The Hype Train | No Man’s Sky

It’s been a long time since I felt inspired to write something on a whim. Usually my blogging has consisted of days of planning, editing dozens of food pictures, making sure at least 3 planets are aligned, it’s been a lot more complicated than it needs to be. But I’ve seen enough today to make me want to sit down and document how I feel. Because the excitement is just too great to let the opportunity pass by.

Yesterday, long awaited information was released about No Man’s Sky. Now, if you haven’t been paying attention, No Man’s Sky was announced years ago at E3 2014. The independent studio Hello Games basically stole the show with the hopes and promises they said they were going to deliver. Time went on and every convention and show that passed after that was silent or only gave a whisper of news from the ambitious title. It was known that Sony opened their wings to Hello Games and offered help and resources in the development process. I was one of the many who were patiently waiting for more news to come out. More solid info on how the game will work, how far can you really go, and when can we begin exploring, were just a few of the hundreds of questions I’m sure were floating around.

But finally, here we are. Not only do we have a firm release date of June 21st, but we also have prices, Limited Editions, game play videos, interviews, the works. I was able to secure a pre-order for the Limited Edition on PS4, myself ($79.99 reg/$63.99 with Prime). But PC players are lucky with the $150 Explorer’s Edition. With a cast metal ship replica, a bunch of other goodies and a limited run of 10,000, it definitely looks hard to resist for a collector like me. iam8bit also has an official collection of merchandise for No Man’s Sky if you’re interested.

What got me the most excited was the Hands On article IGN put out. In there you’ll find Ryan McCaffrey’s exciting time he spent playing a demo of the game. I could tell just by reading it how absolutely giddy the entire experience made him. And I can totally understand why. Because after watching the videos I’m right there beside him as far as excitement goes. If you haven’t seen it yet, I highly recommend setting aside 18 minutes to watch the demo, so you can see for yourself the potential this game will bring.

With literally an entire galaxy’s worth of things to discover, how can you not be excited? I mean, just imagine…

You’re on a planet. It’s tropical. Lush plant life in a combination of colors you’ve never seen. Waterfalls, green seas, small indigenous species roaming freely. A place your imagination would’ve had trouble conjuring. Then you get on your ship, and you zoom off into space. You chart a course and warp to another planet. This one is covered in snow and ice. Giant creatures wandering about as if it’s just a regular day. Your suit setting off an alarm warning you it’s only able to tolerate a few minutes in this cold. So you get back in your ship and you find another planet. This one nobody has ever been to. You’ve just discovered it, and you can do the same with all the flora and fauna that calls the planet home. You even get to name that little chicken-like creature that just walked passed your feet. And when you’re done, you get in your ship and get to do it over, and over, and over again.

I don’t know about you, but June 21st went from “so soon?!” to “I have to wait how much longer??” in about 5 minutes.

I’m not too thrilled though… Here we are, on the launch day of Twilight Princess HD – a game that I’ve been pretty excited to play for a few weeks now. And a few short days away from the release of The Division which should spark some co-op fires in my heart that Destiny let fizzle out. Yet, all I want to do now is curl up on the couch and explore space in No Man’s Sky. I think it’s cruel and unfair of Hello Games to rob me of these immediate pleasures. Shame on your inconsiderate hearts, guys.

But of course, I’m also happy. Not only because I finally know when I can get my hands on No Man’s Sky, but also because it doesn’t feel like an ambitious dream anymore.

After seeing it being played, and hearing the reactions from Ryan McCaffrey, I’m sold and feel like all the time I’ve spent waiting for this game has been worth it. The idea of exploration and discovery excites us as humans. It’s in our DNA. So being able to do so to our hearts content in the infinite vastness of space has me the most excited I’ve been for a game in a long time. June 21st might as well be light years away.