5 Ways to Avoid No Man’s Sky Over-Hype

Avoid Leaked Gameplay

There are a few gameplay videos floating around on the internet that depict some of the open-ended exploration you’ll be able to participate in once No Man’s Sky rolls around. This can generate a lot of internal hype, as watching others enter into combat or exit a planet’s atmosphere will only get your mind racing about the possibilities.

It can be difficult to avoid watching a game you’re waiting for, especially if it’s one of your most anticipated of the year, but it’s best to do so at all costs. If you’re going to watch gameplay, watch it for a different game that comes out later in the year or next year. If you simply must watch something that has to deal with No Man’s Sky, watch discussions about the game instead of gameplay. See what Sean Murray has to say about Hello Games’ aspirations for the daunting project and let that sink in. While that still will generate excitement too, it’s hype that’s measured and based solely on information rather than watching beautiful colors and huge explosions fill your screen. 

Focus on the Facts

One thing that has been noticed about the hype surrounding No Man’s Sky, is that a lot of it is about features that were never mentioned. No Man’s Sky will provide a seemingly limitless number of open worlds, yes, but there are limits to what you can do on and around these planets. The focus of the game is on exploration and discovery, but there are some fans eagerly awaiting this release expecting something more akin to that of say Minecraft or Starbound.

It’s easy to see a game with such huge possibilities and begin to conjure up even more. Some of the biggest ones that prospective players are looking forward to are huge battles and tons of crafting. While there is some resource collection and upgrading, you won’t be building castles or robots, nor will you be custom building a ship to take to the skies. Most of that is handled for you with a great degree of pure randomness. As far as huge battles go, you can pick fights with some of the wildlife which will in turn earn you the attention of the Sentinels, but these won’t be huge, Star Wars-esque battles. It will mostly be you taking pot shots at much more powerful machines and making a run for safety.

If you continue to remind yourself that a majority of your time will be spent alone, wandering and interacting with whatever you may find, then you’ll be fine. But if you’re looking for a space opera or something with a lot more control, then you may want to start tempering your expectations now. 

Play Something Else For Now

A good way to reduce hype for any game is to shift your focus, and what better way to do that then to play something entirely different? No Man’s Sky is set to hit the PS4 on Aug. 9, giving you ample time to get space adventures out of your system before the release. 2016 has seen a number of amazing games and expansions release, with a lot of them having absolutely nothing to do with travelling the stars.

If you’re looking for some games that you can play and possibly even beat before the 9th rolls around, here are a few options on PS4 and PC:

• Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End (PS4)
• Rise of the Tomb Raider (PC)
• The Witcher 3: Blood and Wine (PS4, PC)
• I Am Setsuna (PS4, PC)
• Dark Souls III… well, maybe not Dark Souls III

Those are all great experiences that are sure to take your mind off of No Man’s Sky, at least for a little while. This will bring down the fever of excitement slowly growing within you and allow you to enjoy the game in a much more calm and leveled fashion. 

Scratch That Sci-Fi Itch

Maybe what has you desperately awaiting No Man’s Sky is a need for something sci-fi. That’s perfectly understandable as a lot of the science fiction offerings in video games tend to end up relatively the same. Hello Games’ latest title offers something new with its procedurally generated endlessness, and we as humans have always been curious creatures. There are other ways to scratch that itch though so that all the weight doesn’t rest upon one game’s shoulders.

There are countless movies, books, and other games that you can jump into. Perhaps the Technomancer and its struggling Mars colonies if you’re looking for a game. For reading, why not “Ender’s Game” or “The Martian”? There’s no shortage of movies, but since No Man’s Sky is about exploring where no man has gone before, you can check out the new Star Trek film in theaters right now.

Learn More About Actual Space

Sure, No Man’s Sky is going to be a massive trip around the universe, but you know what’s even more massive and mysterious than that? Our own universe. If you’re into space, there are so many cool things to look into and learn about our own universe, to take your mind off of No Man’s Sky, at least for a little while. Plus, when it’s time to play No Man’s Sky, you might have a better understanding of some of the things you see in-game! You don’t need to open up a text book or anything either, there’s a lot of awesome stuff you can see and read about online.

Go explore the space tag populated by the fine folks over at Gizmodo where you’ll find a ton of interesting and easy to read articles about our solar system and beyond. /r/space is another place to see new pictures and news about space that trickle out to the masses. Hell, just type something you’re interested in learning about into Wikipedia even. Just make sure the sources are legit. Try not to get too depressed though when you learn about how difficult actual interstellar travel or terraforming (making another planet more earth like) really is.

Each of these methods should help you bring that uncontrollable hype into a much more manageable realm. There’s nothing worse than letting your own excitement ruin an experience for you.