Where No Man Has Gone Before...

Way back, I mean WAY back, in that decadent decade of the 1980s, I owned a little brown computer known as the Commodore 64. Man, that was unbelievably liberating in that I did not have to rely on "friends" in order to play a game. I worked for a large-box retailer, at that time, and I was all too often working on Friday and Saturday nights, being then unable to play Battletech or some other game with my old chums. That little computer-that-could, chugging away with the amazing 64kb of memory was heaven sent.

Fast forward through a time when I was fixated with Apple Computer's Macintosh line, which took a nosedive by the early 2000s, until I returned to the world of Windows driven computers. Now, I loathe Macroshaft as much as the next guy, but I have to admit that they have the PC game market cornered.

Which leads me to my current state of affairs. No friends living nearby. All of my board games and miniatures having to remain in boxes until I can buy some furniture, including tables and shelves. And I get to the point where my trusty laptop is my sole source of gaming entertainment (sorry, but mobile games are, imo, useless and potentially moneysinks).

A few weeks before I moved, I saw No Man's Sky on sale on Steam. Now, I had heard and read some of the bad press from when it was originally released and I think it perhaps did deserve much of that at the time, but the NEXT update, which came out near the end of July, changed all of that, at least for me.

So far, I have sunk about 90 hours into the game...yes, more than I should have, but the draw is the game rewarding players for exploration and discovery. The impossible-to-visit-them-all 16 quadrillion procedurally generated planets makes for some mighty fine exploration firsts, for any player. The multi-player feature does not really do much for me as I am hesitant to play with total strangers in a game where they can steal from me or grief me in some way. If I could lock them out of using and abusing my base and equipment, that would be one thing, but alas that is not currently possible to do.

On the other hand, the solo exploration and continual opportunities to discover new planets, including unique flora and fauna is pretty cool. Another cool feature is the photo ability built-in to the game. Below is a picture from my own discoveries. Those creatures in the sky are actually quite large.

Although, the game may not float everyone's boat, it does provide me a bit of entertainment and relaxation, at least until I can get back assembling and painting miniatures or playing a board game solo. I figure it will take me until after the first of the year before I will be really set up, here, with a game table, painting tables, and bookshelves. Until then, it all remains in boxes, impatiently waiting to be released.