No Man's Sky - news, trailer, gameplay

No Man's Sky is arguably one of the most hotly anticipated games of 2016. Made by small UK studio, Hello Games, this procedurally generated space adventure has big ambitions, and it's quickly become one of the PS4's indie darlings, so much so that lead developer Sean Murray got his very own slot at Sony's E3 press conference to talk about the game last year.

And rightly so. Ever since it was first unveiled at the VGX Awards in 2013, No Man's Sky has captured imaginations the world over. With an incredible 18,446,744,073,709,551,616 planets to discover (that's over 18 quintillion, if you were wondering), each with its own distinct set of flora and fauna, this is a world of truly epic proportions that will take several lifetimes to explore.

Luckily, the aim of the game isn't to visit every last planet. Instead, you'll be gradually making your way to the centre of the universe, although it's not yet clear what's there or what will happen when you get there. To help you get a better idea about what's in store, here's everything you need to know before you start playing.

Release date

Originally slated to launch at the end of June, No Man's Sky has now been officially delayed until 9th August in Europe and the 12th August in the UK.

Hello Games' Sean Murray broke the news on the PlayStation EU Blog. "As we approached our final deadlines, we realised that some key moments needed extra polish to bring them up to our standards," he wrote. "I have had to make the tough choice to delay the game for a few weeks to allow us to deliver something special.

"We understand that this news is disappointing. Making this game is the hardest thing I’ve ever done in my life, but we are so close now, and we’re prepared to make the tough choices to get it right."

Gameplay

Exploration is a given in No Man's Sky, but trading, cataloguing and general survival also forms a major part of the overall game. When you touch down on each planet, you'll be able to use your multi-tool to scan new lifeforms and resources and upload the information to The Atlas, a kind of huge database that every player has access to. If you discover something new, you'll even be able to give it your own, unique name, which then remains fixed if another player comes across the same thing.

However, given the huge size of the universe, Sean Murray has said in several interviews that it's unlikely you'll ever see another player over the course of the game. You might have one or two encounters, but for the most part they'll be quite rare.

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Trading your findings for other materials and upgrading your ship is another essential part of No Man's Sky, and is absolutely necessary if you want to make it to the centre of the universe. The hyperspace jump on your initial ship, for example, will only have a limited range, so you'll need to make improvements along the way before you can reach new solar systems. 

There will be other NPC characters to interact with on your journeys as well, including faction leaders and other traders. Each race will have its own language, too, so you'll need to find monoliths scattered around various planets to learn a bit of their dialect so you can understand them better and make new alliances. If you accidentally offend someone, your actions could have some pretty dire consequences later on, so you'll need to be careful about what you say and to whom.

Of course, that leads us to No Man Sky's combat.  Armed with a blaster gun, you're more or less free to use it however you like, but destroy too many animals or landmarks and you'll soon attract the attention of a planet's resident Sentinel, a heavily armoured robot that will stop at nothing to keep the peace. As such, it's advised that you keep your destructive tendencies to a minimum, as dying means you'll lose all your collected resources and any information entries that you haven't yet uploaded to The Atlas. 

The same goes for No Man's Sky's space combat, but this is likely to be even more dangerous than tangling with planet Sentinels, as one misfire could accidentally engage an entire fleet of enemy ships. However, help one faction take down some ships and they might return the favour later on if you find yourself in a bit of trouble. 

As a result, it looks like there will be quite of lot of menu busywork involved as you trade, upgrade and sort through all your discoveries, but at least it's balanced by some pretty spectacular-looking exploration elements. There's sure to be more news about the game at this year's E3 press conference, too, so be sure to check back soon for all the latest information. 

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