No Mans Sky Nintendo Switch Review

I’ve always enjoyed trekking across the galaxy trading and fighting my way to fame and fortune in the worlds of X Gold and Elite Dangerous, but when No Mans Sky was announced, the sheer scope and scale dwarfed both the latter titles’ ambitions in delivering the galaxy. While the initial launch of No Mans Sky fell somewhat short, the game has evolved in leaps and bounds due to the staggering support and further development from Hello Games. You can read all about that here…

So when No Mans Sky for Nintendo Switch was announced, many explorers were wondering how exactly it would work. Was it going to be a digitally streamed title or a heavily cut-down version of the game? How could they fit an entire galaxy of infinite possibilities onto the Nintendo Switch?

I don’t know how… but they did. There are some compromises, yes, but after playing No Man’s Sky under the Stars in the Outback, I’m convinced there’s no better way to play.

For those who have been living under a rock in outer space, No Man’s Sky is a freeform space exploration and trading game that started out as just a space exploration game. You, the player, were initially equipped with a scanner that you could explore and catalogue various wildlife and minerals while you make your way to the centre of the universe. The incredible developer support has seen this game turn into something completely different these days, and they managed to get all of it on the Nintendo Switch.

You start off stranded on a planet and are tasked to find and repair your ship. Through a new, reworked opening, the game guides you through the process of crafting and gathering materials to repair your ship, and eventually take to the stars to start your journey. All the bells and whistles from the bigger console versions are here, including no load times once you are in the game. There’s something so satisfying and incredible when you leave the atmosphere of a planet to see a hulking space station and other planets in orbit, just waiting to be explored. From this moment on… the galaxy is yours.

The beauty of No Man’s Sky in its current state is there’s now so much to do, the gameplay can be as relaxing, or as action-packed as you make it. You can trade goods between galaxies, simply explore and catalog planets, manage a fleet of freighters that scour the galaxy far and wide, be a space outlaw, the list goes on. In my 105 hours of gameplay so far, I have settled and built a stasis device production facility that ticks along millions in profits while managing my fleet of 30 frigates to set up a huge space corporation. There is a lot of content jam-packed into this game that can keep you hooked for hours. Couple that with Expeditions that occasionally pop up from time to time which see you complete a series of missions and objectives on a fresh save, unlocking new cosmetic items and ship types, there’s certainly enough to keep the most hungry of players well fed.

For a game of this scope and scale, there are compromises that have been made to fit this sprawling epic on the Nintendo Switch. There is some texture pop-in, some frame rate dips, and some crashes. But overall the game is incredibly beautiful with detail-rich environments to settle on, eerily desolate frigates to pillage, and a seemingly infinite galaxy to explore. The immersion built into this game makes for an incredible experience, and I often found chills running down my spine while reading the crew logs of a desolate frigate wreckage floating in space. Such moments like these are frequent in No Man’s Sky due to the stellar (pun intended) sound design. While escaping a sudden solar storm I managed to retreat into my ship where I could hear debris hitting the windshield, other times music ramps up when you fall under attack from space pirates or overly aggressive Sentinels.

No Man’s Sky somehow does the impossible by squeezing the entire galaxy into a primarily handheld console. There are some compromises and performance issues when the action gets heavy, but none of that really detracts from the core experience of the game as players journey to the outer reaches of space. Whether you want to build a base and leisurely document wildlife, build a space empire of frigates and vessels, or terrorize space stations as a space pirate, No Man’s Sky has it all, and with the constant free updates from the team at HelloGames, the sky’s the limit!

So What’s it like?

No Man’s Sky would be a combination of Elite Dangerous, and Minecraft.