Find the games you're looking for
No Man’s Sky
Critics Consensus (Skip It)
An engrossing, if flawed, work of engineering art, No Man’s Sky has sci-fi spectacle and relaxing exploration. But it’s marred by repetitive gameplay system and a lack of real discovery.
Game Info
Inspired by the adventure and imagination that we love from classic science-fiction, No Man’s Sky presents you with a galaxy to explore, filled with unique planets and lifeforms, and constant danger and action. In No Man’s Sky, every star is the light of a distant sun, each orbited by planets filled with life, and you can go to any of them you choose. Fly smoothly from deep space to planetary surfaces, with no loading screens, and no limits. In this infinite procedurally generated universe, you’ll discover places and creatures that no other players have seen before – and perhaps never will again.
0%
Recommended
0%
Average Score
Total Reviews: 106
RELEASE DATES:
GENRES:
- Action, Adventure
DEVELOPER(S):
- Hello Games
PUBLISHER(S):
- Hello Games
SERIES/FRANCHISE:
- n/a
GAME MODES:
- Co-operative, Multiplayer, Single player
Where to Play
WHERE TO PLAY
** VSG may earn a commission for purchases using our links. Learn more.
RATING & REVIEWS
Ratings & Reviews
106
Critic Reviews
71
Average Critic Score
Where to Play
CRITIC REVIEWS
All reviews are from professional critics. Learn more about the critics VSG aggregates.
High Score
100%
Median Score
70%
Low Score
47%
What did you think of No Man’s Sky?
Player Reviews0 Votes
0
Dan Stapleton (IGN)
August 16, 2016
6/10
No Man’s Sky has sci-fi spectacle of strange new worlds on its side, but not much else. Its gameplay is underdeveloped and repetitive, and in my dozens of hours played it’s introduced very few new ideas to mix up its crafting, upgrades, combat, or universe. The promise of limitless exploration ended up working against it when I lost faith that it had any more meaningful things to show me no matter how far I traveled. This ambitious game reached for the stars, but its reach exceeded its grasp by light years.
David Jenkins (Metro GameCentral)
August 12, 2016
6/10
A stunning technical achievement and a mesmerisingly addictive one, even after you realise how simplistic and repetitive it really is.
Peter Brown (GameSpot)
August 12, 2016
7/10
No Man’s Sky is a massive machine with broken and missing parts, but dig deep enough and you’ll be moved in ways you never expected.
VSG News
Assassin’s Creed Jade Release Likely Delayed to 2025 as Tencent Shifts Focus
PlayStation 5 Pro: Leaked Specs Reveal a Major Upgrade, Release Hinted for Holiday 2024
Xbox Games Hit New Platforms: Pentiment, Hi-Fi Rush, Sea of Thieves, and Grounded Coming to Other Platforms
Xbox Reaches Beyond Consoles: 4 Games to Rival Platforms, and What It Means
Silent Hill 2 Remake Developer Unhappy With Trailer Released by Konami
Score Ranges
Read the Reviews (106 total)
| Outlet | Author | Score | Date | Quote | Read |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ACG | Jeremy Penter | Not Recommended | 08-10-2016 | Video Review | Read review |
| AR12Gaming | Ali Hashim | 5 / 10 | 09-13-2016 | Hello Games has created an overhyped, overpriced, and overall bad game. They had so many opportunities to make it better and lie less while advertising it, yet they didn’t. No Man’s Sky is ambitious, but rubbish. | Read review |
| Arcade Sushi | TJ Denzer | 6 / 10 | 08-16-2016 | In many ways everything that led up to No Man’s Sky felt like some sort of conscription ad campaign. “See the universe! Explore the unknown!” It’s all very enticing and delivers on a lot of amazing feelings, but like most things of this nature, it’s not always all it’s cracked up to be. | Read review |
| Areajugones | Alejandro Tomás | 8.5 / 10 | 08-13-2016 | No Man’s Sky is the fulfilled promise that had been made by Hello Games a year ago. We face an infinite universe and a very well developed and deep story, even though the gameplay mechanics could have been more elaborated.. | Read review |
| Ars Technica | Sam Machkovech | Not Recommended | 08-15-2016 | Don’t just wait for a sale; wait for a major overhaul. | Read review |
| Atomix | Iván Román | 70 / 100 | 08-01-2018 | No Man’s Sky is an experience designed for a very specific audience. The gamers who enjoy exploring and admiring the universe will feel happy with the result of Next; however, for another audience it will be boring to repeat the same tasks over and over again. | Read review |
| Attack of the Fanboy | William Schwartz | 3 / 5 stars | 08-11-2016 | One of the most anticipated games of the year, No Man’s Sky is somewhat of a letdown. While it certainly puts its best foot forward with a beautiful audio and visual presentation, to put it bluntly, it’s boring. Ambitious as the universe that’s been created by Hello Games is, what lies within is a middling survival/crafting game. | Read review |
| BaziCenter | آرش مرادی | 6 / 10 | 09-07-2016 | Ambitious ideas, great potential, huge world, and very little to do! No Man’s Sky is not bad but it’s not what promised. The huge world suffers from numerous bugs and the gameplay gets repetitive very soon. Yet, if you are a fan of pure exploration, you may very well enjoy it. | Read review |
| Cerealkillerz | Gabriel Bogdan | 7.5 / 10 | 08-10-2016 | Das Team von Hello Games hat zwar eine wirklich beachtliche Leistung mit No Man’s Sky abgeliefert, schafft es aber trotzdem nicht ganz die angepriesene Welt wirklich wie erwartet umzusetzen. Nach einigen Spielstunden trifft man zwar immer noch auf neue Dinge, aber die Limitierungen im Gameplay und bei allen Bereichen außer der reinen Planeten-Anzahl, sind einfach zu schnell erreicht. Ob die Entwickler hier noch mit Updates etwas an Abwechslung ins Spiel bringen können bleibt noch offen, aber in der aktuellen Fassung ist No Man’s Sky eher nur eine simple Weltraum-Simulation für zwischendurch. | Read review |
| CGMagazine | Elias Blondeau | 6 / 10 | 08-12-2016 | No Man’s Sky is a shallow package of undercooked ideas that will ultimately go forgotten in a year full of other, better releases. | Read review |
| Cheat Code Central | Becky Cunningham | 3.9 / 5 stars | 08-11-2016 | There are wonders indeed to be found in the No Man’s Sky universe, but not everybody will be willing to put in the time and effort needed to discover them. This game is a technical marvel that patient, detail-oriented gamers will love. | Read review |
| COGconnected | Patrick Anderson | 80 / 100 | 08-16-2016 | Give No Man’s Sky time, let yourself absorb its sometimes slow and subtle pace, and you will find a truly unique – and satisfying gaming experience. | Read review |
| Critical Hit | Alessandro Barbosa | 6.5 / 10 | 08-16-2016 | No Man’s Sky is sadly one of the more disappointing games of the year, mixing small moments of grand wonder with inescapable hours of tedious, boring survival gameplay. If you’re willing to fight through that, there’s a game here for you. But it’s often not worth the effort | Read review |
| Cubed3 | Brandon Howard | 6 / 10 | 08-30-2016 | While No Man’s Sky does suffer from some technical glitches that occasionally impact play, it’s built on solid foundations, and it starts out feeling genuinely fresh and exciting. As it progresses, however, the experience peters out with the realisation that exploration is really all there is to do. Each piece of the journey only exists to further the journey itself, and there’s no real reward except for additional opportunities for exploration, and any sense of personal achievement is wiped out. There’s definitely something exciting about this infinite world, but infinity begins to look the same after a while. | Read review |
| Daily Dot | Dennis Scimeca | 3.5 / 5 stars | 08-15-2016 | In Minecraft, I can invite other people to share my discoveries. In No Man’s Sky, I am utterly alone. | Read review |
| Destructoid | Chris Carter | 7 / 10 | 08-11-2016 | No Man’s Sky isn’t quite what I thought it would be. It’s a fun sandbox game that’s full of wonder, until it isn’t. Unlike other similar titles, the magic fades over time, because 18 billion planets (sorry, 18 quintillion) don’t matter if it feels like there’s only truly 20 unique ones. I wouldn’t recommend No Man’s Sky if you don’t like getting lost — but for those of you who do, wander away. | Read review |
| Digital Chumps | Nathaniel Stevens | 8 / 10 | 08-17-2016 | No Man’s Sky is a unique experience for this generation of consoles. It brings a relaxing gameplay design that is geared more towards exploration, rather than sci-fi action. In addition to exploration, it has a healthy crafting system, an interesting monetary structure that adds extra motivation, and an endless amount of adventures and secrets to uncover along the way. No Man’s Sky isn’t perfect execution by any means, especially when compared to the intentions that it was built on, but there’s enough here to warrant the journey. | Read review |
| Digital Trends | Mike Epstein | 3 / 5 stars | 08-23-2016 | ‘No Man’s Sky’ is the most massive exploration game of all time, but ultimately feels hollow | Read review |
| Digitally Downloaded | Unknown | 5 / 5 stars | 08-16-2016 | No game, film, book or otherwise has been more effectively in capturing what the experience of exploring the universe must be. | Read review |
| DualShockers | Giuseppe Nelva | 8.5 / 10 | 08-14-2016 | On the other hand, if freedom, a relaxed pace, and a galaxy made of more stars that you’ll ever be able to visit make your heart beat, No Man’s Sky will grant you virtually infinite hours adventure and joy, and fly with you where no man has gone before… Literally. | Read review |
| Easy Allies | Ben Moore | 3 / 5 stars | 08-15-2016 | Video Review | Read review |
| EGM | Matt Buchholtz | 7 / 10 | 08-18-2016 | An ambitious game, No Man’s Sky allows gamers to play space-captain across an entire universe of planets. Unfortunately, numerous glitches and monotonous gameplay options make the game frustrating for those desiring something more serious. | Read review |
| Eurogamer | Oli Welsh | Recommended | 08-12-2016 | Hello Games’ lush galactic odyssey is a unique work of engineering art | Read review |
| Everyeye.it | Francesco Serino | 8 / 10 | 08-12-2016 | No Man’s Sky has no real flaws (except the star maps, really a disaster), but many limitations, but often due to his youth. It seems now clear that the objective of Sean Murray is to create another phenomenon ala Minecraft. The designer has already announced the arrival of terrestrial resources, the ability to build our own bases, even larger ships. Moreover, in a similar game structure you can add anything, including new variables, new land, new formulas to make things even more varied and surprising. No Man’s Sky is not only gameplay, but there is something more, and that something is hidden in each of us. | Read review |
| Fextralife | MichaelVash7886 | 7 / 10 | 09-05-2016 | With the proper expectations and the potential for some engaging future updates No Man’s Sky is a fun experience to dig into for a few weeks or can be a secondary game to play while focusing on other games. Structurally, it lacks the foundation to be a core game experience, as it is lacking in enough diverse gameplay objectives. | Read review |
| Forbes | Erik Kain | 6 / 10 | 08-20-2016 | For all its color and all its life, No Man’s Sky is still little more than dead space. | Read review |
| Game Debate | Joffy S | 5 / 10 | 08-21-2016 | I guess the strongest thing I can say is: I’m struggling to want to play No Man’s Sky again, let alone contemplating getting to the centre of its universe. Its saving grace could well be post-launch support, however. | Read review |
| Game Informer | Matt Miller | 7.5 / 10 | 08-17-2016 | An inviting universe to explore and exploit, but not much story or gameplay backs up the unparalleled scope of the world | Read review |
| Game Rant | Anthony Taormina | 3.5 / 5 stars | 08-21-2016 | No Man’s Sky is a game whose ambitious promises may have hurt it in the long run, but it’s hard to deny the impressive framework and gameplay loop Hello Games created. | Read review |
| Game Revolution | Matt Utley | 3.5 / 5 stars | 08-15-2016 | There is no time travel in No Man’s Sky, only the momentum to push forward. Pushing forward in the hopes that the next planet you land on will take your breath away. Pushing forward in the hopes that you will find a derelict ship ripe for the taking. And at the very least, pushing forward in the hopes that they can fix the combat with a patch update. | Read review |
| GameCrate | Nicholas Scibetta | 8 / 10 | 08-11-2016 | No Man’s Sky is all about the pure joy of exploration. It will be a polarizing game that will prove unsatisfying for some gamers, but it offers a vibrant, Zen-like experience others will treasure. | Read review |
| GameGrin | Simon Brown | 6 / 10 | 08-21-2016 | An impressive piece of technology capable of generating some truly gorgeous vistas, the game layered on top however disappoints in almost every way and just has no depth. Planets are fun to wander around whilst gathering resources to move on but you won’t linger. | Read review |
| Gameplanet | Ben Allan | 6 / 10 | 08-25-2016 | No Man’s Sky was never going to live up to the hype, but sadly even those with tempered expectations are likely to be somewhat disappointed. It is by no means a terrible game, it just feels unfinished and empty. | Read review |
| Gamersky | 楚楠 | 8.5 / 10 | 07-27-2018 | After two years’ efforts, No Man’s Sky has finally become a playable game, with a much more vivid universe, interesting missions and a multiplayer mode. Although there are some problems about the duplication of playing and bad optimization, it is still worth a try, especially for Sci-Fi fans. | Read review |
| GamesBeat | Jeff Grubb | 80 / 100 | 08-13-2016 | It’s a call back to the sci-fi and adventuring stories that form the foundation of so many of today’s geeks. Roaming the galaxy as a lone explorer who has to rely on their wits to survive harsh planets nestled between light years of empty space is something I’ve played in my mind since I was a kid. | Read review |
| GameSkinny | chopchamen | 7 / 10 | 08-30-2016 | No Man’s Sky has been seen as a repetitive money grab, but it is a game more about reaching out to the stars, literally. | Read review |
| GameSpew | Jamie Parry-Bruce | 8 / 10 | 08-16-2016 | No Man’s Sky doesn’t beat you around the head with lore. It doesn’t have the veritable library of fluff that seems prevalent in most RPGs nowadays. It lets you discover its secrets for yourself and the result is that it’s a far more rewarding game for it | Read review |
| GameSpot | Peter Brown | 7 / 10 | 08-12-2016 | No Man’s Sky is a massive machine with broken and missing parts, but dig deep enough and you’ll be moved in ways you never expected. | Read review |
| GameWatcher | Dustin Bailey | 7.5 / 10 | 08-29-2016 | No Man’s Sky has very clear problems. Its mechanics are insubstantial, with the crafting and inventory management systems being a particular exercise in tedium. Yet its scale and beauty is unmatched by any other game I’ve ever seen. It does things no other game ever has. It’s tempting to call No Man’s Sky “decent, but not great,” but that undersells both the game’s successes and its failures. No Man’s Sky is incredible, awe-inspiring, and profoundly disappointing. | Read review |
| GameZone | Tatiana Morris | 7.5 / 10 | 08-16-2016 | No Man’s Sky is a great start to vast procedurally generated worlds, but may need more resources to extend the game’s lifespan. | Read review |
| Gaming Nexus | Randy Kalista | 7 / 10 | 08-30-2016 | The moral of this story is: No man is an island—not even Sean Murray and his buggy mathematical superformula. No Man’s Sky is an ironically small game, but it has a big, beating heart at its center, even when the procedural generation and the sometimes narrow-scoped world building tries to hide it. | Read review |
| GamingBolt | Pramath | 8 / 10 | 08-12-2016 | Truly infinite, boundless in its possibilities, and presenting its players with a universe of possibilities, No Man’s Sky is a triumph in what it sets out to do. | Read review |
| GamingTrend | Jay Malone | 80 / 100 | 08-15-2016 | No Man’s Sky is an unforgettable adventure, one plagued by lack of direction and lack of meat. It brings about one of the most incredible worlds ever seen in a video game, but it doesn’t always take advantage of that. Despite the issues, No Man’s Sky is a milestone in video game development. | Read review |
| GBAtemp | Jakub Kowalski | 6.5 / 10 | 09-03-2016 | It’s very hard to judge this game. On one hand, it has limitless potential, but on the other it’s lacking in just about every area. It fails to deliver on the promises made by the marketing team, but I’m not sure to what extent I can blame the developers of the game in this regard. NMS doesn’t feel like an attempt to squeeze money out of people’s wallets, it’s not one of those games that’s sold unfinished, with gaps filled in with DLC. It’s a genuine attempt at trying something new and innovative, in many ways it’s a work of art, it simply grew in scale so much since inception that it grew far beyond the developer’s capacity to complete. I sincerely hope that they complete to build upon the solid foundation they’ve created so far because NMS is a diamond in the rough | Read review |
| Geeks Under Grace | Damien Chambers | 6.1 / 10 | 08-19-2016 | No Man’s Sky innovates but not enough for it live up to the monstrous hype it received upon in its initial reveal. | Read review |
| Giant Bomb | Alex Navarro | 3 / 5 stars | 08-19-2016 | It’s light years from being a great game, but there’s still something at the heart of No Man’s Sky that speaks to the would-be explorer in all of us. | Read review |
| God is a Geek | Chris White | 7.5 / 10 | 08-15-2016 | A great exploration game, but beyond the wow factor of infinite travel and discovering unique creatures and planets, there is little else to really do. | Read review |
| Guardian | Jordan Erica Webber | 4 / 5 stars | 08-12-2016 | Hello Games has created a gorgeously realised, constantly regenerating universe for players to get lost in, where the incredible journey trumps the destination | Read review |
| Hardcore Gamer | Matt Whittaker | 3.5 / 5 stars | 08-16-2016 | Despite the sheer amount of complaints that you can throw at No Man’s Sky, it’s still a breathtaking experience that teases the possibilities of the medium’s future. | Read review |
| Hobby Consolas | Luis López Zamorano | 85 / 100 | 08-10-2018 | No Man’s Sky NEXT is the game that they promised us in 2016. It finally has multiplayer and many other add-ons, but, in the end, its base is still the same: explore the universe calmly. | Read review |
| IBTimes UK | Ben Skipper | 4 / 5 stars | 08-15-2016 | No Man’s Sky is about cutting your own path through a galaxy teeming with possibilities. It is a playground in which to let loose the human urge to explore and discover, supported by a deep crafting system that keeps players engaged in their journey. Improvements could be made, new features could add greater depth, but Hello Games’ achievement here is nothing short of incredible. | Read review |
| IGN | Dan Stapleton | 6 / 10 | 08-16-2016 | No Man’s Sky has sci-fi spectacle of strange new worlds on its side, but not much else. Its gameplay is underdeveloped and repetitive, and in my dozens of hours played it’s introduced very few new ideas to mix up its crafting, upgrades, combat, or universe. The promise of limitless exploration ended up working against it when I lost faith that it had any more meaningful things to show me no matter how far I traveled. This ambitious game reached for the stars, but its reach exceeded its grasp by light years. | Read review |
| IGN Italy | Gianluca Loggia | 7.5 / 10 | 08-16-2016 | Hello Games’ procedural dream is becoming a reality, but we’ll probably need to wait months/years to see the process completed. | Read review |
| IGN Middle East | Mamdouh Mahrous | 8.2 / 10 | 08-12-2016 | No Man’s Sky might not be a perfect game, in fact it is riddled with flaws from a technical and visual perspective, but it is certainly a bold new step that benefited from random generation technology to give us an impressive universe with endless possibility. We have to appreciate the effort that the small Hello Games has been able to put into this. | Read review |
| Impulsegamer | Andrew Bistak | 4.3 / 5 stars | 08-28-2016 | No Man’s Sky is not only a marvel but also a disappointment in some respects. Nonetheless, it’s a very ambitious and powerful title with quite a bit of grinding thrown into the mix. | Read review |
| Just Push Start | Damian Seeto | 3.75 / 5 stars | 07-29-2018 | No Man’s Sky Next is a huge improvement over the original game because there are new features and better visuals for you to look at. It’s worth playing the game if you still own a copy of it and want to download the free update. However, the game can still be boring at times and I don’t think it does enough to entice new players to give it a try. | Read review |
| Kill Screen | Gareth Damian Martin | 87 / 100 | 08-15-2016 | As I became more familiar with its systems, as I began to master the repeating frames of its world, they began to fall away. Mastery brought with it an openness that was dizzying in its freedom. I had a ship I liked, enough units to get by, and an inventory that served my purpose. Unshackled from the grind, I suddenly realized I could wander. | Read review |
| KnowTechie | Josh Knowles | 5 / 10 | 08-14-2016 | No Man’s Sky has a framework that could have led to an impressive game. Instead, the core parts of “gameplay” seem to be limited in the name of calling it a “chill game”. It’s boring, uninspired, repetitive and simply unfun. | Read review |
| Kotaku | Kirk Hamilton | Recommended | 08-17-2016 | First I didn’t like it, then I did. | Read review |
| Metro GameCentral | David Jenkins | 6 / 10 | 08-12-2016 | A stunning technical achievement and a mesmerisingly addictive one, even after you realise how simplistic and repetitive it really is. | Read review |
| MMOGames | Julian Duffy | 5 / 10 | 09-14-2016 | No Man’s Sky is a victim of its own hype. The developers overpromised and under delivered. New content may well improve the game, but at least for this reviewer, the feeling of deflation after finally playing may be too much to recover from. | Read review |
| MMORPG.com | William Murphy | 6.8 / 10 | 08-18-2016 | For me, despite its missed opportunities and forgotten promises, I’m still glad I dropped the money to experience No Man’s Sky. It’s something unique in a world where most of what we get are sequels or off-shoots. Fortune favors the bold, and I hope this is just the beginning of the type of innovation we can expect to see from Hello Games. And frankly, I hope they take all the time they need with their next game. | Read review |
| New Game Network | Alex Varankou | 62 / 100 | 08-16-2016 | No Man’s Sky is a better technical demo than it is a full priced game. A randomly generated universe sounds like an impressive concept, but the underlying variety and most of the gameplay design could have used more depth. | Read review |
| NZGamer | Keith Milburn | 7 / 10 | 08-17-2016 | There’s something meditative and introspective about No Man’s Sky. It’s size and scope elicits feelings of wonder and irrelevance in equal measure, creating metaphors from calculus and code. Those feelings are savagely curtailed by oppressive systems that transform it into something smaller: a videogame. | Read review |
| Pardis Game | Kasra Karimi Asl | 8.5 / 10 | 08-19-2016 | No Mans Sky در مقام یک بازی بیشک بیعیب و نقص نیست، مثل هر بازی دیگری یک تاریخ مصرف دارد اما قدرتش در تجربهای است که به شما میدهد، به نظرم با آن باید همچون یک موجود زنده برخورد شود، موجودی سرشار از ابعاد مختلف که فراتر از هر چیزی درون خود یک روح بزرگ دارد، قرار نیست مثل یک ماشین آخرین مدل به شما سواری بدهد یا حتی مثل برخی گونه های پست تر صرفا توهم سواری را در شما ایجاد کند. بزرگترین دستاورد بازی این حقیقت است که حتی بدون داستان نیز می توان با خلق یک جهان کاملا زنده و پویا مخاطب را در خود غرق کرد تا بی هیچ چهارچوبی به دنبال علایقش باشد. | Read review |
| Paste Magazine | Don Saas | 8 / 10 | 08-15-2016 | When a location in No Man’s Sky isn’t being observed, it doesn’t exist. It’s just the potential in its formula in a program (possibly on a disc). When we play it, it becomes a tiny thread in an actual vast universe. | Read review |
| PC Gamer | Christopher Livingston | 64 / 100 | 08-18-2016 | Relaxing exploration and some lovely scenery coupled with repetitive systems, frustrating menus, and a lack of real discovery. | Read review |
| PCGamesN | Fraser Brown | 6 / 10 | 08-21-2016 | Absolutely bursting with breathtaking vistas, No Man’s Sky works best as a stellar walking sim. Sadly the half-baked survival elements only detract from the experience. | Read review |
| PCMag | Matthew Buzzi | 4 / 5 stars | 08-18-2016 | Much more than a sterile description of its discrete parts and features, No Man’s Sky is an astounding artistic and technical achievement worth experiencing. The wonder of stepping onto one of seemingly infinite planets and exploring, even while navigating the title’s shortcomings, is unparalleled by any other game. | Read review |
| Pittsburgh Post-Gazette | Max Parker | 7.5 / 10 | 08-15-2016 | “No Man’s Sky” is a modern marvel in game development. There has never been anything close to a game of this size or scope. But size doesn’t always translate to enjoyment. The game is about exploration and exploration alone. There’s no drama or story-driven hook to keep players wanting to turn the next page. There’s enough game here to keep players engaged for multiple lifetimes. How long they will stay with it will depend on the patience of the player. The game’s reach and beauty can only take players so far. | Read review |
| Player.One | Andrew Whalen | 6 / 10 | 08-12-2016 | It’s an incredibly apt description of No Man’s Sky, and by this standard the game is a tremendous success. There are have been many, many moments where the sensation of alien wonder and sci-fi awe has overwhelmed me playing No Man’s Sky. But while I own and cherish anthologies of sci-fi covers (The Art of Michael Whelan is sprawled open somewhere nearby), reading the actual book is always preferable. No Man’s Sky is all cover. | Read review |
| PlayStation LifeStyle | Paulmichael Contreras | 9 / 10 | 08-11-2016 | So No Man’s Sky isn’t flawless. It’s probably not for everyone. Then again, No Man’s Sky is exactly as described by the eccentric Sean Murray. If you’ve ever dreamed of being a cosmonaut, of starting with practically nothing and amassing a fortune, of becoming a notorious space pirate, or had any other of the countless sci-fi fantasies out there, this is probably the game for you. Now, those fantasies might not play out exactly as you’d have hoped in No Man’s Sky, but this is a game that begs those who put in the time to come back just once more and see what lies just over the horizon. If this game is right for you, you won’t be able to put the controller down. | Read review |
| PlayStation Universe | Neil Bolt | 7.5 / 10 | 08-15-2016 | It’s flawed in some fundamental, if fixable, ways, but No Man’s Sky has a dreamlike allure for those who can sink their teeth into its space-faring expanses. A memorable game, if not quite what it could be. | Read review |
| Polygon | Philip Kollar | 6 / 10 | 08-12-2016 | No Man’s Sky is an impressive set of tools grafted onto a game with very little going on. | Read review |
| Post Arcade (National Post) | Chad Sapieha | 8 / 10 | 08-16-2016 | Hello Games’ massive to the point of being almost overwhelming universe provides just the right amount of (optional) guidance | Read review |
| Pure Playstation | Chris Harding | 8 / 10 | 08-06-2016 | No Man’s Sky aims to capture your imagination and throw you into an adventure like no game has ever done before. It succeeds in creating a scarily vast universe in which you, the player, feel so tiny and insignificant. The thought that you’ll never see another human is equally depressing as it is awesome. You know there’s others out there, but the most interaction you’ll ever have is landing on a planet called ‘Your Mum’. | Read review |
| Push Square | Stephen Tailby | 7 / 10 | 12-07-2020 | No Man’s Sky is full of potential, and Hello Games has laid strong foundations on which to build. Its main gameplay is simplistic but becomes totally engrossing, and the technical achievement is impressive. The atmosphere created by the graphics and sound is second to none, and there’s an amazing sense of place. Some may struggle to find the fun with the lack of direction, and there are some technical issues that need addressing, but if you’re able to create your own fun with the tools that you’re given, you’ll be playing this for a long time. | Read review |
| Rectify Gaming | Scott Anderson | 7.4 / 10 | 08-26-2016 | A universally-divisive undertaking on a cosmic scale, No Man’s Sky shines brightest when you are left to your own devices. | Read review |
| Reno Gazette-Journal | Jason Hidalgo | 7 / 10 | 09-27-2016 | Like Icarus, No Man’s Sky is an ambitious game that aims high. The result is a game with beautiful visuals and a wide, expansive universe filled with a multitude of planets and interesting creatures. At the same time, the game’s base mechanics, while solid, could use more variety as they can get old after a while. Players who like a clearly defined goal and more diversity in gameplay, for example, will find the lack of action and a clear overarching narrative disappointing. If you like simple exploration and getting lost in the weeds, however, then No Man’s Sky’s slower pace will be for you. | Read review |
| Rock, Paper, Shotgun | John Walker | Recommended | 08-24-2017 | With Atlas Rises, it’s worth returning to No Man’s Sky | Read review |
| Rocket Chainsaw | Andrew Cathie | 4.5 / 5 stars | 08-15-2016 | This is what I want. It may not be what you want, but No Man’s Sky is what I want. | Read review |
| Saudi Gamer | عصام الشهوان | 8 / 10 | 08-14-2016 | A great achievement in building a gigantic world that feels realistic, with stable performance in considering what the game is doing in the background. The whole game is designed through algorithms that makes the planets seem simple and pretty similar, plus the repetitive gameplay that doesn’t change much. If you don’t mind these two issues, then you’ll find a rich, deep game full of secrets to explore, with the all the things you need to do so. | Read review |
| Shacknews | Josh Hawkins | 6 / 10 | 08-19-2016 | When you step back and look at No Man’s Sky you can actually see how well it shines, and just how much love and devotion was put into each piece of the universe. It’s a procedurally generated world, but that doesn’t change the fact that Hello Games breathed life into this world. While some mechanics can be grating, it succeeds fairly well at its vision of delivering an eerie galaxy and the sense of discovery in exploring it. | Read review |
| Sirus Gaming | Haidee Pinote | 8 / 10 | 11-24-2016 | No Man’s Sky is (as what most people shall have it) a survival, action-adventure game that is set in a procedurally generated environment that allows players to be immersed in a variety of settings. | Read review |
| Slant Magazine | Justin Clark | 4.5 / 5 stars | 08-17-2016 | The game comes down to the indisputable truth that, when it comes to space travel, the journey is everything. | Read review |
| SomHráč.sk | Martin Kubeš | 65 / 100 | 08-30-2016 | No Man’s Sky is a very inconsistent and hard to evaluate game. It’s all about your preferences. If you like exploring new worlds you’ll love it, iff you don’t, you won’t. | Read review |
| Stevivor | Jay Ball | 6.5 / 10 | 08-19-2016 | Amidst the hype and the vitriolic criticism from keyboard warriors around the world feeling like they’re owed something better, it’s easy to forget that this game — possibly the largest ever made and certainly the most anticipated of the year — was developed by a team of just 15 people (at its biggest). Its visuals are basic, there’s no narrative to speak of and it’s infested with game crashing bugs in its current state (patch coming very soon, we’re told). Its primary focus on resource gathering is repetitive, but discovering a huge deposit of something rare and valuable breaks the repetition to keep you motivated to continue exploring. All things considered, No Man’s Sky is the first game in years to actually justify the use of the word “ambitious”. That’s why I like it. | Read review |
| TechnoBuffalo | Joey Davidson, Eric Frederiksen | Not Recommended | 08-16-2016 | Play at your own risk. There are some amazing sights to see and some weird, hilarious creatures. But you’re getting a half-finished game along with it. | Read review |
| TechRaptor | Robert Grosso | 8.5 / 10 | 08-16-2016 | For good or for ill, No Man’s Sky is a child’s wish, the fulfillment of our wonder of exploring a galaxy on our own accord, to forge our journey in a universe on the edge of forever. | Read review |
| Telegraph | Sam White | 4 / 5 stars | 08-15-2016 | No Man’s Sky is a fundamentally simple game; one that’s flawed, slow, and where the moment-to-moment activities are sometimes even… boring. But its intoxicatingly rare attitude towards pure discovery create a game that’s captivating unlike any other. | Read review |
| The Angry Joe Show | Joe Vargas | 5 / 10 | 08-21-2016 | Video Review | Read review |
| The Digital Fix | Luciano Howard | 5 / 10 | 08-18-2016 | A triumph of hype and tech over engaging gameplay. The latter is short-lived with No Man’s Sky. | Read review |
| The Jimquisition | Jim Sterling | Not Recommended | 08-10-2016 | I’ve seen so many planets, met so many aliens, and mined so much goddamn carbon and not once have I been surprised. Not once has the game thrown me a curveball. Every new location is just a different coloured home for the same old routine, and the procedural generation means that things feel far less diverse than they could be –- when randomized pools replace handcrafted designs, the lego bricks piecing everything together are far too obvious. | Read review |
| The Outerhaven Productions | Jason Kwasnicki | 3 / 5 stars | 08-16-2016 | Hello Games has established a universe to explore with an interesting lore and great aesthetic design. However, if you need more than that to motivate you, you probably won’t dig this game (as of now). | Read review |
| TheSixthAxis | Stefan L | 7 / 10 | 08-15-2016 | No Man’s Sky manages to be a hugely impressive accomplishment for the team at Hello Games, but the hubris and hype meant it could never live up to the expectations heaped upon it. Despite the various caveats and areas that Hello will look to improve upon over the coming months, you can so easily lose hours at a time landing on a new and interesting planet for the first time, giving the local flora and fauna idiotic names, before falling down a hole and getting lost in a sprawling cave system, only to do the exact same thing on the next planet over. There’s nothing quite like it. | Read review |
| ThisGenGaming | Justin Oneil | 8 / 10 | 08-29-2016 | While it doesn’t quite live up to some people’s expectations No Man’s Sky is still a great game and some of the things it does are truly a great achievement. | Read review |
| TrustedReviews | Brett Phipps | 3.5 / 5 stars | 08-12-2016 | No Man’s Sky is a good game. Sean Murray and Hello Games’ vision of creating a vast universe on a scale unseen in video games has no doubt been achieved, and will certainly provide everyone who plays it with something unique. | Read review |
| Twinfinite | Ishmael Romero | 4.5 / 5 stars | 08-13-2016 | No Man’s Sky is no doubt a magnificent feat in game development. I am left humbled by all that I have seen and intend on continuing my journey in an attempt to see as much as possible, well aware I will never see it all. Space has its hooks in me and I don’t think I’ll ever want them to relinquish their hold. | Read review |
| USgamer | Kat Bailey | 3.5 / 5 stars | 08-16-2016 | No Man’s Sky’s journey across a massive procedural universe is compelling in how seamless it feels, the way that it allows you to explore at your own pace, and its questioning of the drive toward completionism found in most games. Unfortunately, it’s saddled with a terrible interface and a crushing sense of repetition, both of which come to overshadow its more interesting qualities. As such, while it feels incomprehensibly vast at times, No Man’s Sky can also feel crushingly limiting. And it’s the latter feeling, unfortunately, that keeps its from reaching its full potential. | Read review |
| VideoGamer | Jamie Trinca | 6 / 10 | 08-12-2016 | An ocean of stars, a thimble of possibilities. | Read review |
| Washington Post | Christopher Byrd | Not Recommended | 08-30-2016 | Perhaps “No Man’s Sky” will, over time, evolve into something more interesting if players are given the tools to terraform planets and to make them more fulfilling sites for exploration. For now, this is a game whose concept is more interesting than its execution. | Read review |
| We Got This Covered | Jowi Meli | 3.5 / 5 stars | 08-10-2016 | No Man’s Sky isn’t the “game to end all games” that some fans have made it out to be, but that’s no cause for alarm. What Hello Games’ ambitious project does offer is the chance to savor the little details in a massive universe absolutely rife with them — a messy universe, to be sure, but one that’s not that different from our own in that regard. | Read review |
| WellPlayed | Trent Saunders | 7 / 10 | 08-15-2016 | While the procedurally generated universe of No Man’s Sky is wonderfully ambitious, this isn’t a journey everybody will want to make | Read review |
| Worth Playing | Tony “OUberLord” Mitera | 4.7 / 10 | 08-29-2016 | No Mans Sky would’ve made an excellent tech demo of something greater yet to come, or as a $20 independent game from a studio trying to find its footing. It certainly doesn’t live up to what was once a marquee title during one of Sony’s E3 press conferences, and it doesn’t come close to justifying its $60 asking price. No Man’s Sky had so much potential in delivering a game that compelled and rewarded unbridled exploration. That it fails to do so only makes its shortcomings more striking, and it’s disappointing when compared to how the game was described leading up to its release. | Read review |
| Xbox Achievements | Dean Abdou | 70 / 100 | 08-08-2018 | No Man’s Sky NEXT is certainly a massive step-up from what it was two years ago. With the addition of online multiplayer, base-building and some graphical tweaks it offers quite a bit to keep players busy for hours on end. While it does have a few flaws, No Man’s Sky is still a unique and enjoyable game. | Read review |
| ZTGD | Ken McKown | 7 / 10 | 08-17-2016 | Hello Games achieved what they set out to do. They have crafted a massive galaxy of planets for players to explore. That feat is nothing short of extraordinary, and I think everyone who enjoys games should experience that. Whether you come out of it with a smile or a frown, it is entirely dependent on how much you are willing to put up with to explore a nearly endless galaxy. | Read review |
Awards & Recognition
RECOGNITION
No Man’s Sky Credits
CREDITS
DIRECTOR(S):
Sean Murray, Grant Duncan, Ryan Doyle, David Ream
PRODUCER(S):
Gareth Bourn
DESIGNER(S):
Will Braham
PROGRAMMER(S):
n/a
ARTIST(S):
Aaron Andrews, Beau Lamb, Grant Duncan, Jacob Golding, Levi Naess
WRITER(S):
n/a
COMPOSER(S):
65daysofstatic, Earcom / Paul Weir
Developed by Hello Games. All titles, content, brand names, trademarks, logos, artwork, and associated imagery are trademarks and/or copyright material of their respective owners. © All rights reserved.
