No Man's Sky (5/5)

The more you play the game and soak in the infinite emptiness of the massive universe, you'll feel smaller and smaller with each star system you explore. You may encounter a single alien or two at an outpost or on an isolated space station, but the language barrier and the bizarre nature of the alien somehow makes you feel even lonelier--there's not a human to be found, nor anyone that speaks your language. Sometimes, the aliens want something from you and you will have several choices for your response. Once, an alien looked angry and concerned as he pointed at my multitool/boltcaster and said something unintelligible in his alien tongue. I was worried that he didn't want me to have my weapons on the space station, so I picked the choice that offered it to him—I thought he was some kind of security guard and he was going to hold it for me. He seemed very satisfied with my response, and handed me his lower-grade multitool, which didn't even have the boltcaster weapon function yet. I couldn't get mine back (he wouldn't talk with me again), so I was stuck with his piece of junk. Choosing wisely in “conversation” will often earn a blueprint for a new piece of technology that will help you on your journey—clearly, I chose poorly.

You can sell and buy items with aliens that occasionally land at outposts, and if you have enough money (and I mean a LOT of money), you can buy their ship, which might have better technology and more slots available for expansion. In space, you may bump into hostiles, so don't neglect to keep your shielding upgraded and your photon cannons primed. Earning money is done by selling the resources you've gathered, or by adding your discoveries to the galactic network. You can even name the planets, locations, vegetation, and lifeforms you've discovered, and someone else online might come across them, though the chances in such a vast universe are extremely low that anyone will ever find the Clowndog, Frankenlope, Hannumweed, or Spideetle I named (if you do, watch out for those Spideetles, they're very nasty!) No Man's Sky is a different approach to gaming, but for me, it has been quite an experience so far. I'm not sure I'll make it to the center of the universe, but each time I play, I find that I lose myself in the experience and the hours easily slip by. I'm not sure if I'm playing because of my discoveries when exploring, the desire to achieve the next upgrade, or the hope of finding purpose in an enormous universe that makes me and all that I do feel very, very insignificant.

This guy took my multi-tool / boltcaster!

Watch out for the Spideetles!

Uhh, yeah, I don't know what that stuff is, but if you touch it, it moves away slowly on "thousands of tiny cilia." Yuck!

Thankfully, these guys are harmless, though they sure don't look it!
Is it just me, or do they kind of remind you of the Solar Echoes Chiraktis?
Very mantis-like.