I was excited my the prospect of No Man's Sky (or 'NMS' for short), before the first version came out. Game trailers showed a space game that rivalled or surpassed even the most epic space-based games on the market at the time. I decided to hold off, mostly for financial reasons, when it finally released, and I am glad that I did.

I started hearing reports of a game marred by bugs, lag, crashes, and frankly, a lack of content. Many players who, lured by the trailers, grabbed this early version were horribly disappointed.

Since those early days, there have been many, many updates, patches and bug-fixes, and so when I was asked by a friend to play with them, I finally took the plunge and bought the game. What I found was a stark difference between the early version I had heard about, and the game I was now playing.

I was pleasantly surprised by the survival aspect of the early game experience, with just the right level of difficulty, and a fairly steep, but not insurmountable learning curve. My friends, who had played the game before, were soon way ahead of me, as I plodded through the guided steps to getting my starship airborne.

Since then, I have played NMS almost daily, and discovered that it is a rich and vast universe, made up of around 18½ Quintillion procedurally-generated planets (18,446,744,073,709,551,616 to be exact), separated into 255 galaxies. Each galaxy has a multitude of star systems, each with 2-6 planets, covered with plants, animals and rocks to discover. The first player to discover a system/planet/flora/fauna/mineral is given the right to rename it, and future explorers discovering the same system can see who discovered it, and what it's called. However, the chances of running into another player in normal gameplay is quite remote, though your friends can join your game, and multiplayer, this game is amazingly fun. You can opt-out of any PvP with a simply setting in your options, or just leave it turned on if that's how you like to play...

Almost every star system has a Space Station, where you can trade with the three alien races, buying resources, upgrades and even new ships, get quests, or use the teleporter to travel to any system you have already visited. Some star systems are Outlaw-controlled, ruled by pirates, where you can obtain smuggled goods or get sent on quests of dubious legality.

On any planet, you can choose to build a base of your own, and lucrative farms are a definite possibility. A vibrant, active community provides a plethora of online guides and videos to making the best bases and farms, finding the best ships, and every other aspect of this game. If you don't know what something is, or how to do something, or get something, then simply look it up.

Of course, the troubles of the early game have not yet been completely eradicated. The game can still occasionally crash, and bugs and exploits can mar your experience, but no more than any modern game of this epic scope, and the devs are very active, and patches/bug-fixes regularly appear. The bugs are infrequent enough that, while frustrating at the time, don't really spoil the overall enjoyment of the game, and a relog will often cure the issue.

So, to conclude, would I recommend this game? Yes, yes I would! I am loving playing it, having racked up over 400 hours in about a month. I am sure that there are things I have yet to discover, but I am loving the journey!