No Man’s Sky is a game that started as a glitchy nightmare wrapped in broken promises, but recently has evolved into something you might actually want to play! After years of updates, it’s transformed from the gaming equivalent of a doomed space expedition into an addictively fun survival adventure that’s almost worth the existential crisis it causes.

The story isn’t exactly Pulitzer Prize material. It’s like someone puréed “The Matrix” and “2001: A Space Odyssey.” The plot boils down to one big, cosmic middle finger reminding you that you’re just a cog in a universe that’s essentially a galactic screensaver. But who cares about the story when there are literally quintillions of procedurally generated planets to explore? Sure, a lot of it doesn’t make logical sense, but knowing it’s a simulation, you can suspend your disbelief and just have fun.

The real star of the show is the recent addition of Expeditions, which, in a rare twist for recent video games, actually gives me a reason to keep playing. After the initial grind to get off the first planet, stock up on supplies, and make your ship less of a death trap, the game hands you the keys to the Space Anomaly. Essentially, this is the place where the story officially stops mattering.

The game’s supposed “end goal” is reaching the center of the galaxy. But once you get there, surprise! You’re not done; you’re just dropped into yet another galaxy. It’s like hitting “New Game+” but without the satisfaction of actually finishing anything. Then, all your shiny stuff is broken and you have to spend time fixing it. Honestly, though, the story is something worth suffering through exactly once — but after that, it’s just a distraction from the good stuff.

The real fun lies in the in-game missions and Expeditions, which reward you with all sorts of goodies that make slogging through space actually feel worth it. You can spend hours just running around scanning new minerals, plants, and animals; basically, it’s a glorified intergalactic hiking simulator you can play in your pajamas. If you really can’t be bothering by the story, there’s Creative Mode, which lets you skip all the existential dread and just do whatever the hell you want. It’s a universe where you make the rules

But if you really want the game to kick your ass, there is Survival Mode. In this case, the game goes from “relaxing space exploration” to “why am I doing this to myself?” It doesn’t just make things difficult; it feels like the universe itself is conspiring against you. If you’re a masochist who enjoys unfair challenges, be my guest. But don’t say I didn’t warn you. There’s also permadeath, which literally deletes your save when you die. If you want to try out racing to the center of the galaxy on permadeath to get your Xbox Live achievement, be my guest, but that’s not for me.

Overall, No Man’s Sky has somehow pulled off the impossible: it’s gone from being a gaming community punchline to one of the best games on Xbox Game Pass as of September 2024. I’m hooked. So, as long as they keep pumping out expeditions, I’m sticking around. If it ever leaves Game Pass? Well, it’s a game I’d actually pay to keep—which in a world where the whole gaming industry has become a shameless money grab, is definitely worth something.

~ Amelia Desertsong