14 DAY TRIAL // No Man's Sky, the upcoming space exploration game from indie studio Hello Games, has just received some fresh details about its gameplay and how players can actually start exploring in the title's randomly generated universe.
Hello Games made a name for itself by delivering the pretty fun Joe Danger titles across a variety of platforms, despite having just four actual employees. Since the game reached sales acclaim, the studio has started working on a different kind of project, in the form of No Man's Sky.
The title was revealed to the world almost one year ago and immediately captured the hearts and minds of space game fans by promising a visually attractive experience that had millions of procedurally-generated planets to explore.
The title has since received a few details over the last few months but now, thanks to a cover story in GameInformer, via NeoGAF, way more actual info is available.
The beginning sees each player drop onto an unknown planet
The beginning of the game features a special cut scene after which players are simply dropped onto a random planet in the procedurally-generated universe. This is a gamble, as it can be a difficult world filled with tough monsters or one with rare items, or one with no interesting elements.
You can jump into your own ship and leave at any time to explore the current star system. The map has different zoom levels and you can scan the system to see if there is a space station or a planet with points of interest. If another player has already explored that system, you can see exactly what is on the planets.
Earning money to upgrade your ship is crucial
To really travel the universe, players need to get enough money to buy a hyperdrive but also enough fuel, not to mention the upgrades necessary to stay alive in No Man's Sky. Different actions result in money added to your virtual account, so collecting plants, blowing up rocks, destroying other ships, or discovering new areas are all profitable endeavors.
You must visit the trading post on the planet or the space station in a system to cash in your virtual earnings, and different ones will have different upgrades or ships available for purchase. You can also attack a space station, but you don't get anything for it.
No Man's Sky is set to debut in 2014, and so far, it's been confirmed to appear on the PC and PS4 platforms. You can expect to hear much more about it at the upcoming PlayStation Experience event that takes place this weekend, between December 6 and 7.
