No Man’s Skyoriginally dropped at a weird time in my life. I had just been hired for a job out in Los Angeles, and it was the type of job that started immediately. There was no rest period between gigs. Because I didn’t have a place in LA yet, I crashed on my sister’s couch for a month as she reminded me that eventually she’d like that couch back.
Naturally, along with clothes and a laptop, I had packed aPlayStation 4. I knew that I was going to be feeling lonely and isolated after moving - so rather than socializing and reconnecting with friends in the city, I’d hunker down with that weird parallelogram-shaped console and only see the outdoors when absolutely required. Plus, No Man’s Sky was about to come out.
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If you remember the launch - which you probably do because it’s been endlessly covered - the game was both expected to be the greatest thing of all time and the greatest disappointment of all time. Players were ready to sail away into an infinite galaxy free of constraint and naysayers were ready to point out every detail that wasn’t quite immersive. As you also know, the game came out, and it was fine, but that wasn’t enough for most people.
For someone feeling lost and disconnected in a new city, it was the right game for the moment for me. I didn’t play much of it because I had a new job and shared a television with a human being who’d rather not watch me mine rocks for hours. But in my mind, No Man’s Sky and Los Angeles are linked in the same way a completely inappropriate song links to a sad memory. Sort of like how the first time I saw the Rebecca Black YouTube video for Friday was when I was on a Seattle bus in the middle of the night while going through my divorce.
That’s real! That’s human vulnerability. In an article about VR? Get outta here! Note to the editors: I’m using this anecdote again in the future. Note to the editors 2: Please don’t remove the previous note. Note to the editors 3: Or that one.
No Man’s Sky was a much lonelier game than it is now. It’s still a lonely game! Don’t worry! I still like it for a reason! But back at launch, it was a cold loneliness. In an infinite universe of infinite exploration, you were essentially the only sentient being.
Which is normally completely my jam, but I’d just left behind a home, friends, a relationship, and my favorite local bar. I didn’t want to feel more lonely. Because, girl, I wasn’t just lonely; I wassleeping on my sister’s couchin Marina Del Reylonely. No Man’s Sky started to just feel like me putting effort into getting the same emotional result. And I stopped playing it.
During the next half-decade, No Man’s Sky improved. I know this. You know this. We know this. This isn’t an article about what they added because, frankly, I don’t completely know and I don’t completely care enough to look. More ships. More monsters. Alien stuff. Logs? Can’t have a game without logs!
I knew No Man’s Sky was getting better. But every time I tried to play it again, I either forgot what I was doing (original save) or had to go through an intensely annoying tutorial (every subsequent save). I get it. With all due respect, No Man’s Sky is a complicated game. As with any complicated game, teaching someone the basics isn’t very easy. However, No Man’s Sky’s tutorial is so deeply painful. Just constantly being told to find stuff while my space suit is yelling at me about toxic air.
It didn’t click with me. I knew there was more out there. I knew that - with just a little effort - I’d find so much more in this big beautiful galaxy. But something about the game threw me out of the immersion. Frustration with the tutorial? Annoyance that I had to spend an hour just to get to the fun? I’m not sure. I really did try.
I think I finally got it withPS VR2. Despite my many doubts about PS VR2, I’m a complete mark for this, so I preordered one. Whoever on this site got one for free, It ain’t me. I’m not saying it should be. But the person who got it isn’t dropping emotional bombs like that Friday story. I’m just saying. If you’ve read this far, God bless you.
While I’d known No Man’s Sky was in VR already - and I had the capability to play it - it wasn’t until the PS VR2 that it came together for me. Previous attempts at playing in VR I’d just used a regular controller while facing forward - essentially playing the same game but I could look around a little. It also looked terrible on the first PS VR. It was like walking through an alien world but your eyes are covered in vaseline.
To the point, it’s incredible on PS VR2. I finally understand the game on its own terms. The motion controls give it weight. I know it’s a virtual reality cliche, but I’m a sucker for reaching behind my back and pulling out a device. It always feels good. Little touches, like having to put your hand to the side of your head to change your visor view, seamlessly add to the immersion. At their best, motion controls remove layers of abstraction to make what you’re physically doing feel consistent with what you’re pretending to do - and damned if No Man’s Sky isn’t a completely different game when that happens.
The physical actions make sense. Checking my wrist for an inventory screen might not be the newest VR idea, but at least it simplifies going through the game’s odd storage system. Mining rocks and plants for minerals isn’t the most interesting job in the world, but at least it’s more dynamic when I can directly point from object to object. Not to mention that I had to figure out how to fly a starship like a child who just stole one from a bounty hunter. It’s the future, I don’t know what all the controls do.
I recognize that columns about how ‘No Man’s Sky Is Good Now’ are in the same level of tiring as ‘Comic Books: Not Just For Kids Anymore?’, but I’m excited. After years of wanting to get back into a game that I knew in my heart of hearts was good, I’m finally there. I’m building a base. I’m exploring the galaxy. And I’m never seeing any of you a-holes again.
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