No Man's Sky Is My Happy Place

 

I always have a hard time choosing a game to play. Some take a lot of investment. Not only time-wise, but also in terms of focus. Sitting down to play Street Fighter 6, for example, throws me into a fast-paced mode of quick execution and reaction time. Loading up God of War or Ghost of Tsushima, on the other hand, frees me of intense button combo memorization, but thrusts me into deep storylines and engaging dialogue that that often make demands on me emotionally (I get into it!). Thankfully, when I just want to blissfully unwind at the end of a long day, there are games like No Man's Sky.

No Man's Sky is an incredibly vast open world (universe) game of endless possibilities. The generative model of the game produces galaxies upon galaxies full of stars, planets, and space stations for players to explore. Every planet never visited by another player you can discover, meaning you can name it (as well as its plants, minerals, and animals) and upload that information into the games core server. And this can go on and on. In terms of size, I could honestly play this game in single-player mode for years and never stumble upon another players discoveries. I could spend weeks on a single planet, just exploring its landscapes, mining minerals, trading with merchants and scavenging abandoned outposts. Of course, you are equipped with tools and a space ship to cut that time down exponentially if you so choose. There are countless missions available that will have you hopping across multiple planets and galaxies in a single play session.

It is the best casual game I have ever played, personally. The sheer size of it, as well as the ability of choice in play style and pace makes it an endlessly satisfying escape for those of us who love to just kick back and let the digital wind blow us in whatever direction we so feel in the moment. Who could say no to such freedom?