No Man's Sky: PSVR2 Review

Developed by Hello Games
Published by 
Platform: PSVR2

There's a section of The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy by Douglas Adams that explains how "space is big. Like really big."

So it is that this passage from the Book in the adventures of Arthur Dent and Ford Prefect is called to mind when firing up Hello Games' No Man's Sky. With its promise of almost 19 quintillion planets to explore and a universe out there waiting for you, it's no wonder that many were salivating at the thought of this deep-space wandering.

And the game's even bigger with its PSVR2 launch, with the ability to take you into the spacecraft and the world itself so completely thrilling. The Fractal update which provides the VR2 support makes the game feel larger than it did at its initial launch, which is saying something.

Equipping your multi tool and using a HUD display requires the use of the Sense controllers takes a bit of getting used to, but No Man's Sky in VR2 is more about the experience and the thrilling visuals as you explore and build on the world. It's immersive as it should be, but also enticing and engaging as you discover more and more.

Initially, you find yourself dumped on a planet, with your ship slightly in tatters and your equipment needing an upgrade and serious repair before you can even head off into the stars. Your only tool to help with such a thing is a mining gun that helps you take out elements from the world around you so that you can craft your way off the rock. But, as you go around blasting resources and claiming them as your own, you have to be careful as flying sentinels circle your every move, and will attack if you're being greedy.

There's a line to tread between altruism and avarice in No Man's Sky, and how you decide to do it will define your game. No Man's Sky is epic and lonely but a deeply spiritual experience.

Mixing in elements of BBC computer game Elite with Destiny's UI, No Man's Sky is an interesting game that will give you as much as you're willing to give into it. Hopping planets in systems and scanning everything as you go will take patience and won't be for everyone; meeting new animals and scanning them gives you money, feeding them makes them happy - and gives you nothing except a warm feeling in your spacesuit.

Exploring a planet will show off new terrain, full of flora and fauna and occasionally monoliths and educational plinths that give you insight into the language. Yes, No Man's Sky is that kind of game - a sort of space set hippy-dippy dive into 2001: A Space Odyssey territory. If you want to see things around, then you can. But there's no obligation to catalogue everything on the worlds and outside of mining resources to get you what you need to get back into space and head into the centre of the universe, it's unclear what the game aspires to definitively other than to provoke a sense of wonder.

There's a side story involving the history of the universe that adds a portentous mythical depth to proceedings and which helps you understand the world you live in. It also aids trading partners and your standing with aliens if you partake and it's been nothing but beneficial so far.

Trading and meeting aliens within space stations is all part of the game as well. Unlike Elite's desire to have you listen to the Blue Danube, docking is all automatic and landing all taken care of. This is not a game that relies on fiddly mechanics to fly and a lot of the game will require you to do so - yet, for all the time you spend in space, alone, there's little when leaping from one to the next to do except simply sit back and watch it happen. It's a confused experience, yet bizarrely one that gets the mundanity of space travel spot on. It's a game that has an inherent spirituality in between its peaks and its troughs - and yet despite all that, it feels slightly alone in the cosmos.

From trading and grinding, to revisiting the scene of your death to re-claim all of your gear (the game operates on a Dark Souls death experience that needs you to go back to where you died), there's more than enough to keep you occupied. 

At the end of the day, No Man's Sky is an experience. It's a game that requires a grind and requires patience as you negotiate the worlds out there, chart uncharted waters and worlds and meet and greet the aliens. It's about you - and it's about what you put into it of yourself.

And yet, despite all of that, for pure escapism and for pure creativity, No Man's Sky achieves and exceeds expectations. It's about rhythms of life, and of going with the flow - and currently, the gentle mood and just being out there is personally speaking to the gamers.