By Liyo Kikon
THIS is probably one of the most anticipated game and definitely the most unique. I’m sure that all hardcore gamers out there already know all about it but for those of you who have not heard about this game, let me tell you a bit about this ridiculously massive universe.
No Man’s Sky is a first person action-adventure survival game where you can choose between exploration, survival, combat or trading. You can travel to different locations across the universe in your space ship and discover new planets. But here’s the kicker, the universe of No man’s sky is massive! it is so large that we can almost compare it to the size of our own universe. There are more than 18 quintillion planets that’s the number 18, followed by eighteen zeroes! And each planet is literally the size of an entire planet. Imagine trying to explore the entire planet earth, you know that it would take a lifetime just to explore everything in one planet and when you think about traveling to all 18 quintillion planets, it is actually impossible and that is what makes this game great because there is just so much to see and do.
The way the game works is that each planet and everything in it - all the plants, animals, from the largest mountain to the smallest insect are procedurally generated using deterministic algorithms and random number generators so all the planets and their ecosystem will be unique in its own way. The gameplay will be quite simple where players can discover new planets, find new species, collect resources, fight other non-player characters (NPC) and trade with other players by sending them your galactic co-ordinates so that they can come and visit your planet. Although this is a massively multiplayer game, the developers have classified this as an action-adventure game since it is very unlikely that players will meet each other at random due to the scale of the universe. You will also be able to communicate with other NPC by learning their language which will get translated into a dialogue system, thereby allowing you to trade with them and form alliances or enemies.
If you harm animals or take too much resources from a certain planet, you might end up harming your status on that planet and you will be seen as an enemy. I guess you could say that a diplomatic approach will be better or if you choose, you could go for the aggressive approach and just go around destroying everything you see and that is completely your decision. But remember, all your actions will determine your character in the game.
When it comes to exploring planets, you can travel in your spaceship with a hyperspace jump but that can be limited by your fuel capacity and range of your spaceship but you can upgrade those as you explore more planets and gradually upgrade your spaceship. I can already image players with some cool upgrades and capabilities exploring the universe. One of the best part is that if you are the first one to discover a planet, you can give it any name you want and that name will be uploaded to the server so that other players can visit your planet with your name on it! and I can bet that players will soon be selling off their planets for real cash like many other games out there. In the game, players can sell goods and buy them using a currency system called Units and you will be able to craft new goods with the resources you find in your planet. If you craft a unique object, you can get a lot of units for it and thereby allow you to further upgrade your inventory.
For a game that is procedurally generated, the universe of No Man’s Sky is very beautiful and it is hard to imagine that all the minute details in the game are generated automatically as you explore new planets. The animals, plants and everything in it feels like it was created individually and the whole outlook of the game is a masterpiece. The release date for No Man’s Sky is August 12 (worldwide PC release).
