Well, we’re still seeing new ideas in games today, but what’s perhaps more common are promising ideas that end up flopping. Whether it’s overpromising, poor execution, or trends chasing monetization, these games prove that a great idea alone isn’t enough.

Here are 15 revolutionary gaming concepts that sounded incredible on paper but then folded like a deck of cards with its execution.

Exploring A Full-Sized Galaxy – Starfield

Everything that Todd Howard presented to us about the then-upcoming open-galaxy Bethesda RPG seemed too good to be true. Skyrim in space was enough to get most of us in pre-order lines, but the promises went much further than that. There’s the hundreds of explorable solar systems with thousands of planets, sure, but the customizable space ship and ability to fly your ship and recruit crew members excited me the most. Unfortunately, when the game released, it was apparent that Todd’s promises really were too good to be true. There were practically no memorable characters, nearly every planet was devoid of interesting content, and ship navigation was frustrating and under-utilized. The game sold well enough due to initial hype, but a 97% player drop-off after six months and the broader damage to Bethesda’s reputation paint a clear picture of Starfield’s shortcomings..

Pirate Live Service – Skull and Bones

Just about everybody wanted a large open-seas pirate game where filled to the brim with tense ship battles and sea shanties, but the developer somehow managed to screw that up completely. The biggest failing with Skull and Bones was that it was a $70 title with a predatory live service model tacked on top of that. You had to grind for what seemed like hundreds of hours obtaining the ‘pieces of eight’ just to upgrade your hard-sought pirate ship equipment. The whole experience was just so bogged down in incremental monetization that even the few fans that were left had a hard time sticking with it for long. So much for the first ever AAAA game.

Hunters vs Hunted Multiplayer – Evolve

I wasn’t exactly the biggest Left 4 Dead fan in the world and even I was pretty excited about Evolve in the 2010s. Evolve pitted a group of hunters against a horrific Godzilla-like human-controlled opponent, differentiating Valve’s team-based shooter with an asynchronized matchup. The big distinction with Evolve is the colossal prey is just one human-controlled creature, resulting in a lopsided 4 versus 1 scenario. Matches were novel and hilariously fun … for the first couple hours. Running around as a hulking horror monster in search of four helpless little humans makes it hard to frown. But the novelty wore off pretty quick. The balance issues, very thin post-game offerings, and hefty price tag for what was essentially a repetitive game loop contributed to Evolve devolving to the husk it is today.

Open World Parkour – Forspoken

I remember being pretty hyped for Forspoken right before its demo released. It was made by the Final Fantasy XV studio using their in-house engine, all of which I’d been a big fan of. And the open-world parkouring just looked absolutely mesmerizing to top it off. Well, after playing the demo, I found myself frankly appalled. The best thing I can say about Forspoken is that it looks nice and has a serviceable soundtrack. The dialogue is perhaps the biggest culprit behind it’s failure, but the repetitive enemy encounters and throwaway isekai story don’t help sell the game either.

Your Choices (Don’t) Change Everything – Mass Effect 3

A lot of gamers want a good choice-driven narrative and plenty of games have attempted it over the years. Yet, carrying over those choices for a meaningful endgame remains an elusive accomplishment for many titles. Mass Effect 3 is perhaps the best example of this. Mass Effect 2 was noteworthy for carrying over key decisions made from the first game and branching those off into even more scenarios into the third game. Yet, Mass Effect 3 ended on a whimper with originally only three endings. The worst part about the narrow endgame funnel was just how paper-thin the different endings were. It’s like all the player-driven choices throughout the three games came to the same uninspired conclusion, albeit with a different color tacked on.

Mandatory Crafting – Metal Gear Survive, Fallout 4

I’m all for looting abandoned houses in open-world games, especially when paired with a robust crafting system. Yet, some games rely a bit too much on crafting to advance the main story. In the case of Fallout 4, crafting is absolutely essential no matter what you plan on doing in the game. The game’s big draw, other than being another Fallout, was its settlement creation system. Yet, to properly build up your settlement, you had to grind for loot and craft like crazy. And then on the extreme spectrum, you have Metal Gear Survive, which made crafting the core gameplay loop, and by extension, the only loop the game had to offer. Crafting is a fun aspect of gameplay, but there’s such a thing as too much of it, as is the case with these two games.

Detective Vision – Batman: Arkham Series, The Last of Us Part 1

Batman: Arkham Asylum made many of us fall in love with detective vision gameplay. Turning on the infrared goggles and snooping the environment for clues just added so much to the setting and gameplay. But then, it seemed like every other game out there started implementing it, and the novelty didn’t quite stick. The Witcher 3 had Geralt investigating hundreds of trails using his witcher sense, but fans generally like it there because of his fun banter. But the later Arkham games and The Last of Us Part 1 tended to overuse detective vision to the point where it slowed down not just the gameplay but story as well.

Procedural “Infinite Story” Generation – No Man’s Sky Launch, Daggerfall

I remember how skeptical a majority of gamers were when Sean Murray talked up his infinite galaxy filled with procedural generation in No Man’s Sky. The game released and, well, a majority of gamers felt correct in their initial skepticism. No Man Sky’s launch lacked the touted multiplayer component that it now enjoys, but it also felt barren and void of meaningful content, something procedural generation often struggles with. An earlier example of empty fields of infinite procedural generated content was Bethesda’s Daggerfall. Daggerfall boasts a staggering 62,000 to 80,000 square miles of traversable land with well over 10,000 towns. It was simply the largest game at the time of release, dwarfing most modern open-worlds today. Yet, the dungeon design was … well, absent. And the actual content within such mammoth maps were repetitive and shallow, even if other systems were novel and fun at the time.

Memory Editing — Remember Me

On paper, Remember Me’s mix of third-person action combat, platforming, and puzzles in the form of Memory Remixing should’ve been the beginning of a new hit franchise. DontNod had the budget and concept for a longlasting series and rewriting people’s past to influence an outcome in the plot was the big selling point. And you don’t just rewrite memories in cutscenes, you actively re-arrange objects called glitches in the subject’s mind like a puzzle. It’s a truly terrifying ability, and one that would’ve rivaled the Animus from Assassin’s Creed if it was used more fully in the game. In the end, Remember Me was known for its subpar combat encounters and underbaked story. If only Remember Me could’ve remembered the Memory Remix mechanic enough for gamers to remember it.

Possess Enemies On-the-Fly — Mindjack

Who remembers the Japanese cover shooter game from the early 2010s, Mindjack? Yeah, probably not many. Besides the generic third-person shooting mechanics and forgettable sci-fi story, it had an innovative mind-hacking mechanic thrown into the mix. Being able to possess enemies and convert them to your side on-the-fly sounds pretty dang fun, until you realize the AI is awful in Mindjack. The repetitive level design and bland missions didn’t help the promising mind-jacking concept either.

Open-World Live Service Campaign — Anthem

Bioware is still chugging along today even after lukewarm releases like Dragon Age The Veilguard and Mass Effect Andromeda, but Anthem was the signal that the  studio just wasn’t the same anymore. Despite building a reputation for rich storytelling and immersive character interactions, EA made Bioware go the live service multiplayer route with Anthem. That decision didn’t go well with longtime fans or newcomers. The launch was plagued by glitches, bugs, and crashes galore. And the long-term looter-shooter loop didn’t do enough to keep players around. This is alll despite a genuinely fun jetpack system that allowed players to fly around with their mechanized soldier through the environment with ease. It’s a fun game to fly around in, but was a chore to actually do anything else.

Superhero Looter-Brawler – Marvel’s Avengers

Marvel’s Avengers was another game that cashed in on the live service looter band-wagon, with the advantage of having the Marvel IP tied to it. There was actually quite a bit of hype building up for Crystal Dynamics’ huge new AAA superhero game. It came out during a time of Avengers high and within a game industry that hadn’t capitalized on it yet. Needless to say, many gamers desperately wanted to pick their favorite Avenger and fight some baddies in a high quality action game. But the aggressive repetition within the mission design and lack of a post-game severely hindered what was supposed to be an ever-evolving game. If you’re going to make a game with the kind of structure of Marvel’s Avengers, at least build it around a compelling story and interesting gameplay.

AAA Episodic Storytelling – Telltale Games

Where’s Telltale Games been, by the way? Episodic interactive game dramas just aren’t the same since Telltale’s reign in the 2010s. Telltale’s The Walking Dead fomented a revolution in the episodic potential for smaller-scale video games. But it seems that ever since Telltale’s Game of Thrones, the formula just hasn’t seen the same kind of success. The stagnant cell-shaded art style contributed to gamers just getting tired of Telltale games, but the realization that choices were largely illusory or at least highly bottlenecked also likely played a role in the genre’s decline.

Time-Manipulation Shooter — TimeShift

Everyone loves a good bullet-time Matrix moment in movies or TV, especially so when we get to control it. TimeShift leaned into the slow-motion cool factor and then cranked it up a notch with full control over time itself. Centering a first-person shooter on time manipulation abilities just seems limitless in its potential. But despite the ability to freeze time in the middle of firefights, the game just felt lackluster to play. Like Anthem, the game had one cool thing going for it: the time-bending abilities, with nothing else to compliment that. The story, while told within a cool dieselpunk setting, was awkwardly paced and surrounded by forgettable characters. And the enemies were bullet-sponges without much thought put into their encounter design. We all love a good time-bending mechanic, but TimeShift just didn’t make a good game around it.

Cloud-Powered, Fully Destructible Cities — Crackdown 3

Gamers were surprisingly delighted by the chaotic sandbox that Crackdown 2 provided and hyped up the next game beyond what it was capable to deliver. The third game executed on the sandbox action hero concept about as well as MindEye did the GTA formula (okay, maybe not quite that bad). Where the second Crackdown delivered on laughs and mindless fun, the third drilled repetitive urban landscapes and bland mission design into our tired hands. Even the advertised cloud-powered destructible environments didn’t make the final cut into the game, except for the now-dead multiplayer mode that nobody played. Crackdown 3 failed to iterate or improve on the chaotic sandbox formula that fans loved about the second one, so much so that even Terry Crews couldn’t save it.

Many of these games are so addictive and well-designed, you’re probably going to be thinking about them when you’re not playing them. Let’s get started!

1. Where Winds Meet

This wuxia-based RPG is simply unmatched when it comes to the number of activities it offers you, the quality of each one, and the variety you can find. It’s an open world where exploration without having a specific destination in mind is the best possible way to experience it, with a lot of great side content baked into the game aside from a compelling main campaign.

With online multiplayer and MMO elements integrated into the gameplay loop, and combat and gear systems that are great for creating unique PvP characters, there’s just so much to do in this game, and so much more to come with subsequent updates, that hitting triple figures on your playtime is almost an inevitability.

2. EA Sports FC 26

The football simulator that’s been around forever continues to be a viable option for a game that has you coming back to it every chance you get, for a very long time after you first boot it up. With a very detailed Career mode, regular online events, the option to pit your team against your friend, or perhaps have a buddy join your team instead, there’s a lot to experience.

The gameplay on offer is also quite solid, with a lot of realism baked into the experience to make you feel like you’re on the pitch and not staring at it through a screen. However, its systems and some of its challenges are going to require that you literally put your best foot forward on the pitch. If you decide to dive into this one, the game is on and is going to stay that way for a while.

3. Fortnite

Once again, there’s so much to do in Fortnite, which is more of a platform than a game at this point. With so many modes on offer, regular content being added into the game, social features that make it a blast when it’s enjoyed in company, and a PvP Battle Royale mode that has become quite popular in its own right, this one’s definitely a game where 200 hours might go by before you even notice.

Dive in and you’re going to find a lot of freedom for self-expression, and a lot of fun to be had on the islands. Just be careful not to put too much of a strain on your wallet, as those outfits and goodies can be very tempting indeed.

4. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim + Expansions

Step into the shoes of the Dragonborn and begin your journey into Skyrim, and you’re probably not going to look at another video game until you’ve explored every corner of its sprawling map. Anything can happen along the road to your next point of interest, and with some of the finest RPG mechanics to grace the genre, you’re going to spend a lot of time tinkering with your build.

This is an RPG that has more than earned its popularity and ranks high among modern gaming’s finest for a reason. It’s also smart to dive in now and perhaps brush up on the story ahead of the sequel that’s eventually coming our way. The expansions are worth a mention, and can add a significant amount of hours to your total playtime. Every second of them is going to be worth it, though.

5. GTA Online

A thriving community of players, a massive map to explore in San Andreas, and interesting activities to engage with. GTA Online was kind of a no-brainer for this list. With heists to plan and execute, quests to carry out for some of the main story’s characters, and a reputation to build for your silent protagonist, this one’s going to have you avoiding plans and spending your weekends indoors for a while.

It’s GTA at its finest, and if the delay to GTA VI has had you feeling down, perhaps this one can act as a suitable placebo until the real thing gets here.

6. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt + Story Expansions

Geralt’s search for Ciri, and all the shenanigans he can get up to in the process, continues to be among the best open-world games we’ve played despite it being a decade old at this point. CDPR’s ability to hide a frankly overwhelming amount of secrets across three vast maps, and a whole lot of quality side content to distract the Witcher from looking for his adoptive daughter, is nothing short of a marvel.

The story expansions are a whole other ball game, bringing some very satisfying arcs full of possibilities to change the narrative’s direction, along with excellent new monsters to hunt and more secrets and lore to uncover. You might not be able to get enough of this one, if we’re being honest.

7. Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain

The first open-world Metal Gear Solid is a great option for those of you who like a game that takes a while to outstay its welcome. Big Boss’s adventures continue in a main campaign that works very well as a bridge between previous entries, while side ops, Metal Gear Online, and the Forward Operating Base systems are all reasons for this one to have you enjoying many entertaining hours of espionage and skullduggery.

Indeed, a significant part of your playtime is going to be planning the best possible route to your objectives without your enemies being none the wiser to your presence. This is a hunt that takes a satisfyingly long time and is definitely worth considering.

8. Destiny 2

This award-winning online FPS title from Bungie has a staggering amount of content for you to take on in its story-based PvE mode, while your multiplayer options range from cooperative three-player missions to PvP battles. There’s a lot to take in, both in terms of the game’s lore and the amount of gear and potential build options you can find.

With a lot of content to get through, and a lot of fun to be had as you dive into all it has to offer, Destiny 2 is a dream come true if you’re an FPS player who wants a game that can take over their holidays.

9. Elden Ring + Shadow of the Erdtree

FromSoftware’s ambitious open-world and the Tarnished’s incredible journey is nothing short of a masterpiece. The Lands Between are full of places to explore, mysteries to uncover, NPCs with haunting stories, and a lot of weapons, armor, gear, and loot to plunder as you try to become Queen Marika’s consort and impose your will on the world.

It’s easy to forget about all that as you ride your horse through the Lands Between, and that feeling only intensifies when you finally make your way to the Land of Shadow in the game’s DLC. Tracing the steps of Miquella is an adventure worth taking on, and coupled with the base game, this one’s a behemoth.

10. Monster Hunter: World + Expansions

Taking on the role of a representative of the Research Commission and exploring every region and zone of the New World was a fun and engaging experience from start to finish. There are so many monsters to hunt, so much to discover, and a whole lot of activities to engage in at your camp and the main base.

Quests flow from one to another almost as smoothly as the water in some parts of the New World, and you’re going to be helping your fellow companions and NPCs while having tons of fun along the way. It helps that this is a game that’s both charming in its writing and enchanting on the visual front. You can’t go wrong with this one, and it’s going to have you getting very creative in your approach to each distinct monster you’re tasked with bringing down.

11. Dragon’s Dogma 2

This sequel was an excellent new addition to Dragon’s Dogma. It was a pleasure to step into the shoes of the Arisen once again, and each of the playable classes brought something interesting to the table. But it’s when you begin to dive deeper into the world’s mysteries and begin to discover more about it that this one’s true depth shows itself.

You’re going to want to place your teleporting stones quite carefully, as the rest of the world actually has you travelling across it, navigating set pathways via a travel system, while the world’s unpredictability can make those trips quite treacherous indeed. This is an experience that is both memorable and filled with so much content and so little hand-holding that you’re going to be obsessed with discovering more about the world and the people you meet within it.

12. Red Dead Redemption 2

Arthur Morgan is an obvious contender for a place on this list of massive games, and his adventures are so extensive that it can be hard to believe one man lived through them all. From kicking back with mini-games to exploring some truly bizarre stories that can come to you in multiple ways, this is a game that can have you walking and talking like a cowboy from the Wild West every chance you get.

It’s among the finest games in modern gaming, and its world is so full of clever little details to discover that hopping on your horse for a new day of exploring is going to take precedence over your leisure time for a very entertaining and lengthy block of time.

13. Assassin’s Creed Valhalla + Expansions

As the largest one in the franchise, Valhalla’s unique take on living your life as a noble Viking and uncovering the conspiracy across England, is a world worth getting lost in.

The game’s expansions do more to set up a lot of things, while coming with some brilliant new adventures for Eivor to pursue, complete with members of shadowy organizations to hunt down. It’s quite a tale, and a very large one full of fun things to do. Switching the cinematic camera on during a boat ride could have you spending more hours on this one than you’d like to admit.

14. No Man’s Sky

As one of modern gaming’s greatest comeback stories, this is a game that stands in its own class in terms of its shelf life. It’s an almost endless adventure, its narrative justifying multiple playthroughs in a way that makes total sense, while the completely random worlds that you get to explore and engage with are quite hard to leave once you start with them.

No Man’s Sky is a story about enjoying the journey, while also waiting eagerly to see what you’re going to find at its destination. It’s going to have you pushing past your bedtime with a smile on your face, and a sense of wonder compelling you to move forward and see just what you’re about to find.

15. Baldur’s Gate 3

With a stellar cast of actors bringing several NPCs to life, and an expertly narrated Dungeons and Dragons-based tale to have their settings intertwine with yours, Larian Studio’s banger continues to be a game that you can keep replaying, with astounding build variety and stories that never truly take place the same way when you play them.

There’s the Honour Mode, cross-platform modding support, co-op and online multiplayer, and a very dark take on the story to play through. Faerun is a great holiday destination, although the things you might find there can stay in the darkest corners of your mind rent-free.

16. Stardew Valley

We weren’t going to leave out one of the ultimate farming simulations from this one. Stardew Valley belongs here, with a playtime that doesn’t really end. You’re going to keep coming back to the farm that you grew from scratch, a town gradually building out of the effort you sink into, and the relationships with its many NPCs you build along the way.

No two days are the same out in this valley, and bringing in the online component is a great way to make this one as immersive as it can be, thanks to a thriving community of die-hard fans. You’re going to feel very welcome in this one, and you might choose to stay with it for a very long time to come.

17. Animal Crossing: New Horizons

This life sim always has a goal to reach, and things to do to get there. The Nook Miles system is its highlight, while the charming world and its uniquely retro art style make it stand out. Building out your presence in its world is an activity on its own, and you’re going to be quite obsessed with placing your buildings in a layout that’s to your liking, while getting them constructed has you constantly checking back into the game.

This is a game where you come to relax, and do that quite often, thanks to how entertaining it is to play, and how satisfying it is to stay with.

18. Gran Turismo 7

This PlayStation-exclusive racing sim is a great option for those of you who’d like to spend your time behind the wheel of a fast car on some of the world’s most iconic tracks. With PSVR2 support, incredible visuals, a very realistic translation of each car’s real-life track performance, and a lot of options to enjoy races at your disposal, you’re going to rack up a lot of miles on your ODO once you get started with this one.

The astounding visuals work very well with the game’s many systems that work well together to make your time on the track feel truly authentic, and push you to try taking those corners as well as you can. It’s time to let those engines loose and enjoy the results for hours on end.

19. Satisfactory

For a game carrying its title, this one is more than satisfactory, and can have you very immersed in building out your space base in your role as the Pioneer. Your factories are soon going to have you thinking about them while you’re away from your PC, and the potential for self-expression is almost humming with endless possibilities.

While its map is almost overwhelmingly large for most players, the ones who invest the time in hunting down as much to do as they can in this game are going to have a lot of fun building out their factories and playing their part in developing the corporation that put them there. Satisfactory is unique, visually distinct, well-executed, and simply fun to play, plain and simple.

20. Mass Effect Legendary Edition

This is the definitive way to enjoy a trilogy of legendary titles, bringing improved visuals and performance while also bringing in each title’s DLC and expansions into one title with a single character creator and the option to launch any of the three games from a unified menu.

If you’re familiar with the Mass Effect games, you already know that you’re going to be spending inordinate amounts of time with each one. You also know that their replay value is off the charts, and it can be easy to lose yourself in this trilogy’s expansive universe, where spending several hours making memories in it can become an entire holiday on its own.

That wraps up our list of the largest games you can get your hands on. We hope you have as much fun playing them as we did, and that the one you pick gives you many fond memories as you play it.

In the post, he noted that Hello Games had been continuing to work on Light No Fire quietly in the background while it continued the post-launch support for No Man’s Sky. However, he did note that the new game was being worked on by “another tiny team”, which means that, while progress is undoubtedly being made, Light No Fire is still likely quite some time away.

“In the background, another tiny team at Hello is continuing at pace on our next Labor of Love, Light No Fire, and we know a lot of you are keen to hear more,” wrote Murray. “For now, it suffices to say that I am really pleased with the progress we are making and I think it’s going to be something really special.”

In the rest of the post, Murray celebrated all of the updates that No Man’s Sky had gotten over the year, shouting out major ones like Worlds Part 2, Relics, Beacon, Voyagers, and Breach. He also wrote about the N7 Day’s Mass Effect celebration update that brought with it the Normandy SR1 to No Man’s Sky.

“No Man’s Sky has now had well over 30 major updates since it launched in 2016, and the ridiculously small development team continues to amaze me with their energy and ideas, and their commitment to support the game across so many formats,” wrote Murray.

“As we look towards our 10th anniversary year next year, they are showing no signs of slowing down. We will continue as long as they are enjoying creating and the community are enjoying what they are making. It truly is a labor of love for me and for them.”

Light No Fire, originally unveiled during The Game Awards 2023, hasn’t really seen much in the way of marketing aside from its initial announcement trailer. The title has been described as taking place on a planet the size of earth, albeit with a fantastical art style that allows for more lush and gorgeous environments, as well as a variety of strange creatures for players to encounter.

Much like No Man’s Sky, Light No Fire is also slated to make use of procedural generation, as well as allow for co-operative multiplayer where players can explore the world together. The trailer used to unveil the game also featured in-engine gameplay footage.

Light No Fire doesn’t yet have a release date, but the title is likely being developed for PC and consoles. For more details, here is everything we know about Light No Fire so far. While you’re at it, also check out what the studio said last year about how No Man’s Sky wasn’t “even close” to being finished.

First up is Cyberpunk 2077 developer CD Projekt RED. It retweeted its announcement from back in October 2020. “No more delays are happening” for the highly anticipated FPS/RPG, which, naturally, wasn’t the case. It’s all the more amusing given how Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick is confident about GTA 6’s new release date.

Then you have Sean Murray of No Man’s Sky fame, who simply wrote, “Every other publisher right now” with a montage of firefighters rushing through drills. And while humorous, it’s absolutely likely that other companies shift their major Fall 2026 releases to avoid GTA 6 as much as possible.

LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight developer TT Games said, “Looks like Batman needs to delay his trip to Miami.” Of course, you also have Devolver Digital, which is committed to releasing a game on the same date as Grand Theft Auto 6 in defiance of other publishers. “You can’t escape us. November 19, 2026, it is then.”

As for why a delay was announced so far out, Zelnick said it was for the sake of marketing, to “give consumers as much certainty as possible,” and, in case you missed it the first time, “We feel quite good about this date.”

Ghost of Yōtei

Everything about Sucker Punch’s sequel is a step up from Ghost of Tsushima. The exploration feels more organic as Ezo is brimming with interesting stories, Mythic Tales, and activities (with far fewer restrictions on where to go). Combat is more visceral than ever, with the different weapons mixing up the formula in fun ways. All in all, a fantastic sequel and a stellar open-world game in its own right, which brings us to…

]]> 629864 https://gamingbolt.com/no-mans-sky-is-getting-highest-peak-concurrent-players-on-pc-since-launch Wed, 03 Sep 2025 12:06:11 +0000 https://gamingbolt.com/?p=627195 No Man’s Sky has been seeing a major uptick in player numbers since the title got its Voyagers update just last week. Hello Games founder Sean Murray has taken to social media platform X to celebrate the game hitting new heights in terms of concurrent players, noting that the game is getting the highest number of players since it first launched.

“Highest number of players since launch,” wrote Murray on X, along with a screenshot indicating that 97,986 people were playing No Man’s Sky. While the screenshot doesn’t specify which date saw this rise in concurrent players, a quick look at SteamDB would indicate that the game had hit a peak of 98,285 concurrent players earlier this week.

Going by Steam’s official listings, No Man’s Sky is currently sitting at the number 17 spot of the most-played titles on PC, with more than 50,000 current players and a 24-hour peak of 78,259 players. The game also struck a major return to the top sellers list, sitting at number 10 in the list between August 26 and September 2. When taking revenue into account, No Man’s Sky currently sits in the 9th place of the top 100 selling games right now.

The spike in player figures can likely be attributed to the Voyagers update, which brought with it a host of new features, like allowing players to create their own Corvette-class starship from scratch. The update also gave players more customisation options, including the ability to change up their ship’s living quarters and hull, among other things.

Along with this, Voyagers brought with it the ability for players to fly their Corvette-class starship into space, and then manually exit the starship, allowing players to simply float in space. This new feature even extends as far as allowing players potentially to dive from a starship orbiting a planet right onto the planet’s surface through the atmosphere, provided the player has appropriate means to survive the landing.

A major addition to the game thanks to the ability of players getting to build their own Corvette-class starships from scratch is the new mission board. Using it, players can now register for a mission as an entire co-op crew, allowing them to get rewards based on the missions they might find and complete in the local system.

The Voyagers update also brought in some new behind-the-scenes technology to improve the game’s performance, including support for Nvidia’s DLSS 4 technology. Those playing the title through PlayStation VR2 can also make use of the PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution technology (PSSR) to get better image quality while maintaining high frame rates in their VR headset. The support for image upscaling technologies also extends to Intel’s XeSS 2.

No Man’s Sky is available on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch, and the Switch 2. The title was originally released all the way back in 2016, and at the time was met with a lukewarm critical reception. Despite this, and early complaints, Hello Games has continued to develop free updates for the game, making the No Man’s Sky of today essentially unrecognisable compared to the game’s state at launch.

No Man’s Sky

Hello Games’ No Man’s Sky might not have started life on the best foot forward, but it has quickly grown into one of the best space exploration games on the market over the course of many significant updates. No Man’s Sky features a huge open world filled with all sorts of planets to discover and things to do, and the VR edition adds another layer of immersion to it all – making it the definitive way to experience what it has to offer.

While scouring the universe, you can now happen upon ancient bones. By assembling them, you can recreate the creatures’ bodies with hundreds of unique parts to discover. Of course, you can sell these to Fossil Collectors, join the Galactic Palaeology Society, hunt down bone caches and more. Accessing the dig sites won’t be easy, though, as mysterious Guardians will rise up to stop you.

You may also encounter the risen bones of creatures and can indulge in new recipes which provide different benefits. Stone effigies also await to be discovered and there are even massive boneworms to battle.

Check out the patch notes below and full details here. No Man’s Sky is available for PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch and PC.

5.6 Patch Notes

Collect and Display Skeletons

• Planetary fossil beds now contain a vast array of specific bone formations.
• Each of these bones can be placed as a decorative base part, either individually or mounted on a display plinth.
• Larger display plinths allow a collection of bones to be reassembled into a complete skeleton, allowing the design and reassembly of ancient and extinct beings.
• Completed displays can be packaged into an easily transportable module, allowing them to be re-deployed in other locations, traded with other players, or sold on the galactic market.
• A new planetary dig-site building has been added, serving as a hub for interested fossil collectors.
• The icon for planetary fossils has been improved.
• A small tutorial mission has been added to guide new palaeontologists.
• A new palaeontology section has been added to the guide.

Fossil Exchange

• A fossil collector has been added to the Space Station.
• Surplus fossils can be exchanged with the fossil collector, allowing players to target specific skeleton components for their designs.
• The fossil collector will barter for items in their collection, allowing individual inventory items to be swapped.

Relics Expedition

• Expedition Eighteen, Relics, will begin shortly and run for approximately six weeks.
• Rewards include new posters, decals and titles; a living stone suit customization set; the unique Basilisk Crown staff; a mysterious skeletal companion; and the exclusive Living Stone jetpack.
• Stone Guardians
• Fossil beds are now watched over by a vigilant stone eye, ready to protect the bones from those who would exhume them.
• Disturbing the vigilant eye may yield valuable rewards, but comes at the cost of awakening the guardians.
• Two forms of stone guardian await—a huge living statue, and a whirling storm of re-animated rock.
• Huge guardian statues have been added to relic worlds.

Skeletal Lifeforms

• A new and highly rare skeletal lifeform has been added to some planets.
• Some planets are now home to the elusive titanic bone-worm…

Quality of Life and User Interface

• Planets in your current system can now be marked from the discovery page, adding a marker to the starship navigation systems.
• Added an accessibility option to increase the contrast in mission-critical UI panels.
• Fixed an issue that could cause the camera to move erratically back and forth while inside high-ceilinged rooms in player bases.
• Nearby NPCs that have specific unseen interactions will now be highlighted with a marker.
• Added a new water state for ocean worlds with significantly larger waves.
• Various volumetric and other atmospheric effects no longer play on planets without an atmosphere.
• Story details from the In Stellar Multitudes mission now appear in the Journey Records page in the catalogue.
• Reduced the number of corrupt drones that attack player settlements.
• The space station marker is now dynamically offset, preventing the marker from obscuring the station while at a distance.
• Fixed a number of minor text issues in some extractor UIs.
• Fixed a number of minor text and icon issues in shop interactions.
• Fixed an issue that caused companions that were set to use no accessories to have a random accessory assigned after re-summoning them.
• Fixed an issue that caused the starship to too-aggressively lock on to markers when engaging the pulse engine.
• An organic version of the Teleport Receiver has been added for use in living starships.
• Fixed an issue that caused the repair requirements for several living starship technologies to all be the same.
• Lingering on-screen display messages that report pulse drive errors will now clear as soon as a successful pulse drive engagement is detected.

Save System

• Significantly improved the compression used for saved games, improving filesizes and upload/download times for players in the cross-save beta.
• Created a section for cross-save settings within the general Options menu.
• Players in the cross-save beta are now alerted to situations where uploads are timing out, and can manually adjust how long the game will wait for a successful upload before detecting a timeout and cancelling.

Cooking

• New fossil-related cooking recipes have been added.
• Base storage container inventories are now accessible while cooking.
• Fixed an issue that prevented access to the nutrient processor’s internal storage while on a freighter or the Exo-Skiff.
• Fixed a number of issues while cooking the Exo-Skiff, including progress resetting or incorrect items appearing in various slots.
• Cronos’ grill on the Space Anomaly can now be used by several players at once.
• Fixed an issue that made it impossible to cook jellied eels.
• Abandoned Mode Improvements
• Multi-Tools found in abandoned mode are now always free, but start with damaged slots.
• Settlement-related missions will no longer start in abandoned mode.
• Abandoned space stations now have access to Exosuit, starship, and Multi-Tool upgrade stations.
• Additional salvage boxes have been added around abandoned space stations containing valuable upgrades and inventory expansion modules.
• Purple systems are now unlocked automatically in abandoned mode.
• In abandoned mode, crashed freighter containers and other buried caches can now contain additional valuable upgrades.

Optimization

• Introduced a number of optimizations to planetary prop rendering.
• Introduced an optimization to dynamic physics groups.
• Introduced a significant memory optimization for nav mesh generation.
• Introduced a number of minor texture memory optimizations.
• Introduced an optimization for loading large bases.
• Introduced a number of optimizations for text display, particularly in the Journey Records pages.
• Introduced an optimization to the various catalogue and guide pages.

Other Bug Fixes

• Fixed a number of issues that could occur when warping on board another player’s freighter.
• Fixed an issue that could cause water creatures to be generated for a planet that would never have deep enough water for those creatures to spawn.
• Fixed a number of mission blockers in They Who Returned.
• Fixed an issue that could cause some bases to become invisible when constructed at the water’s surface on ocean planets.
• Fixed an issue that could cause PC players to appear jerky in cross-platform multiplayer.
• Fixed a rare issue that could cause players’ settings to reset in VR.
• Fixed an issue that could cause NPCs to sink into the floor.
• Fixed an issue that could cause a softlock when browsing the Exocraft inventory.
• Fixed a rare hang on load when returning to a savegame that was saved while in an Exocraft after playing in multiplayer.
• Fixed a rare crash related to camera shakes.
• Fixed a memory-related crash on PlayStation 5.
• Fixed a number of rare crashes related to mesh scaling.
• Fixed a number of rare maths-related crashes.
• Fixed an issue that could cause some planetary props to pop in.
• Fixed a number of Mac-specific rendering issues.
• Fixed a rare issue that could cause saves to reach a max size and stop saving on Nintendo Switch—saves can now expand as required.
• Fixed an issue that could cause multiple ships to become docked to the same landing pad.
• Improved the placement positioning of decorative base building props.
• Fixed a number of text clipping issues in large popups.
• Fixed an issue that could cause a teleport destination to have two copies of a mission marker added.
• Fixed an issue that could make interactions difficult on freighters that were summoned a long way from the centre of the solar system.
• Fixed a number of issues affecting markers and planet labels when entering atmosphere.
• Fixed a rare issue that could cause empty systems to generate incorrect information about their potential Atlas Stations.
• Fixed an issue that could cause the galaxy map to incorrectly choose a purple system as part of its path to a distant star when purple systems are not unlocked.
• Fixed an issue that could cause players to start in a purple system when arriving in a new galaxy, when purple systems were not unlocked.
• Fixed an issue that caused the water effects from the Nautilon submarine to remain in the world after summoning the sub to a new location.
• Fixed an issue that prevented Exocraft laser effects from playing correctly in multiplayer.
• Fixed an issue that could cause erratic torso movements in Sentinel mechs.
• Fixed an issue that could cause the ship to hover as if above water when reloading on a planet.
• Fixed a number of inconsistencies in creature descriptions, where creatures would be described as being from the wrong environment.
• Fixed an incorrect texture being used for the Titan expedition in the expedition history screen.
• Fixed a number of decals and posters from previous expeditions being missing from the catalogue.
• Fixed an issue that caused a number of unusable and legacy items to be included in the catalogue.

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl

Developer GSC Game World brought the S.T.A.L.K.E.R series back into the limelight with the recently released Heart of Chornobyl, which undoubtedly represents the peak of the series. It takes what worked in prior entries, and creates something that’s bigger and better in almost every way. It blends a modern gameplay framework with the brutal survival mechanics of past entries, and that culminates in an experience that’s sure to stay with you long after the credits roll.

Helldivers 2 PSN account backtrack

Sony came within a hair’s breadth of tanking their runaway success of the year with the perplexing requirement for PC users to link a PSN account to Steam to play Helldivers 2. If you didn’t already own a PSN account it’d be mandatory to make one to carry on playing. Sony’s act of self-sabotage caused widespread discontent, of course, but was also set to lock players from the 177 countries without PSN access out of the game. Fortunately, Sony put their collective heads together and reversed the decision, review bombing was ceased with sales – now eclipsing 12 million – continuing. 

]]> 606227