I’ve fought with all my being to avoid the issue of Starfield and No Man’s Sky, even when I wrote the analysis of the Bethesda game I knew to stay out of it. Maybe it was easy then because it had been a while since I played Hello Games’ space adventure. A group of friends tried to build a town, but it didn’t go well and in the end we all ended up hitting the uninstall button.
Now, months after the release of Starfield and after having accumulated almost 300 hours, I have returned to No Man’s Sky. Much of the blame lies with the Light no Fire announcement, but it also has a lot to do with an old, very familiar feeling: the need for a solitary, relaxed experience with room to do whatever, how and where you want.
My Christmas plan was to finish getting the most out of God of War Ragnarök: Valhalla and urge No Man’s Sky to intersperse it with Destiny 2 and PowerWash Simulator. Although I may put these last two on hold temporarily to make room for Baldur’s Gate 3. It all depends on how the last week of December plays out.
No Man’s Sky, Starfield and a universe away
I didn’t negotiate in the slightest on the main menu of No Man’s Sky: I deleted all the games I had and started a new adventure. My intention was (and is) for it to become the definitive game, since it is the first time I follow the thread of missions proposed by Hello Games. No hurries. Without pretensions beyond knowing its immense universe.
The first few hours were great. Never before have I completed so many main quests in a row, much less with the peace of mind of knowing that I’m not going anywhere. I was always obsessed with reaching the center of the universe and reaching it did not do justice to my expectations. Not because the conclusion is bad, but because the path and all the knowledge you acquire along it progressively increase the value of reaching the center of everything.
I was accumulating hours. I always attended when the story required it, but the rest of the time I loosened the ties of my mind to let it reflect freely. Little by little, I shaped my ideas and came to a very clear conclusion: No Man’s Sky has a “something” that he cannot achieve Starfield. And it has nothing to do with loading screens, bugs or any of the controversies you are thinking of.
I love Starfield. I have played almost 300 hours (so far) and it has made me feel many sensations, most of them very positive, but it does not achieve that “I don’t know what” that No Man’s Sky achieved almost effortlessly. Maybe it’s because its creators have been working to improve and expand it for seven years. It’s true, but I doubt the key is there. It has nothing to do with content, graphics, mechanics… They are such disparate experiences that they only share themes, the superficial layer that houses the majority of detractors.
No Man’s Sky is better than Starfield (for me), but not by what many people think
I think the key is how both experiences treat the player, specifically how they trust us when we play. From my point of view, Starfield It constantly fights to keep our attention with dialogues, events, combats, etc., as if it were afraid of losing us at any moment; but No Man’s Sky He knows perfectly well when to give us a little touch to remind us that we are not alone.
Both experiences seem correct to me. Neither one is bad nor the other good. The universe of Starfield is much more inhabited and is more social, while in No Man’s Sky there is much more room for more genuine solitude and more limited social interactions. It all depends on what each person is looking for.
My ideal of a space adventure, perhaps romanticized by movies, series and novels, must have high doses of authentic loneliness. And although I found it in the Bethesda universe at specific moments, there is no one who beats Hello Games in making me feel alone in a space that seems infinite. Maybe Kojima Productions with Death Stranding, but it’s far from space.
So yeah, I think No Man’s Sky It is much better than Starfield...although this does not detract in the slightest from Bethesda’s adventure. It’s not about choosing which one stays on my intergalactic pedestal (both), but which one manages to make me feel better when I spend hours and entire days in front of the screen.
I call for revenge, Sentinels: I will finish you!
I want to end this post with an adventure of war and revenge. The pirate faction contacted me to invite me to their little rebel group. In Starfield I chose to join the Crimson Fleet, so you can assure that I threw myself into doing their missions. One of them brought me into direct conflict with the Sentinels. I’m usually pretty respectful of them, but they made the mistake of attacking me… and I killed them one by one.
The Sentinels fell as they arrived, until the alert said that a bipedal type was approaching. If you’ve never seen it, it’s an AT-ST from Star Wars. It’s not nonsense, especially for a character with only a few hours of play. I got into my ship and quickly escaped into the planet’s orbit, but by then they were pissed off enough to send ships to stop me.
The ships fell one by one, like their terrestrial brothers, and finally there was silence. The reinforcement countdown reached zero once again and then a Sentinel Cruise escorted by more cantilena ships. I knew very well that I was going to die because my ship had almost no upgrades.
I flew quickly around the cruiser, firing at the shield generators to damage the hull. It was impossible to dodge the shots from the turrets and ships. I managed to destroy the shield, but by then I had used up all my resources and my ship’s shields had died. I knew it was the end, so I faced the Cruiser and fired with the little arsenal I had to get everything I could ahead of me. Two lightning bolts hit my ship and it exploded. I’ll be back! Revenge!
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