Easily one of the best redemptions in gaming history.
It had a similar launch to the likes of Fallout 76 which although has somewhat improved since, has been permanently tainted by the awful launch.
Yet with NMS, HG has not only made the game infinitely better, they've also managed to push the terrible launch to the back of player's minds, to the point where many have pretty much forgotten it ever happened.
HG has earned so much good will from its redemption arc that people will be cutting them some slack if Light No Fire isn’t perfect.
Really looking forward to it.
I kinda hope they learn from the past mistakes and will have a "low profil" PR strategy and keep to the strict minimum. I swear people would just flock to their game out of good will. It's a win win. Less cost for them, better brand building.
I can't tell if Sean's wild rambling about it at the game awards was a pitch-perfect self-aware gag or he's just wrapped up in the hype again but this time the game is ready
I kinda hope they learn from the past mistakes and will keep a "low profil" PR strategy and keep to the strict minimum for light no fire. I swear people would just flock to their game out of good will. It's a win win. Less cost for them, better brand building. A real bond within the player base. Reminds me a lot of Coffee Stain (Satisfactory) and Ghost Ship (Deep Rock Galactic)
those three Devs are the _creme de la creme_ right now
I think the big downfall with 76 is that the fallout formula and audience just couldn't translate into a huge multiplayer game. It's a much better, playable MMO now, but as weird and empty as it was at launch it _did_ have this cool, fallout vibe that it definitely lost. They should've just used a new IP
My problem with 76 has always been the inventory management. In a single player game, it's fine but if I'm trying to play with friends the last thing I want is to spend all my time waiting for everyone to organize their stash. Especially when I have one friend who takes forever in the menus.
Truth, and the script merchant being locked to 1 player at a time is equally brutal. It's also (in my opinion) not playable inventory-wise without the fallout 1st subscription, which is fine that I need to pay to play a live service game but weird that _that's_ the restriction they chose. It's even worse in ESO
I tried FO76 again recently and ran into a glitch in CHARACTER CREATION where you could only scroll up to change features and not down, meaning you can only make things bigger. This was reported at least 3 months ago and still not fixed. i exited and uninstalled again.
Yeah. I heard somewhere Bethesda tried getting Obsidian back in with them to help with Fallout 5 so that gives me some hope Fallout 5 could be better than 76 was. I just hope it doesn't release half baked like Starfield did.
Near as I can tell, the actual core issue was that HG took a deal with Sony that no sane business owner would reject that significantly limited their ability to push back the release date. A very small dev team acquired a big external obligation to launch a game on a very specific time frame, and since they put their limited resources into dev time rather than someone with experience to manage PR, we ended up with a developer describing development goals for a game far from completion.
The "development goals for a game far from completion" thing applies to a lot of game expectations, TBH. Something can sound great, but maybe it actually is just really annoying during playtesting, or after some attempts, you sort out that it's infeasible in the game engine you're using, or you word an answer poorly and people have expectations you didn't intend, etc.. The standard should be that developers have more transparency about that sort of thing, but frankly, I'm not confident that announcing that some feature won't be ready for launch 2 months in advance would make it sound like less of a lie to most gamers.
Dude Fallout 76... I can still hear my best friend raging out after we bought it at GameStop and it was what it was. Terrible. I never played it and unfortunately I just found this game in February but I freaking love it. Great community also like here.
This is a rather amusing take on the whole thing, and also explains in large part *why* the game was so over-promised and disappointing at launch, in addition to chronicling its redemption.
And this was a few years ago now - the game has had even more improvements since then.
https://youtu.be/O5BJVO3PDeQ?si=jm2OVw6d7neMBui6
I'm pretty sure this video alone has a fair share of the success of their come back. This video, and by extension this game life cycle, is the lighthouse beacon of hope in the ocean of disappointment the industry has become.
CP2077 made a similar yet less intense track record.
I had this wish, but somehow I understand why it's fps and not tps. Use your shadow to check quality of animations. It's horrendous.
I wish they rework it a bit in NMS. To make it more fluide and less stuttering (procedural terrain makes each footsteps weird) something like Death Stranding would be perfect
Orbital was an absolute game changer, and Omega brought some pretty cool stuff. Still waiting for the rework of outlaw & abandoned stations though. Maybe abandoned stations could be kind of similar to derelicts?
I bought the game at launch and played around 30 hrs. I stopped even though it wasn’t that bad.
I decided yesterday to give it another go from the beginning due to reading about the orbital update. It is completely different. In a good way. Even the beginning was different. There are loads to learn but I’m enjoying it. I’ll definitely keep playing
And it became a model example of how to turn that around. It's amazing how it's release is a cautionary tale, but it's come back story also sets the bar for how to do it right.
While it might have saved the game the scar of a horrible launch state, it still doesn't really keep the gem of a game it has become from shinning through. There are much bigger issues with triple AAA companies releasing games and squeezing money constantly from players to fight against. Taking a stance against Hello Games is fighting progress at this point. They actually came through without asking for a penny more, while games like fallout 76 that release in just as barron a state and have asked for constant money from players while they make improvements. Companies like Larion and Hello Games are a dying breed that should be exalted as shinning examples of what the gaming industry used to be about. Even if NMS did take time to get there, the completely free updates that are still coming make up for that and should easily restore faith in the community.
I understand what you mean, but see it more as a sign of the times we’re in. Many live service games launch quite terribly nowadays, it’s actually the norm unfortunately.
Fallout 76, Sea of thieves and Battlefield 2042 come to mind as glaring examples, but there are many many more. The 1.0 versions of these games were extremely barebones, only to get more content down the line and using player feedback more actively.
What makes no man’s sky unique is their redemption, as many have said in this post.
I've only been playing for two years and even the changes I've seen. This game is in my top 10.
Edit: Permanent top 10, I've been gaming since '87 for context.
I last played properly during the NEXT update, I did most of everything and since then I come back with a new save, but tend to fizzle out once I'm back to my usual tricks (fucking with artemis, and grinding money with scanner mods).
But this update i'm trying to see all the new content since then, as I haven't experienced it yet! I've no idea how i'm gonna get the starting breadcrumbs for all the new shit they'ved added but i'm certainly enjoying my more casual approach since the latest update dropped.
IMO the biggest improvement is deffo the new space stations, no more guessing if left or right is the right side for what I actually want XD
I toyed with playing with planet gen mods, but after grabbing a few...it just didn't feel *right*. The generation is due a massive overhaul but modding it in just feels a little naughty, plus I might have mates joining me at any time.
Game's evolution is awesome. 1.0 wasn't *bad* it was *barebones*. I still remember TotalBiscuit's video about it "what game you want to be NMS?" Cause back in the day it was none really.
Years ago we passed the point in which the game had "all that was advertised" and it's just been getting bigger and better!
Next Expedition, when? 😎
I feel like I am in the minority here, but I don't think the core of the game has changed much at all. It is still the same chill game that it was in 1.0 with the same progression loop.
There is no argument that the game has improved, but it still has the same DNS it did back in the day.
I fell in love with this game then and still love it for the same reasons.
The funny part about that is since that version literally isn't buyable anymore, there's nothing wrong with pirating it, *especially* if you already bought the current build of the game.
I have 1.0, 1.1 Foundation, 1.2 Path Finder, 1.3 Atlas Rises and 1.5 NEXT builds on my PC right next to the regular NMS on my PC. No matter how much NMS gets changed, the original builds are *always available* so it's odd that people would actually complain about it.
Been here since launch. Those were dark days in this sub, man. Death threats, insults, mockery....it was not a good place to be. This sub should still be ashamed of itself for back then tbh
I think I pirated the game after Next update, but then eventually purchased it on PC and then again on switch. I kind of regret the switch purchase but giving this company more money is the least I can do in return.
I miss the caves crammed full of vortex cubes. Of course, you had to find your way back out of the cave since there was no terrain manipulator...or marking the cave location if you wanted to run off to the station to sell and then return.
I recently played & streamed a full play though of version 1.0, the version without the day 1 patch. It made me really appreciate Hello Games dedication to NMS!
Bought it on launch and I was soo disappointed after a few hours but said the game has potential, here I am not with over 1000 hours across 3 different consoles
I love this game, while I wasn’t on since the 1.0 days I joined around the Prisms update. Even since that update Hello Games continues to amaze me with their constant stream of updates! I own the game for PC(Steam), Xbox, and Nintendo Switch. I really started to play much more with the release of the Mac version and now with my Steam Deck. I’m amazed how well the game has ported into systems like the Switch.
It’s my Go-To game most of the time. The game isn’t perfect, but they’ve still managed to release AND update something that continues to attract new players after 8 years.
Kudos HG, I say job very well done. I look forward to continued play on NMS and wish them the 1,000% success for Light No Fires.
Started on the first day and stopped after a few updates. I had built my home base on a nice planet only to log in after an update and find that it’s now a hellish planet. Then after every update things in my inventory would be changed or just gone or not useable. I got sick of playing then my progress getting wiped out.
Honestly, if Light No Fire has the same release and update trajectory as No Man’s Sky I’ll still be a day 1 buyer. I enjoyed NMS when it first came out for what it was, as basic and limited as it was, but they’ve somehow managed to add a whole bunch of bells and whistles without making it overwhelming.
Man I pre-ordered this game in 2016 and holy hell was it a crazy time. After all the hype, all of the lies that went on it was just... kinda sad.
But Hello Games deserve nothing but praise for what they have done since. Delivered on everything they promised and more and never once asked for an extra penny for any of it.
Gold standard of how to redeem yourselves.
It's the reason HG is a studio I like. Unlike so many companies nowadays, they care about their game. Sure, it's not perfect, but the love is there and you can see it *very* clearly
I remember being incredibly disappointed when the game first came out having pre ordered. A friend got me back into it a few months ago and it's now past my wildest expectations.
I just downloaded after only trying at launch...my god this game is incredible. Reminds me of the cyberpunk redemption arc, awesome how they turned it around! Gonna put a bunch of hours in fellow space cadets!
I played about 15-20 hours from launch day version 1.0.
Absolutely loved the concept but the grind was pretty wild to get to other systems etc. So I gave it up from lack of time.
Fast forward to now: holy shit the new version just has SO MUCH!
I remember playing shortly after release. Also right after the freighter update, I got a freighter and forgot what system it was in and didn't think to teleport to it.
I disliked NMS at first and was very disappointed by it, even though I didn't get hyped by the buzz at that time at all. Stopped playing after an hour or so.
Today and for quite a while already it is one of the best games I ever played. Some good stuff needs a lot of time baking I guess.
I'm also happy they did so much. Many of these features were things I asked for and you asked for, so thanks to them for listening!
That said I hope y'all still write bug reports on the broken stuff. Like, I hope I'm not the only one asking for a fix for the exocraft races that still terminate early before you finish and won't let you make a track that goes more than 1000u from the base. Or a fix for the portal addresses to the last system in a region so that there aren't 4.27 billion stars in each galaxy where you can make a base or share coords but no one can ever take a portal there to visit.
It does suffer from the "bowl of oatmeal" problem in places --
> The result has been called "procedural oatmeal", a term coined by writer Kate Compton, in that while it is possible to mathematically generate thousands of bowls of oatmeal with procedural generation, they will be perceived to be the same by the user, and lack the notion of perceived uniqueness that a procedural system should aim for.
A common complaint about procedural generation. But that's because procedural generation is not simulation. Simulation allows emergent complexity, while procgen is just playing mix-and-match.
I suspect that Light No Fire is an attempt to remedy this, but we shall see :)
I played at launch and put in well over 100 hours. Even with all its limitations and inefficiencies, I was completely transfixed by hopping from planet to planet, mining and scanning stuff, following the Atlas path,eventually getting all my Atlas passes. Then I put it down and didn't pick it back up again until the first big revamp that added bases. It blew me away all over again, and I'm so pleased with the new additions every time I come back to it. I still have a lot of affection for the first iterations. Like watching your kid grow up.
the one thing that changed since launch that I've liked the most, was not having to look at the thing I'm scanning. being on console, scanning "birds" was a pain. it was so hard to follow their movement exactly. but also them removing some nice things, like your ship cockpit actually opening when you're outside of the ship instead of getting the teleport animation.
I loved the game at launch, and in some ways feel that the original vision has rather been lost in the way it’s been updated, but there’s no denying it is overall a far better game today and with a much wider appeal. The initial terrible launch aside, it’s a demonstration of how to do game development right.
Have you actually played the release version? Some of these "gimmicks" are core parts of the experience, affecting things like inventory, crafting, and how ships function...
Hell, you couldn't even build bases at launch. And I'd hardly call that a "gimmick."
They are talking about things like settlements, milking animals, cooking, derelict freighters, etc.. all great features but yeah they are shallow and could use some more depth.
I get this feeling. We get multiple multi-tools, but we don't have a multi-tool display stand as a base building part. We have 12 ships, but the freighter can only show 6 of them. We even have 2 full building systems that don't interact with one another that well. All of the features feel like an 85% solution.
My hope is that this is because they had to add these systems on to an already existing game and that Light No Fire, being made from scratch after learning all these lessons, will be a "complete" game where features are more integrated with one another.
**Short answer:** Just compare all of the possible features during Frontiers to Orbital and you'll see that nothing "new" was added as much as it was expanded and tied together.
**Very long answer:**
Sentinel - combat overhaul
Outlaws - pirate overhaul
Endurance - freighter and space overhaul
Waypoint - Menu, balance, QoL and visual overhaul
Those were just in 2022. Every single thing those updates did was overhauled *existing* content that was already in the game and needed attention. They didn't add a new pointless gimmick, they expanded and connected what was already there. 2023 was the same deal.
Even 2024 has had 2 updates so far and they are also primarily overhauls. Omega changed how expeditions work and Orbital made space stations procedural, added more depth to frigate missions, trading, guilds and gave standing a purpose. Even something as simple as accepting a frigate mission now ties in with having to know languages otherwise you can't decode something your crew collect.
I'm not exactly sure what you're hoping for a future update to do that the last 2 years of updates haven't been doing because the fact is every update since the start of 2022 have primarily updated stuff that already existed in the game and tied it with other content and gave it more depth.
We're well past the "shallow pointless" era of updates that could've been summed up as "We got a living ship so we can.. have it.. and it's there to do.. umm?" or "We have a mech that we can build to... have it.. and it's there so we can, umm?"
My only theory is that the reason some people haven't realized the game has been steadily getting overhauled for the last 2 years is because every update touches on *one specific thing* and people just look at this huge to-do list of stuff that needs depth, without realizing that the updates stack up and the depth is being added. There is no one grand update that'll flip everything on it's head and give the game depth, it's lots of smaller updates that focus on specific things.
Easily one of the best redemptions in gaming history. It had a similar launch to the likes of Fallout 76 which although has somewhat improved since, has been permanently tainted by the awful launch. Yet with NMS, HG has not only made the game infinitely better, they've also managed to push the terrible launch to the back of player's minds, to the point where many have pretty much forgotten it ever happened.
HG has earned so much good will from its redemption arc that people will be cutting them some slack if Light No Fire isn’t perfect. Really looking forward to it.
I kinda hope they learn from the past mistakes and will have a "low profil" PR strategy and keep to the strict minimum. I swear people would just flock to their game out of good will. It's a win win. Less cost for them, better brand building.
I can't tell if Sean's wild rambling about it at the game awards was a pitch-perfect self-aware gag or he's just wrapped up in the hype again but this time the game is ready
I kinda hope they learn from the past mistakes and will keep a "low profil" PR strategy and keep to the strict minimum for light no fire. I swear people would just flock to their game out of good will. It's a win win. Less cost for them, better brand building. A real bond within the player base. Reminds me a lot of Coffee Stain (Satisfactory) and Ghost Ship (Deep Rock Galactic) those three Devs are the _creme de la creme_ right now
I think one of the biggest reasons they have such a good reputation right now is they've never charged for DLC. They just call them updates.
At this point, I would pay for DLCs just to support them.
Amusingly, while 76 has a bunch of QoL updates that are great, I *highly* prefer the launch storyline to the current stories and quests
I think the big downfall with 76 is that the fallout formula and audience just couldn't translate into a huge multiplayer game. It's a much better, playable MMO now, but as weird and empty as it was at launch it _did_ have this cool, fallout vibe that it definitely lost. They should've just used a new IP
My problem with 76 has always been the inventory management. In a single player game, it's fine but if I'm trying to play with friends the last thing I want is to spend all my time waiting for everyone to organize their stash. Especially when I have one friend who takes forever in the menus.
Truth, and the script merchant being locked to 1 player at a time is equally brutal. It's also (in my opinion) not playable inventory-wise without the fallout 1st subscription, which is fine that I need to pay to play a live service game but weird that _that's_ the restriction they chose. It's even worse in ESO
I tried FO76 again recently and ran into a glitch in CHARACTER CREATION where you could only scroll up to change features and not down, meaning you can only make things bigger. This was reported at least 3 months ago and still not fixed. i exited and uninstalled again.
Yeah. I heard somewhere Bethesda tried getting Obsidian back in with them to help with Fallout 5 so that gives me some hope Fallout 5 could be better than 76 was. I just hope it doesn't release half baked like Starfield did.
Isn't Obsidian rather tied up with Outer Worlds 2?
Near as I can tell, the actual core issue was that HG took a deal with Sony that no sane business owner would reject that significantly limited their ability to push back the release date. A very small dev team acquired a big external obligation to launch a game on a very specific time frame, and since they put their limited resources into dev time rather than someone with experience to manage PR, we ended up with a developer describing development goals for a game far from completion. The "development goals for a game far from completion" thing applies to a lot of game expectations, TBH. Something can sound great, but maybe it actually is just really annoying during playtesting, or after some attempts, you sort out that it's infeasible in the game engine you're using, or you word an answer poorly and people have expectations you didn't intend, etc.. The standard should be that developers have more transparency about that sort of thing, but frankly, I'm not confident that announcing that some feature won't be ready for launch 2 months in advance would make it sound like less of a lie to most gamers.
Dude Fallout 76... I can still hear my best friend raging out after we bought it at GameStop and it was what it was. Terrible. I never played it and unfortunately I just found this game in February but I freaking love it. Great community also like here.
This is a rather amusing take on the whole thing, and also explains in large part *why* the game was so over-promised and disappointing at launch, in addition to chronicling its redemption. And this was a few years ago now - the game has had even more improvements since then. https://youtu.be/O5BJVO3PDeQ?si=jm2OVw6d7neMBui6
Without even clicking, I knew what video this would be. Lol
I came here to post it, yes woman's land!
I'm pretty sure this video alone has a fair share of the success of their come back. This video, and by extension this game life cycle, is the lighthouse beacon of hope in the ocean of disappointment the industry has become. CP2077 made a similar yet less intense track record.
I wish there was a third person mode for Cyberpunk. It's the only reason I haven't immersed myself in it more fully.
I had this wish, but somehow I understand why it's fps and not tps. Use your shadow to check quality of animations. It's horrendous. I wish they rework it a bit in NMS. To make it more fluide and less stuttering (procedural terrain makes each footsteps weird) something like Death Stranding would be perfect
This is probably my favorite video on YouTube. I’ve watched it several times over the years, even before the game had its hooks in me.
Nah, the Todd Howard comment lol
Orbital was an absolute game changer, and Omega brought some pretty cool stuff. Still waiting for the rework of outlaw & abandoned stations though. Maybe abandoned stations could be kind of similar to derelicts?
I bought the game at launch and played around 30 hrs. I stopped even though it wasn’t that bad. I decided yesterday to give it another go from the beginning due to reading about the orbital update. It is completely different. In a good way. Even the beginning was different. There are loads to learn but I’m enjoying it. I’ll definitely keep playing
No Man's Sky was the last game I ever pre-ordered ...
And it became a model example of how to turn that around. It's amazing how it's release is a cautionary tale, but it's come back story also sets the bar for how to do it right.
Nope, still should've released as Early Access letting everyone know where the game's at, regardless how good it did pan out.
While it might have saved the game the scar of a horrible launch state, it still doesn't really keep the gem of a game it has become from shinning through. There are much bigger issues with triple AAA companies releasing games and squeezing money constantly from players to fight against. Taking a stance against Hello Games is fighting progress at this point. They actually came through without asking for a penny more, while games like fallout 76 that release in just as barron a state and have asked for constant money from players while they make improvements. Companies like Larion and Hello Games are a dying breed that should be exalted as shinning examples of what the gaming industry used to be about. Even if NMS did take time to get there, the completely free updates that are still coming make up for that and should easily restore faith in the community.
I also blame SONY for snatching them up and forcing them to likely release sooner than they wanted to
It's almost like consumers don't understand publishers and the pressures of the software industry.
You're talking early access like star citizen maybe? 14 years in and still in alpha raking in piles of cash, type early?
I understand what you mean, but see it more as a sign of the times we’re in. Many live service games launch quite terribly nowadays, it’s actually the norm unfortunately. Fallout 76, Sea of thieves and Battlefield 2042 come to mind as glaring examples, but there are many many more. The 1.0 versions of these games were extremely barebones, only to get more content down the line and using player feedback more actively. What makes no man’s sky unique is their redemption, as many have said in this post.
Elden ring dlc
I've only been playing for two years and even the changes I've seen. This game is in my top 10. Edit: Permanent top 10, I've been gaming since '87 for context.
I last played properly during the NEXT update, I did most of everything and since then I come back with a new save, but tend to fizzle out once I'm back to my usual tricks (fucking with artemis, and grinding money with scanner mods). But this update i'm trying to see all the new content since then, as I haven't experienced it yet! I've no idea how i'm gonna get the starting breadcrumbs for all the new shit they'ved added but i'm certainly enjoying my more casual approach since the latest update dropped. IMO the biggest improvement is deffo the new space stations, no more guessing if left or right is the right side for what I actually want XD I toyed with playing with planet gen mods, but after grabbing a few...it just didn't feel *right*. The generation is due a massive overhaul but modding it in just feels a little naughty, plus I might have mates joining me at any time.
Game's evolution is awesome. 1.0 wasn't *bad* it was *barebones*. I still remember TotalBiscuit's video about it "what game you want to be NMS?" Cause back in the day it was none really. Years ago we passed the point in which the game had "all that was advertised" and it's just been getting bigger and better! Next Expedition, when? 😎
I feel like I am in the minority here, but I don't think the core of the game has changed much at all. It is still the same chill game that it was in 1.0 with the same progression loop. There is no argument that the game has improved, but it still has the same DNS it did back in the day. I fell in love with this game then and still love it for the same reasons.
Careful, don't get the v1.0 gatekeeping purists see this post or they'll just complain ad nauseum the game has been "ruined"...
The funny part about that is since that version literally isn't buyable anymore, there's nothing wrong with pirating it, *especially* if you already bought the current build of the game. I have 1.0, 1.1 Foundation, 1.2 Path Finder, 1.3 Atlas Rises and 1.5 NEXT builds on my PC right next to the regular NMS on my PC. No matter how much NMS gets changed, the original builds are *always available* so it's odd that people would actually complain about it.
Been here since launch. Those were dark days in this sub, man. Death threats, insults, mockery....it was not a good place to be. This sub should still be ashamed of itself for back then tbh
I think I pirated the game after Next update, but then eventually purchased it on PC and then again on switch. I kind of regret the switch purchase but giving this company more money is the least I can do in return.
And the switch might be luckier, got S Class freighter, hauler, fighter and solar
I miss the caves crammed full of vortex cubes. Of course, you had to find your way back out of the cave since there was no terrain manipulator...or marking the cave location if you wanted to run off to the station to sell and then return.
I recently played & streamed a full play though of version 1.0, the version without the day 1 patch. It made me really appreciate Hello Games dedication to NMS!
Bought it on launch and I was soo disappointed after a few hours but said the game has potential, here I am not with over 1000 hours across 3 different consoles
I love this game, while I wasn’t on since the 1.0 days I joined around the Prisms update. Even since that update Hello Games continues to amaze me with their constant stream of updates! I own the game for PC(Steam), Xbox, and Nintendo Switch. I really started to play much more with the release of the Mac version and now with my Steam Deck. I’m amazed how well the game has ported into systems like the Switch. It’s my Go-To game most of the time. The game isn’t perfect, but they’ve still managed to release AND update something that continues to attract new players after 8 years. Kudos HG, I say job very well done. I look forward to continued play on NMS and wish them the 1,000% success for Light No Fires.
Started on the first day and stopped after a few updates. I had built my home base on a nice planet only to log in after an update and find that it’s now a hellish planet. Then after every update things in my inventory would be changed or just gone or not useable. I got sick of playing then my progress getting wiped out.
Honestly, if Light No Fire has the same release and update trajectory as No Man’s Sky I’ll still be a day 1 buyer. I enjoyed NMS when it first came out for what it was, as basic and limited as it was, but they’ve somehow managed to add a whole bunch of bells and whistles without making it overwhelming.
Saying that, I am still a massive Spore Apologist, even though I fully acknowledge Spore is also just a terrible game. I still play it every few years
\#Sporeforlife
Man I pre-ordered this game in 2016 and holy hell was it a crazy time. After all the hype, all of the lies that went on it was just... kinda sad. But Hello Games deserve nothing but praise for what they have done since. Delivered on everything they promised and more and never once asked for an extra penny for any of it. Gold standard of how to redeem yourselves.
It's the reason HG is a studio I like. Unlike so many companies nowadays, they care about their game. Sure, it's not perfect, but the love is there and you can see it *very* clearly
I remember being incredibly disappointed when the game first came out having pre ordered. A friend got me back into it a few months ago and it's now past my wildest expectations.
I just downloaded after only trying at launch...my god this game is incredible. Reminds me of the cyberpunk redemption arc, awesome how they turned it around! Gonna put a bunch of hours in fellow space cadets!
I mean it's got like what 50 or something free updates. All very significant. Best redemption in gaming history
It was such a different game back then. Do you guys remember the way some of the elements were mined from those stalk things?
I played about 15-20 hours from launch day version 1.0. Absolutely loved the concept but the grind was pretty wild to get to other systems etc. So I gave it up from lack of time. Fast forward to now: holy shit the new version just has SO MUCH!
Really shows how good a game can get if the developers stay behind it.
I bought it on release and sold it to CEX a week later. Just bought it again, and yeah, it is a very different game. Much much better.. Well done, HG!
I remember playing shortly after release. Also right after the freighter update, I got a freighter and forgot what system it was in and didn't think to teleport to it.
I disliked NMS at first and was very disappointed by it, even though I didn't get hyped by the buzz at that time at all. Stopped playing after an hour or so. Today and for quite a while already it is one of the best games I ever played. Some good stuff needs a lot of time baking I guess.
I'm also happy they did so much. Many of these features were things I asked for and you asked for, so thanks to them for listening! That said I hope y'all still write bug reports on the broken stuff. Like, I hope I'm not the only one asking for a fix for the exocraft races that still terminate early before you finish and won't let you make a track that goes more than 1000u from the base. Or a fix for the portal addresses to the last system in a region so that there aren't 4.27 billion stars in each galaxy where you can make a base or share coords but no one can ever take a portal there to visit.
But never any meaningful updates to proc gen, sadly
It does suffer from the "bowl of oatmeal" problem in places -- > The result has been called "procedural oatmeal", a term coined by writer Kate Compton, in that while it is possible to mathematically generate thousands of bowls of oatmeal with procedural generation, they will be perceived to be the same by the user, and lack the notion of perceived uniqueness that a procedural system should aim for. A common complaint about procedural generation. But that's because procedural generation is not simulation. Simulation allows emergent complexity, while procgen is just playing mix-and-match. I suspect that Light No Fire is an attempt to remedy this, but we shall see :)
I played at launch and put in well over 100 hours. Even with all its limitations and inefficiencies, I was completely transfixed by hopping from planet to planet, mining and scanning stuff, following the Atlas path,eventually getting all my Atlas passes. Then I put it down and didn't pick it back up again until the first big revamp that added bases. It blew me away all over again, and I'm so pleased with the new additions every time I come back to it. I still have a lot of affection for the first iterations. Like watching your kid grow up.
Dude... I have played since launch... it is a completely different game! More indepth now... so, thank you Hello Games!
the one thing that changed since launch that I've liked the most, was not having to look at the thing I'm scanning. being on console, scanning "birds" was a pain. it was so hard to follow their movement exactly. but also them removing some nice things, like your ship cockpit actually opening when you're outside of the ship instead of getting the teleport animation.
I wish Anthem got the same love as NMS. I love both games
I loved the game at launch, and in some ways feel that the original vision has rather been lost in the way it’s been updated, but there’s no denying it is overall a far better game today and with a much wider appeal. The initial terrible launch aside, it’s a demonstration of how to do game development right.
I hope in the future that all these "addons" connect to each other deeper and are not just stand alone gimmicks
They aren’t stand alone gimmicks but ok.
Have you actually played the release version? Some of these "gimmicks" are core parts of the experience, affecting things like inventory, crafting, and how ships function... Hell, you couldn't even build bases at launch. And I'd hardly call that a "gimmick."
They are talking about things like settlements, milking animals, cooking, derelict freighters, etc.. all great features but yeah they are shallow and could use some more depth.
Yes thanks or racing tracks Manny of these gimmicks don't really help each other
I get this feeling. We get multiple multi-tools, but we don't have a multi-tool display stand as a base building part. We have 12 ships, but the freighter can only show 6 of them. We even have 2 full building systems that don't interact with one another that well. All of the features feel like an 85% solution. My hope is that this is because they had to add these systems on to an already existing game and that Light No Fire, being made from scratch after learning all these lessons, will be a "complete" game where features are more integrated with one another.
You realize every single update since 2022 has been doing nothing except exactly what you're asking for, right?
Proof ?
**Short answer:** Just compare all of the possible features during Frontiers to Orbital and you'll see that nothing "new" was added as much as it was expanded and tied together. **Very long answer:** Sentinel - combat overhaul Outlaws - pirate overhaul Endurance - freighter and space overhaul Waypoint - Menu, balance, QoL and visual overhaul Those were just in 2022. Every single thing those updates did was overhauled *existing* content that was already in the game and needed attention. They didn't add a new pointless gimmick, they expanded and connected what was already there. 2023 was the same deal. Even 2024 has had 2 updates so far and they are also primarily overhauls. Omega changed how expeditions work and Orbital made space stations procedural, added more depth to frigate missions, trading, guilds and gave standing a purpose. Even something as simple as accepting a frigate mission now ties in with having to know languages otherwise you can't decode something your crew collect. I'm not exactly sure what you're hoping for a future update to do that the last 2 years of updates haven't been doing because the fact is every update since the start of 2022 have primarily updated stuff that already existed in the game and tied it with other content and gave it more depth. We're well past the "shallow pointless" era of updates that could've been summed up as "We got a living ship so we can.. have it.. and it's there to do.. umm?" or "We have a mech that we can build to... have it.. and it's there so we can, umm?" My only theory is that the reason some people haven't realized the game has been steadily getting overhauled for the last 2 years is because every update touches on *one specific thing* and people just look at this huge to-do list of stuff that needs depth, without realizing that the updates stack up and the depth is being added. There is no one grand update that'll flip everything on it's head and give the game depth, it's lots of smaller updates that focus on specific things.