What is it about

No Man Sky is a massive open-world survival game released in 2016 and has VR support in 2019. The world is so big that it boasts to have 18 quadrillion planets for players to explore. Every planet has its own ecosystem with its own unique flora, fauna, and weather conditions. There are various alien species that may engage players in combat or trade within the planetary systems. Players get to operate spaceships and freighters to travel between planets or bases. Players have to defend their spaceships and bases from pirates in the game. If defending from pirates is too mainstream, players get to become pirates themself and launch attacks on the trading posts. The games center around exploration, survival, combat, trading, and base-building mechanics.

Why is it engaging?

The amount of immersion that No Man Sky VR offers is massive. The VR gives players the illusion that they are in the game world. Most of the interaction with the game objects is done using hands and fingers which simulates realistic interaction in the virtual world. The VR allows players to experience things that are not possible in the real world with today’s technology such as operating and traveling in a spaceship. It gives a fresh experience that players are able to go on an adventure to the wildlife and build their own secret hideout.
The fact that players are able to play No Man Sky using VR makes it engaging because of the level of immersion that the players get to experience. The experience that players will never get with regular gameplay using a keyboard and mouse while staring at monitor screens.

What features can be improved

Another feature that can be improved is the HUD display of the game menu. It covers almost the whole screen. No Man Sky should offer the option to reduce the HUD display to mobile size. Although it is not a big issue as most people would not be playing the game while interacting with the game menu.

The performance of No Man Sky VR can be improved. Due to the limitation of the hardware, No Man Sky VR suffers a performance penalty in terms of graphics and frame rate. A quick fix would be to optimize the game as much as possible. The performance may be drastically improved at the upcoming launch of PlayStation VR2.

References

[MrWhitty2000]. (2022, August 21). No Man’s Sky VR Is More Immersive Than You Probably Realize [Video]. Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kPaiML7PNCA&ab_channel=MrWhitty2000

Kuchera, B. (2019, August 15). No Man’s Sky in VR is the best and worst of modern VR. Polygon. Retrieved January 19, 2023, from https://www.polygon.com/2019/8/15/20806094/no-mans-sky-beyond-pc-vr-impressions-rift-s-index-psvr

[PlayStation]. (2023, June 3). No Man’s Sky – State of Play June 2022 Announce Trailer | PS VR2 Games [Video]. Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Zd61kKEAMA&ab_channel=PlayStation

[Cas and Chary VR]. (2019, August 20). No Man’s Sky VR – 20 Tips and Tricks For Beginner VR Players [Video]. Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Zd61kKEAMA&ab_channel=PlayStation