The Ultimate Sandbox Game: No Man’s Sky

No Man’s Sky is the ultimate sandbox game. At its core, it’s a game that you can play however you like. It doesn’t hold your hand beyond the first missions to get your craft aloft and into space. After that, you’re on your own and there are so many possible ways to play and so many things to do, it can feel a bit overwhelming.

Sandbox Game: A Typical Session

At first, I didn’t know if I was playing No Man’s Sky “right”, or if I was just bumbling along. The same is true of almost every sandbox game I have ever played. You start out and have no clue what you’re doing and learn as you go how to craft things, how to explore, what means what and so on.

After a while of playing, I realized there is no wrong way to play No Man’s Sky and it’s much like Minecraft in that the game is what you make of it. Sandbox games are like that. In fact, I like to describe No Man’s Sky as a sort of ‘Minecraft in space’ game.

A typical session of gameplay starts out by remembering what I was doing the last time I played. Am I on a planet that I need to continue exploring? When I logged off last had I been in the middle of searching for a good site for a base?

“Minecraft in X”?

I love ‘Minecraft in X’ games. What I mean by that is there are elements that are present in Minecraft: mainly I’m talking about material acquisition, exploration, mining, crafting, farming, survival elements, and combat. If a game has that in a certain combination, I describe it as “sort of like Minecraft in space, or underwater, or in the countryside.” Several games meet these criteria.

Subnautica

For example, Subnautica has been one of my favorite game series in the past few years, and it’s definitely a sort of Minecraft in water. Gathering materials and making increasingly complex things out of said materials is the theme in these games.

Astroneer

Another game that has a similar feel is Astroneer. I played Astroneer for a few hours and found it a little like Minecraft in space, but nowhere near as expansive and immersive as No Man’s Sky. I didn’t get very far in that game. Maybe it would have fleshed itself out a bit more had I stayed with it, but I have a short attention span for games, and if it doesn’t snag me in the first few hours, I’m not likely to spend a lot of time on it.

My Time at Portia

My Time at Portia has a bit of that feel, and it’s like a nice blend of genres. There’s combat, mining exploring, farming, and crafting. It’s a nice melding of activities that appealed to the part of my brain that gets super immersed in this type of game. I think I finished that game, but I’m not certain. It’s been a few years since I played it.

Summer in Mara

Summer in Mara was similar but different. Is it a sandbox game? It is to some extent, even though it is heavily quest based. There is enough exploration and crafting that make it sandbox-like. This game was fun, if not a bit tedious. I liked the exploration of Summer in Mara but I didn’t like that the game felt like fetch quest after fetch quest.

Minecraft

Of course, Minecraft is the ultimate sandbox game. Nothing compares to the versatility to be found in Minecraft. It is what you make of it. But if you want a sandbox game in space, No Man’s Sky is the best game for you.

It’s such a beautiful game, if you haven’t played it yet, what is stopping you?

Gaming Posts

I post about the games I play, when I feel like it. I enjoy playing the games I talked about here as well as other types of games.