назад

Hello Games are good people.

@RidingAShoppingCart 2 года назад

nicee

@lars9805 2 года назад

It's a cool game but still has so much it can and needs to expand on, I'd much rather have them expand on the existing features than adding new things such as settlements which I found to be a bit disappointing.

@ImAltair1 2 года назад

6:53 you are trying to enter a freighter that is unaccessible as the red lights show :l

@HxH2011DRA 2 года назад

Flux not as destructive of constancy but rather paradoxically a neccessary condition of constancy? Yep sounds like tale told by and for gamers

@MattleWolff Год назад

What's the song playing in the first at around the 2 minute mark up to the 3 minute?

@WritingOnGames Год назад

I make all the music for the videos!

@MattleWolff Год назад

@@WritingOnGames Please is there anywhere I can find this track on its own? It's amazing.

@user-rm6cw2cr1u 2 года назад

A little secret there is a first person perspective to the game

@bigrathole 2 года назад

I got this game at launch. I put it down. I picked this game up last week again to see how far it had come. I refunded. The core loop sucks and it's the one thing that's never changed, but I'm glad other people get something out of it.