It's safe to say that No Man's Sky is one of the most highly-anticipated games of 2016. Hello Games' space epic has been in development for years now, but that hasn't stopped fans from getting excited: the promise of a near-infinite, procedurally-generated galaxy to explore is the sort of game that players have been hoping to get their hands on since the day of the Atari 2600.
Unsurprisingly, No Man's Sky recently topped Amazon's Most Anticipated games list. Users voted on a number of different games from a number of different genres, but No Man's Sky blew them all out of the water. These aren't just other independent games, either: massive triple-A titles like Mass Effect Andromeda and Battlefield 1 were both beaten by Hello Games' space exploration simulator.
It's yet another boost for a game that's already riding high — and with just a few weeks left before the game is finally launched, anticipation for No Man's Sky is at an all-time high. Judging by the online community, the game is almost guaranteed to be an overnight sensation ... but is that really a good thing?
Look, there's nothing wrong with getting excited for a game — but it's also important to keep one's expectations realistic.
Will No Man's Sky suffer the same fate? At this point, it's hard to know for sure. The game is hugely ambitious: players can fly from one end of a massive galaxy to the other, freely exploring planets and gathering resources along the way. Between the dogfights, ground engagements, survival mechanics and gear upgrades, there's so much to the game that the idea of a small studio like Hello Games developing it is hard to believe.
As it stands, No Man's Sky means a lot of different things to a lot of different people. For some, it's a multiplayer game about exploring space with friends; for others, it's survival experience; others want it to be a starfighter flight sim. Also, while the game definitely features these mechanics, they might not live up to player expectations — especially if those expectations weren't accurate to begin with.
To its credit, Hello Games has done its best to inform gamers of how the game will work, and the studio hasn't been afraid to push the game's release date back when necessary. It's proof that the team would rather be honest and take its time rather than compromise the final product — with any luck, gamers will appreciate that, come launch day.
Hopefully, No Man's Sky can come through on the promises that Hello Games has made. Simply put, the game looks fantastic — but without actually playing it, there's no way of knowing how all of the different mechanics tie together. More importantly, here's hoping that fans go in with an idea of what to expect. No Man's Sky is a big deal for a studio as small as Hello Games, and bad word-of-mouth could end up crippling the game's longevity.
Either way, it won't be much longer until fans can strap into their own custom spaceship and take off into the void: No Man's Sky is due out on Aug. 9. If you're looking for more information on the game, make sure to check out Hello Games' official site.
