'No Man's Sky' gives you a whole galaxy to explore in June
Let's be clear about that headline: It's a whole galaxy. That's an estimated 18 quintillion planets. (One quintillion = a billion billions.)
Completists, this is your worst nightmare. You flat-out won't be able to see or explore everything.
You can certainly try, though. Hello Games has confirmed that No Man's Sky comes to PC (via GOG and Steam) and PlayStation 4 on June 21.
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Think of the game as an evolution of Minecraft, with less focus on building and more on exploration and discovery. You have a ship, a star map and no rules or paths to follow.
The huge game keeps its file size in check by generating each new planet randomly as it's discovered. Hello developed a math-heavy random number generator that not only creates the planets, but also covers them with mountains, rivers, forests, caves, alien life and more.
There's a general goal of pushing closer and closer to the center of the galaxy, where both the dangers and the chances of running into intelligent life increase. Players also get to forge their own path across the spaceways, with multiple paths for getting better stuff that, in turn, enables you to explore deeper.
There's still a lot we don't know about No Man's Sky -- meaning you may want to hold off on pre-ordering for now -- but what we've seen so far looks promising, at least.
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Topics Gaming
Adam Rosenberg is a Senior Games Reporter for Mashable, where he plays all the games. Every single one. From AAA blockbusters to indie darlings to mobile favorites and browser-based oddities, he consumes as much as he can, whenever he can.Adam brings more than a decade of experience working in the space to the Mashable Games team. He previously headed up all games coverage at Digital Trends, and prior to that was a long-time, full-time freelancer, writing for a diverse lineup of outlets that includes Rolling Stone, MTV, G4, Joystiq, IGN, Official Xbox Magazine, EGM, 1UP, UGO and others.Born and raised in the beautiful suburbs of New York, Adam has spent his life in and around the city. He's a New York University graduate with a double major in Journalism and Cinema Studios. He's also a certified audio engineer. Currently, Adam resides in Crown Heights with his dog and his partner's two cats. He's a lover of fine food, adorable animals, video games, all things geeky and shiny gadgets.
