Saying No Man’s Sky suffered from a rocky start is an understatement at best, but as the game’s life has progressed, it has experienced a revitalization effort rivaled by none. Worlds: Part One brought a beautiful array of new content, ranging from revamped aliens to deep-sea fishing.
In Worlds: Part Two, world-building is taken to a whole new level with the addition of several new planet types, new weather events, and new enemies to face. This update also brings a stronger connection to the lore within the universe, as well as deeper oceans to further immersion. With all of these features, players may find themselves asking why the game feels slower than it had before the update.
While these changes are indelibly welcomed by the community, there is one slight change that seems to have created an issue with rendering. With the new update, developers have implemented a new rendering system, allowing players to render their planets more smoothly than before. At launch, this proved to be extremely buggy, especially for systems with lower processing power, such as the MacBook Pro. Due to this, I decided to play on the PlayStation 5, yet this did not fully address the problem. Hopefully this bug will be fixed in upcoming updates, but for now, it makes the game feel less immersive than it was pre-update.
When players are finally able to smoothly render the game, there is much to be said about the new additions. The new lighting system makes No Man’s Sky feel surreal. This system is especially apparent during extreme weather and natural hazards. During firestorms, it feels as if you are flying into the depths of hell from the second they enter orbit. With visible embers flying through the atmosphere, you are not even able to see the surface of the planet due to the thickness of the storm.
For many players, the addition of deeper oceans is going to be a primary reason for their new playthrough. All too often, players were forced to disproportionately consolidate their bases on the water due to the two-dimensional design of the oceans in No Man’s Sky. Now, players can dive far deeper than before, with ultra-deep oceans as a new biome and find giant squids, seahorses, dangerous hazards, and plenty more.
It seems that the majority of this update was focused on implementing more immersive bodies of water. Developer Hello Games has put clear effort into water physics. These bodies of water look more realistic than they ever have in the past, and with these new physics, Worlds: Part Two has also implemented a new water planet variety. Players are now able to dive deep on a planet designated for their expedition. While this planet has proven to be elusive so far in my playthrough, I am eager to build a settlement underwater as a hub for deep diving.
While No Man’s Sky: Worlds: Part Two is only just beginning, there is certainly a promising future within this update. No Man’s Sky players have been extremely faithful to the game, and though it was lackluster at the beginning, it has managed to overcome its problems and produce arguably one of the most state-of-the-art games on the market today. While some are still wary of the title due to its shortcomings early on, its past issues are certainly a thing of the past. As far as live service games go, No Man’s Sky: Worlds: Part Two remains proof of just how dedicated developers should be to their players when it comes to bettering the games that they know and love.
Nate played No Man’s Sky on PlayStation 5 with his own bought copy.
