No Man's Sky isn't even four months old, but that fact can get lost in the dust and debris of its post-launch difficulties. The embattled Hello Games has been nose-to-the-grindstone, however, putting out patch after patch focused on customer service issues.
But this focus on customer service issues changed on Black Friday, November 25, when Hello Games detailed the first major content addition since launch. They're calling it the Foundation Update, as it adds the foundation for base building, "and also because this is putting in place a foundation for things to come," said Hello Games in a news post on its official site.
Base building has always been a high priority. That and piloting capital ships. But now, with the game reaching version 1.09, and with weeks upon weeks of fixes under its belt, base building is finally becoming a thing. More importantly, it looks as though No Man's Sky can start pulling itself out of the weeds.
"The discussion around No Man’s Sky since release has been intense and dramatic," Hello Games stated in a rather understated fashion. "We have been quiet, but we are listening and focusing on improving the game that our team loves and feels so passionately about."
You can see the roller coaster ride No Man's Sky has been on, simply by glancing at its Steam page. The sci-fi survival adventure game goes from earning 50+ "most anticipated" and E3 2014 awards to...well, to limping away with a 61 Metacritic and 80,000 ultimately "Mostly Negative" and "Overwhelmingly Negative" Steam reviews.
No matter what side of the fence you fall on, it's been a story of heartbreak. Whether you're a customer that's felt cheated, a fan that's felt lied to, or a player that's felt altogether underwhelmed, the fact that No Man's Sky is now an industry cautionary tale has been nothing but heartache for the game's champions and detractors alike.
But this Foundation Update is a ray of hope. A bright, shining ray of hope amidst not only four months of the game's existence, but for years of pre-game excitement.
It's easy to forget that No Man's Sky is only four months old. Hello Games had a disastrous launch, at least from a public relations perspective. But I feel good just knowing that there's a road map. That there's a plan to get Hello Games on the up and up. That perhaps No Man's Sky might one day become the game it always knew it could become.
Gaming Nexus gave No Man's Sky a 7 out of 10. It is "an ironically small game" that has a "big, beating heart at its center." I think they can pull this one out of cardiac arrest. I really think they can do it. Here's to the nine-man team at Hello Games keeping their head up, and that they continue to believe in this game that they all obviously love to death.
FOUNDATION UPDATE INCOMING
Hello Games | November 25, 2016
Hello,
This week Hello Games will be releasing an update to No Man’s Sky. We’re calling it The Foundation Update, because we have added the foundations of base building, and also because this is putting in place a foundation for things to come.
Detailed patch notes will follow, and release will be soon.
Coming from five years of intense development, immediately after No Man’s Sky released the team spent six weeks updating the game with 7 patches across both platforms (the last of these was 1.09 on Sept 24th which you can read about here http://www.no-mans-sky.com/log/). These fixed many of the most common or critical bugs and issues post-release.
In the nine weeks since then our small team has been hard at work on development, testing and certification for the Foundation Update. It won’t be our biggest update, but it is the start of something.
The discussion around No Man’s Sky since release has been intense and dramatic. We have been quiet, but we are listening and focusing on improving the game that our team loves and feels so passionately about.
Positive or negative feedback, you have been heard and that will truly help to make this a better game for everyone.
This update will be the first small step in a longer journey. We hope you can join us.
Thank you,
Hello Games
