No Man's Sky: Everything Destiny Isn't (Gameplay-wise) (Destiny)

by Kahzgul, Wednesday, August 10, 2016, 18:16 (3036 days ago)

So I waited for the preliminary reviews and decided that I was, after all, going to buy No Man's Sky. And I did. And I can't stop playing. Holy hell. But that's not why I'm making this post, because this post is about Destiny.

No Man's Sky is almost the polar opposite of Destiny in terms of gameplay, so if you're wondering what it's like, I'll break it down in those terms:

In Destiny you have extremely limited explorable areas. Small, contained zones with decent load times as you travel from place to place. A "planet" in Destiny is maybe a square mile in size. No Man's Sky is basically unlimited in size (technically 18 quintillion worlds is a limit, but come on). You can walk for hours and only see a small percentage of a single world's terrain.

In Destiny, you have arguably the best gunplay and character control of any FPS ever made. No Man's Sky... not so much. The movement isn't awful but the shooting leaves much to be desired.

In Destiny, you have to level up everything - yourself, your guns, your abilities, your light... No Man's Sky has no levels. Some items are clearly better than others, but who you are at the start of the game is a fully functional avatar, just lacking the various (and randomly seeded) upgrades that you can use to improve your functionality along the way. Nothing to level up, however. If you happen to find a better ship, you can hop right in and use it provided you've got the money to buy it or the resources to repair it.

In Destiny, there are enemies everywhere shooting at you like crazy. In No Man's Sky almost nothing attacks you unless you attack it first.

In Destiny, your ship is just a mask for the level select and loading screens. In No Man's Sky, your ship is your vault, your transportation, your weapon in space, your shelter on worlds... It's hugely important (and upgradeable in a number of ways).

Speaking of which, Destiny has loading screens. There's nothing like that in No Man's Sky.

I'll grant that the non-gameplay elements are similar: Both games are gorgeous, though the sheer scale of NMS has left me breathless and stunned in a way that Destiny simply can't. Neither game has any real plot to speak of, though Destiny actually has a few characters where NMS really has nothing.

But here's the big one for me: Nothing about NMS makes me angry or frustrated like Destiny. Where Destiny, especially PvP, is a sweaty mess decided by microsecond differences often resulting from lag rather than skill, NMS is a peaceful journey of relaxation and discovery.

If someone could harness the best of both games, I may never stop playing that. As it stands, they're a nearly perfect compliment to one another, and I encourage you all to check it out. Where Destiny is a brilliant core in a disappointing world, NMS is a lackluster core in a brilliant world. NMS is incredible and stunning. A true watershed moment for video games.

***Disclaimer: NMS may not be for everyone. Personally I am rapt with joy as I play it, but I can imagine that someone expecting seat of their pants action or some kind of Babylon 5-esque space drama will be disappointed (go play Rebel Galaxy!). It's more like Journey, I suppose, than anything else I can think of, but it's entirely glorious. Actually, okay, I just figured it out: If you enjoyed exploring the worlds in Mass Effect 1, then you're going to absolutely love NMS. This isn't to say they're the same at all, but it's a similar feeling.