Few games have ever been subjected to the kind of hype that No Man’s Sky has been ever since its first reveal all those years ago. The game’s fundamental premise, which seems to be about bringing the infinite reaches of space and the cosmos to our TV screens, is inherently appealing, and fires our collective imaginations like nothing else.
Unfortunately, it’s also a bit unfair for No Man’s Sky, which it must be remembered is being developed by a small indie development outfit of about a dozen people at most, to be made the subject of so much anticipation. To be fair, the developers haven’t shied away from talking the game up at every chance that they got- but it is sounding, more and more, like that might have been a bad idea.
I’m not even going to get into leaked copies and early impressions of the game, and whether or not they are positive enough. That’s not the point here. The point is, No Man’s Sky is one of the most insanely hyped games of all time. It is so hyped that it could be veritably perfect and probably still not live up to the hype, simply because of the expectations surrounding it. And given that this will ultimately not be a perfect game, and be subject to its own limitations, such as they are, it will be widely viewed as having been a disappointment- and that is unfair, in the end.
There is so much hype for the game that there is almost nothing it can do at this point to be generally perceived as having lived up to the hype. This is not a reflection on how great (or not) No Man’s Sky will be in the end- I am hugely excited for it, and entirely confident that I will enjoy it, if nothing else. But the simple fact of the matter is, the more hype that you have for the game, the more you will feel let down by the time it launches, no matter how good it is. If you can keep your hype for the game to at least a reasonable degree, then you should be able to enjoy the game for what it is.
Remember, it is only going to be a video game- probably a very good video game, hopefully, but just a video game nonetheless. Keep that in mind, and keep some perspective. And enjoy exploring the infinite cosmos.
