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No Man’s Sky’s goals are different from Bethesda’s space RPG. Instead of an inescapable storyline that holds the experience together, it prioritises interstellar exploration and wisely picks the untamed side of sci-fi over Starfield’s drab NASA punk aesthetic. Updates ensure feature parity with Starfield as well, having introduced the ability to board enemy ships and customise your own. Its multiplayer component lets you run into strangers or work with friends to build settlements, smuggle resources, or explore the cosmos. While years of expansions have stacked multiple systems onto its exploration, they come together incredibly well in No Man’s Sky’s latest Expedition.
Expedition 14, titled Liquidators, is a short series of missions that lets you quickly jump into the core No Man’s Sky experience. As an NMS newbie, it didn’t take long to appreciate how much thought was put into reducing the friction between pursuing objectives. While the regular adventure gets going after a lengthy tutorial and some planet visits, Liquidators cuts through the busywork and gives you ample resources and tools to begin its challenges. You even get weapons with a generous amount of ammo to ward away biological horrors and hostile sentinels.
Open-ended tasks encourage looking around, meaning you don’t have to follow a straight path. From getting materials to pilot your spaceship to touching base at a space station and heading to a combat zone, this streamlined experience gets you to grips with the game’s main loop. You can also hop into an ally’s Expedition and progress together. No Man’s Sky trades Starfield’s guard rails and a false sense of freedom for a frontier that doesn’t reduce spaceflight to a loading screen. Soaring through the skies before achieving escape velocity to exit a planet is a common occurrence in No Man’s Sky, one that isn’t in Bethesda’s sprawling RPG.
Its psychedelic-coloured worlds rich in bizarre life warrant a sense of wonder and lonely dread.
Floating in No Man’s Sky’s psychedelic-coloured worlds rich in bizarre life warrants a sense of wonder and lonely dread. In these worlds untouched by alien societies, you don’t run into character interactions often. Visually, it’s more Avatar than Star Wars. Don’t get me wrong, Starfield can be a visual spectacle at times. No Man’s Sky’s little trading posts and scant space stations don’t hold a candle to Bethesda’s dense cities. But outside key story sections that feel like theme parks, the latter’s planets are dull deserts where side quests are reduced to chores.
There’s no doubt that both games are unique takes on space exploration. And while Starfield starts at a mining base, I’m glad the Expedition gives you a weapon right from minute one. It’s a quick start that can entice players wary of its interwoven progression systems. It also lets you bring your Starship and Multi-Tool from earlier saves, rewarding players who have invested hundreds of hours into exploring its secrets.
No Man’s Sky’s sheer scale discouraged me at first. But this generous start made me feel like I could contribute to community milestones and secure the prized Liquidator suit. And since it’s on Game Pass, you owe it to yourself to see what Hello Games has been building for the past eight years. Great games don’t have to cater to everyone’s tastes. Despite its Steam ratings, you might just discover your next obsession to keep you occupied for hundreds of hours.
About the Author
No Man’s Sky
- Platform(s): PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One
- Genre(s): Action, Adventure, Space
