Norman's Sky, tiny low-res No Man's Sky pastiche, gets an update

Originally published at: Norman's Sky, tiny low-res No Man's Sky pastiche, gets an update | Boing Boing

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That’s really cool, though not quite as cool as Low Mem Sky.

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No Many’s Sky was an eagerly-awaited, initially-disappointing and ultimately astounding space exploration game

So is anyone here playing it? I was really tempted to get it when it came out - but the bad press made me pass. I am probably too casual of a gamer to play this game - but it still looks like I might like it. Convince me?

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I have not played it in a few years, but I played it after the major updates that made it “good”.

It’s VERY impressive. The universe is huge, there is a lot to do and it is really neat to just be able to hop in your ship and seamlessly take off, leave atmosphere and enter space all with no loading screens or other transitions.

It is also gorgeous - everywhere you look is another awesome classic science fiction book cover vista.

However…

You have to be the sort of person that likes to make their own fun - getting into building your base, setting goals for yourself, etc. The story is pretty abstract and not particularly compelling - just enough to nudge you along and add a little structure. You spend most of your time exploring planets, mining, and gathering resources to trade or craft items.

I dropped about a hundred hours into it and got to what was at that time the end of the game, but if it hits you right I could see someone playing it forever.

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I got GeForce Now on my M1 Mac just to keep playing it after I sold my game PC.

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Hiluh. I’ve just checked the system requirements and my recent ‘upgrade’ to my friend’s shonky old GTX580 that he wasn’t using can, apparently, handle it. Wow. I might have a go then

It might look more like Norman’s Sky😉

If you want to give it a shot though and see how it looks, it is on Microsoft GamePass and you can probably get 3 months for a buck and give it a shot (And also have access to about a hundred other games of which many are good)

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I love the game, but I was one of the weirdos who didn’t follow all the interviews leading up to the games release so I wasn’t aware of all the “broken promises” people went on about. I had been interested in this game because I love exploration, be it in Zelda, or Minecraft. I just really enjoy exploring a world and finding all kinds of awesome stuff. The base building is a nice touch, but not really what brings me back to the game regularly. They did experiment with the idea of having seasons and last April, May they did a few events, but those seemed to fizzle out after May. Still, with the updates they’ve added so much new stuff to play with.

I still go back to the game pretty regularly, the exploration and discovery in the game is a perfectly relaxing experience most of the time that’s great as a way to chill out at the end of the day for an hour or two. Having played through the whole game 3 times and playing all the seasons I’ve pretty much wringed every bit I could out of this game, I’ve been eyeballing Subnautica as my next explore and survive game, but I’m waiting until my orange water wings come in the mail as I’m thinking this might be a solid VR game. (oh, VR for NMS is very good, but I only played 50 or so hours in VR, the other 450 hours or so were all on a TV kicked back on the couch).

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Subnautica is great, but I did not find it to be very good in VR, at least when I tried it a few years ago. At the time it only had standard controller support. I don’t know if they’ve ever updated it to touch/motion controls. The handheld controller controls were awkward and it was easier just to play it on a screen.

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Good to know, I’ve found most games that are not designed for the ground up for VR to very “MEH” experiences most of the time. No Mans Sky flying the ship is kinda awkward as you have to hold controllers you can see in VR but not feel, it makes for awkward controls while in ship, but it still is a bit of fun to see everything through the eyes of your avatar and realize how massive even your little jumper ships are when you’re not looking at everything from the view of a hovering camera 10 feet over the shoulder of your character. Plus, running and jumping off a huge plateau is enough to make your stomach lurch a little when you almost start to feel yourself freefall. Looking forward to Subnautica, will probably just play it normal for the first few hours to get a hang of the controls before I try VR, I’ve heard a lot of good things about it over the years and got it as a humble pack or something a few years back.

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I tried Subnautica. Things keep eating me. Too many years of FPSs mean I’m a tad gung-ho for stealthy games. Same goes for Dishonoured. I keep falling of roofs and having to kill lots of policemen.

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