‘No Man’s Sky’ Trailers: ‘Guides To The Galaxy’ Focus On Exploration, Combat, Trading, And Survival

As the release date for No Man’s Sky draws near, Hello Games has decided to release four new trailers for the game. Collectively, the trailers are titled “Guides To The Galaxy.” Each trailer is an exposé on one of the four core mechanics of the game; exploration, combat, trading, and survival.

The word “guides” is somewhat misleading since the trailers are basically expositions on the game’s different elements. The short videos show what it looks like to explore, fight, trade, and survive in No Man’s Sky.

Last week, developers released the “Explore” video.

With 18 quintillion planets, players will have no lack of exploration at hand. Inquisitr reported that No Man’s Sky is so vast that the developers estimate that 99.9 percent of the planets will remain undiscovered. Each world is unique and contains its own ecosystem with different fauna, flora, minerals, and resources than other planets. There are also giant monoliths scattered across the galaxy that reveal the lore in the game. Discovering the structures created by an unknown race tells a bit about the No Man’s Sky universe.

As players explore their separate worlds, they can record and log new discoveries to a central database called the Atlas. Players that explore and discover new species of animal and plant life can record it to the Atlas, plus they also get to name their discoveries. However, the Atlas is more than just a repository of knowledge.

The Atlas has another mysterious role that it plays in the game. Hello Games has been tight-lipped about what this role might be. The No Man’s Sky Wiki speculates that the Atlas resides at the center of the galaxy. It is believed that part of the game’s progression is for players to make their way to the Atlas. However, developers maintain that the game is meant to be played in any way that a player wants.

This week’s No Man’s Sky “Guides To The Galaxy” is the “Fight” video.

Combat in the game can occur both on planets and in space.

Planet based players may encounter hostile creatures and even machines. The video shows a few different-looking rifles, but it remains to be seen what other kinds of weapons can be found or crafted in the game. Crafting does play a role in the game, so building various types of weaponry makes sense. Comparing the rifles in the video, one can see that weapon crafting will be modular. The two on the left share the same ammo readout, while the two on the right share the same circular component on the side. Gun crafting will be a mix-and-match affair.

No Man’s Sky ground combat also has something akin to a justice system. If a player commits too many negative actions, such as killing innocent creatures, flying drone-like robots and other mechs will appear and try to shoot the player. According to Polygon, these robots are called Sentinels and provide the game’s primary form of conflict. As a renegade, one has to either fight or escape from the machines, which can be challenging since the Sentinels are quite persistent.

Ground combat seems to be limited exclusively to on-foot battles. Whether one can use his or her spacecraft to battle on the planet’s surface remains unclear. Rest assured that on day one, more than a few people will try mowing down land creatures and Sentinels with their crafts if it is possible.

In space, there are traders, raiders, and space stations that can be battled and plundered. It is unknown if the same justice system exists in space, but presumably, indiscriminately destroying trading ships is going to bring hostile attention in some form, whether from fighters dedicated to protecting trade or some other type of law enforcement. Hostile actions never go unchallenged.

The “Fight” trailer shows dogfight type combat, as well as large-scale sieges on capital ships. The real question is, who will be the enemy in No Man’s Sky? Obviously, there are going to be AI units that players must fight against, but will there be much player-versus-player (PVP) battle? With a universe that is so massive in comparison with the population that will be playing in it, it seems that encounters with other human players in any given region of space would be rare. However, players are allowed to share location coordinates. So what may happen is groups of players seeking PVP action may organize events in specific areas. It will be interesting to see how this element of the game plays out.

Next week’s No Man’s Sky “Guide To The Galaxy” will be the “Trade” video, followed by the “Survive” video a week later, which puts us right up to the title’s release date of August 9, 2016. Check back in two weeks for coverage of the second half of the No Man’s Sky “Guides To The Galaxy” series.

[Image via Sony]