games

NMS is probably my most played game of all time. It has changed so much since release and the devs seem to genuinely like working on the game (every update has been free). The modding scene is pretty good too and you can freely edit your local save file as well.

Another commenter pointed out it's basically just a sandbox, but there are a few long quest lines and they have temporary events with a checklist of goals for rewards and such. It's still basically just a sandbox with some extra steps, though. They've also diversified the planets and creatures a lot over the years.

Anyway, I'd say it's a game for anyone who likes survival/sandbox/crafting/building. The difficulty options are great as well, you can make it an incredibly difficult game if you want, but you can also make it as easy as you want.

Try before you buy

Linux
Windows

I keep wanting to get back into it. I would say yes it's really good now.

The resource mining is faster than Minecraft I think. And once you get going with credits you can just buy a lot of stuff.

I like the game but it's not terribly deep or directed. Like a sandbox, you have to bring some of your own initiative into it.

You can build a big base. The part placing stuff is very good (much better than fallout4). But you don't really need to. It's fun if you enjoy it.

Same with running a freighter. You can customize the layout as you want. But there's not much of an extrinsic reward. Doing it is its own fun, if you like it.

You can fly around and scout new planets, but most of them don't change much. Different visuals, but basically the same. If you enjoy that, and scanning all the creatures and minerals and plants, it's fun.

You can fight sentinels, and that's probably the most traditional game like part. Third person shooter, maybe ten different enemy types, they drop upgrade components. That's a very standard game loop, but it's also only like a couple hours of content.

You can collect different space ships, but even the most basic C-grade can do all the content. It's fun if you want to have a cool ship, but that's it.

You can pretty quickly amass millions of credits and nanites, but there's not that much to do with them.

Do you see the trend? It's all fun if you get intrinsic joy, but it's not like, say, dark souls where there's a big challenge to overcome.

If you're looking for a game to just relax and chill it's pretty alright at that.

I got bored after sinking a fair bit of time because once you get over the initial hump of just trying to survive (which doesn't last very long, compared to other Minecraft style survival games) the game kinda becomes a "thing accumulation simulator". Nowadays I usually just fire up the game after a couple of updates to see all the new stuff and then put the game away.

It's very wide with a lot of things to do, but each thing isn't particularly deep or rewarding e.g. keeping pets or running a trading fleet.

Imo the best way to play is to just go on a nice long search for a nice planet and then build a nice base on it to fulfill the power fantasy of owning a house, and that should probably occupy a good number of hours, but past that idk if the game will hold your attention because NMS lacks stardew's life-sim gameplay.

NMS is still a buggy jankfest that took years to get a sort inventory button and yet its still one of my favourites. Being able to fly from planet to planet scratches an itch no other game really does

Yeah, completely overhauled game from the original release, actually pretty fun to play. It's still a procedurally generated playground, not a handcrafted gaming experience, but it is fun.

I haven't played in years, but I put in 50 hours back then and when I switched to whatever other game all I thought was "this will be a fun one to regularly come back to and just burn some time in". But, I haven't done that.

I managed to get 70 Plus hours in the game and I didn't do a single mission well I did a little bit of the tutorial but I mainly just want planet to planet to explore then I finally got bored.

There's plenty to do in the game now so if you like exploring you'll probably like the game just remember it's an exploration game first.

My very particular dislike of the game is that it lacks variety of planets. But I think the final update of the game is supposed to add more then just "variations of the same terrestrial garden planet". Like volcanic dead worlds, gas giants, etc.

Otherwise it's a perfectly relaxing chill grind game.

It is fun, and a well built game now. But, it’s also boring af. I jump in every once in a while, and it just takes so long for everything. I’ve never made it past like… four systems away from my starting one. Idk though, some people have like hundreds of hours, so you might be one of those.

I love space stuff but am not the biggest fan of Minecraft style crafting/mining. I don't mind it in Stardew and factory games are a favorite genre of mine, for reference.

Have you played Cosmoteer? It's a bit like Dwarf Fortress/Dungeon Keeper, but you're building space ships, not digging tunnels. The mining part is simple and easy, you just click on wreckage to have your crew automatically mine and salvage asteroids or ships. You eventually will need factory ships for processing materials and crelating supply chains.

The main focus is on combat. It's an open sandbox (story missions are in the pipeline, there's just a lot of features the dev wants to implement first). You mostly go from system to system, fighting pirates and whatnot. Multi-player is great and there's an active competitive scene if that's your thing.

I haven't played it in a few months. Got bummed when I lost my flagship in an attack on a pirate space station. Still have four capital ships and all my civilian ships to make up my fleet, it just isn't the same though without my first baby. Might have to start a new campaign whenever there's a new update.