This game feels a bit empty

[Heinz [Ger]]

i know this game try hard to become good with many big free updates but somehow the game still feels empty you can explore a endless universe but its lifeless.

I don´t know why but there is a important keypart missing here a really important piece i am the only one thinks so or anyone got the same opinion?

[Orion Invictus]

You're not the only one, no, but hardly anyone seems to be able to articulate what, exactly, is missing, which makes me think the problem lies elsewhere. Personally, I think they (you) are just saturated with the game and don't realize it.

[BigGrayGolem]

You are definitely not the only one with an opinion about NMS.

[sosayweall]

this is one of the drawbacks of procedural generation, but you can make the most of it

[Lindy Bomber]

I'll bite, what exactly is this "important piece' that us missing?

[Eguzky]

I love the game, but it feels empty and the addons feel...incomplete?

The Frigate can be a mobile base, but other than the default base items; there's almost nothing to a Frigate. A few hallways and a few rooms.

The settlements are basically a numbers game.

I can't even think of anything else.


Like, it'd be nice if they would let us make our own ships. You know; pick the fuselage, the wings, where the engines are, paint them...Each choice could raise or lower stats.

Settlements should have more of offer than 'spend your resources and watch numbers change'.

Frigates need more customization items. Like windows. And all bases need things like beds. Do we never sleep, cannonically?

Maybe allow us to draw the habitation of various NPCs other than the generic 'Scientists. Now his story is done' 'Exocraft. Now his story is done'.
Maybe merchants that can make us money. Or have things for sale based on what other people have sold in nearby systems (Make it like a server thing, for when playing solo).
Hell, some games should follow what Dragon's Dogma did; give us an NPC we can send into other worlds to find items and money for us. Maybe other online players can interact with them; buy what we give them, sell things to them for us to get.

[Krash Megiddo]

I don't think the game is lifeless. Maybe you're stuck in an "empty" galaxy? Explore a Lush galaxy and report back to us.

[Noodle]

It's a common problem with these games that release big content updates. The sims 4 has the same issue, the expansions/dlc/content updates just dont integrate into the base game. You have to go out and find it, most of it hidden behind later parts of the game too.

The reason the companions update was my favourite isn't because you can bring cute pets with you to other planets, even if that does help my reasoning, its because the features added with that update change the foundational gameplay of the game. Feeding pets, getting them to find items for you, animal AI and the way they behave even wild. You find animals on almost all planets so it's effected almost every planet. It's just normal now.

Things like exocraft are still new to me, my suit is all I need. Which is a common issue, exocraft are just fancy traversal modes.

The settlements (Edit: also origins was pog) update is also another which effects base gameplay pretty well since it could be a random encounter, you can possibly just come across a settlement and start helping it, thus effecting general gameplay.

I'm not a game designer, i'm not going to pretend how to do it right, but there needs to be an overhaul update similar to NEXT which brings everything together and turns it all into one thing. New content is just plopped ontop of the last thing rather than added to the base game, making the universe feel contentless.

No mans sky is great just to mess around in and look at pretty things and I love the game for that, ive been playing since launch but it still has fundamental issues its had for years. And having been watching every update, been hyped for each, done almost everything within the game, this issue with content not integrating well is just getting gradually worse. Bugs not getting fixed, outdated features not being updated. Quite a lot of things feel obsolete from new updates making new content feel inconsistent.
Needs to be fixed.

I really do like this game and I will obviously keep playing but I see this type of post often and this is my best take on what it is based on my observations and experience as a long term player.

[Wylie28]

Originally posted by sosayweall:

this is one of the drawbacks of procedural generation, but you can make the most of it

One of the drawbacks of lazy procedural generation*

Proper well designed procedural generation has as much diversity as a real designer. Take a look at Unexplored's dungeons for a good example. It generates dungeons exactly how a real level designer would.

The real problem is repetition. Even a real designer can't make things feel fresh. At some point, nothing can be done to make something feel new. There are only a handful of biomes that are truly distinct and no amount of takes on them will feel different after you've played any game, handcrafted or not, long enough.

[kerbalcommander563]

Originally posted by Eguzky:

I love the game, but it feels empty and the addons feel...incomplete?

The Frigate can be a mobile base, but other than the default base items; there's almost nothing to a Frigate. A few hallways and a few rooms.

The settlements are basically a numbers game.

I can't even think of anything else.


Like, it'd be nice if they would let us make our own ships. You know; pick the fuselage, the wings, where the engines are, paint them...Each choice could raise or lower stats.

Settlements should have more of offer than 'spend your resources and watch numbers change'.

Frigates need more customization items. Like windows. And all bases need things like beds. Do we never sleep, cannonically?

Maybe allow us to draw the habitation of various NPCs other than the generic 'Scientists. Now his story is done' 'Exocraft. Now his story is done'.
Maybe merchants that can make us money. Or have things for sale based on what other people have sold in nearby systems (Make it like a server thing, for when playing solo).
Hell, some games should follow what Dragon's Dogma did; give us an NPC we can send into other worlds to find items and money for us. Maybe other online players can interact with them; buy what we give them, sell things to them for us to get.

now the sleeping part makes me wonder about that.

[ItzaLaggin]

Originally posted by Heinz Ger:

i know this game try hard to become good with many big free updates but somehow the game still feels empty you can explore a endless universe but its lifeless.

I don´t know why but there is a important keypart missing here a really important piece i am the only one thinks so or anyone got the same opinion?

have you tried perma death, for me it adds an element of risk, Ive died alot and actually enjoy restarting. so far i have a 200 + hour on my hardcore character with everything s class even a settlement. also i like to take a break and play something else like Guild Wars 2 or even runescape. and of course i work for honey do and sometimes never get to play for a days lol.

[TheJebblue]

I would not mind seeing a dense city once in a while with streets where we could use our vehicles. Maybe a dense space station with streets like the one in one of the more recent Star Trek movies, can't remember which one. It rotated to create artificial gravity.

[tkwoods]

Originally posted by Heinz Ger:

i know this game try hard to become good with many big free updates but somehow the game still feels empty you can explore a endless universe but its lifeless.

I don´t know why but there is a important keypart missing here a really important piece i am the only one thinks so or anyone got the same opinion?

So it's called space for a reason. If it was full of stuff it would be something else.

[Mr. Bufferlow]

I think it is a niche game at the end of the day. You either like the exploring vibe or you yearn for some purpose like expanding an empire, or saving the damsel/prince in distress.

This is really just a day in the life of a space explorer. There is no insidious plot to uncover and correct or nefarious villains to be vanquished. I like those kind of games, but I like this kind of game alot. Apparently because I have 3800 hours in at this point and still enjoying the vibe.

It is okay if this is not your forever game. If you had fun but not so much anymore it is fine to just hang up the space boots and find another game that thrills you.

[Fighting-Priest]

Space stations need an update.
I agree with the frigates they need to add something to them as well as bases all I use my bases for is trade put a base near a trade port buy the trade items there us a portal to another base and sell them there rinse and repeat to earn tons of money.
On to money after a certain point it becomes useless as well as nanites.
When you get the ships you like there's no reason to hunt for more so a customization feature to this would be nice.
Derelicts are the same way once you get what you need from the vendor there's no reason to do them anymore.

What I would like to see if terraforming of dead or lifeless planets. Would be neat to take a dead planet and make it into a paradise planet.

[Gravysamich]

that part that is missing comes from you mate. when it comes to big open ended games like this the key is coming up with goals for yourself. that is how you make the universe feel full. you grow attached to it because you invest time in your creations or grinding for lot or just exploring. it is kind of like a model train where every person with one has it for a number of different reasons and the true value is theirs alone.