I can’t take another let down from a video game that I love. Not that I’m going to give up on gaming, or anything like, that but this is seriously two big hits from two major games that I love in less than a year. Although, what Hello Games has done is nothing in comparison to the neglect and mistreatment the gaming community has suffered at the hands of RockStar Games, but that’s a topic for another article.
I have to admit that I fell into a false sense of security with the consistent positive updates that Hello Games has released for No Mans Sky, especially in the last year. I didn’t think this level of hurt could be caused by Hello Games. I was so hurt in fact, it took me a couple of weeks even to re-load the game again, and even another week or so to bring myself to play no man’s sky again. Hence the bit of lag on this review, however, the patch was plagued with bugs which needed immediate attention so, this article is just in time, in my opinion, with the massive update that No Man’s Sky Waypoint 4.0 is.
The 4.0 waypoint update is a big endeavor to overhaul a game that has organically grown over the last few years into what was a nearly perfect game. I have written several times about how amazing the game play experience in NMS has been. I even recently bribed my best friend into buying a copy so we could traverse the universe together. I guess, from his point of view, a overhaul like 4.0 to make the gameplay more user friendly to new players who might get overwhelmed with the amount of content that is available, as a good thing. I spent a good amount of time coaching and helping my bestie get accustomed to the gameplay , spent a lot of time explaining the “how” and “why” of things, and even heard him say a few times that this game was massive and would be really overwhelming if it wasn’t for my help.
4.0 was released the same day that NMS was made available on the Nintendo switch. Having played other games on a Nintendo switch and having experienced NMS in both 2D and VR environments I can’t say that this is one of those games that makes sense as a port to such a small and seemingly limited console. The world environments and creatures are so detailed and immersive that I can’t see the same experience transferring over well to the switch. So, hello games broke my No Mans Sky In order to lure the last bit of consumers to the market or they wanted make sure that all gamers, regardless of their platform, are experiencing the phenomenon that is NMS. Whatever the motivation, we can’t stop the tide and we have what we have.
What’s new in NMS 4.0 Waypoint?
Custom Game Modes:
Now players can customize their entire NMS experience including survival, crafting, and combat settings. So if players want to have infinite sprint or no space combat, they can change those settings.
Some more custom game option are:
- Life support and hazard protection management
- Amount of yield from mining
- Scanner recharge speed
- Damage taken from combat or environment
- Fuel consumption
- All recipes
- How large items can stack
- Ground combat frequency or none
- Hostility of creatures
Dynamic Difficulty:
If players don’t want to start a new game but have been having a hard time with the current settings of their game, they can adjust these settings to take part in survival challenges. Players can change back and forth anytime!
AutoSave:
Prior to 4.0 players had to manually save their game progress or go into their ship and get out to initiate an autosave. Now NMS auto saves every 2 min
Trade Rocket:
Players can summon a trade rocket and fire off any unwanted items to the local trade vendors.
Drop Pods:
Drop pods will generate a marker and mission guide to help players get back to the pod if they have to leave to gather materials. Players can now locate drop pods by using “EXOsuit upgrade charts” instead of feeding data into the signal booster.
Catalogue:
The catalogue has been visually streamlined with new item descriptions and graphics. Players can now piece together stories in the “Collected Knowledge” section. Historical fragments, alien lore, and story choices will unfold and uncover secrets hidden throughout the universe. The guide and catalogue page has been reorganized for clarity and ease of use.
Inventory:
The entire system has been visually overhauled. Now players can see their technology and cargo at once. Players need to scroll down to see all their items or they can use the new inventory filters on the left. Technology modules that were stored in the main inventory are useless and can not be used as before. Storage has been increased across all inventories including ships and freighters.
Crafting:
Now players can see the steps for crafting complex items laid out in a visual tree. Now players can see what components they have or are needed. Any recipes that the players have used will also be stored for later reference.
Relaxed game mode:
For the players who want a more laid back and casual game experience there is the new “Relaxed Mode”. This mode has all the gameplay with reduced danger and less grind.
Ship:
Ship inventories have been overhauled. Now, technology modules can only be used in technology slots, so the modules that players had in their cargo that would have stacked to give a boost are now unnecessary. Players can now place the main component in a supercharged slot which gives an additional boost to the 3 modules that are placed around it.
The Space Anomaly
The main hub of NMS, the Space Anomaly, has been completely updated with new lighting and visual effects to give an even more dynamic space experience.
The Nintendo Switch.
The portable version of NMS is enhanced with responsive touch controls and can be played in either handheld mode or TV mode.
Visual effects and Upgrades:
The Atlas, Holograms, teleporters, tractor beams, asteroids, knowledge stones, ship exhausts, beacons, medals, and ancient alien structures have all been visually overhauled and effects improved.
Quality of life:
Scanning with the visor has been sped up. Jet pack movement upgrades are more powerful Waypoints are highlighted with an icon in the analysis visor. Traveller graves give memory fragments offering technology upgrades.
Save renaming:
Saves can now be renamed and feature the saves location in game.
Hello Games has to me in the past had an incredible reputation for sharing and caring about its game base and community. I often saw improvements made to the game based on player requests. Given their history, I’m going to go with the latter and say that Hello Games, for the time being, has ruined NMS for older players in order to bring on a new player base. I say for now, because again, I’m putting faith into a game developer that has shown that it cares about what it’s players think. Hello games will fix this…I hope. But just in case, the update isn’t as game breaking as I’m making it out to be…it’s just tragically sad that they took away hard earned time from players who took a lot of time to Expand their inventory and improve their EXOsuit with little compensation or warning. So far I’ve had to spend about 10 million in credits to expand my EXOsuit inventory with a lot more slots to unlock still. Players who have been playing as long as I have should have nearly a billion if not more in credits so it’s more of a hassle then anything. The game is still fun and enjoyable.
See you in space!
