Games Inbox: Is No Man’s Sky worth playing 10 years on?

The Tuesday letters page tries to piece together the clues about GTA 6’s online mode, as a reader recommends indie hit Big Walk.

Games Inbox is a collection of our readers’ letters, comments, and opinions. To join in with the discussions yourself email gamecentral@metro.co.uk

10 years young
I don’t want to make anyone feel old but No Man’s Sky is 10 years old this week. I know, I was pretty shocked too. That takes me back a bit to that pre-Covid world where the games industry seemed to be on the right path and that even when things went wrong, like with No Man’s Sky’s launch, they got fixed.

Kudos to Hello Games for putting in the hard work and as a fan I will definitely say that it is worth playing and that it is 100 times better now than when it first came out. Plus, there’s a new free update they’ve just released, called Cosmos, just for the anniversary.

Sometimes you’ve got to have patience and although that doesn’t excuse the state it launched in, at this point they’ve made up for it and more. I think that’s a lot more than you can say for other publishers that have been dishonest with their customers. So happy birthday No Man’s Sky and here’s to another 10 years.
Canin

Long tail
Interesting words from the Take-Two boss about GTA 6’s multiplayer. He didn’t say what it’s going to be, but he did seem to confirm that it’s going to be separate to GTA Online, so the idea that they’re going to upgrade GTA Online but basically keep it as the multiplayer seems to not be the case.

Would they really run GTA Online and GTA Online 2 at the same time though? I’m not so sure, but there’s no way GTA 6 isn’t going to have a massive online mode of some sort. It’s actually quite hard to guess what they’re going to do, but I’m sure they’ve got a plan. I’m sure that everything to do with GTA 6 is actually designed around the online, not the story campaign.

No one seems to be in a hurry to reveal what’s going on though, so while GTA Online keeps churning over, bringing in the money, they seem to be taking it slow and are pushing GTA 6 as a single-player game, for this year at least. What you can say is that GTA 6 is not going to be a flash in the pan.
Zeiss

Big recommendation
I got to the credits of Big Walk with two friends last night. What a fantastic game. The end section in particular is an absolutely outstanding achievement in gaming. One of the all-time experiences.

We’ve still got a bunch more to do in game and we’ll definitely come back to finish it off.

I usually avoid voice chat in games, but I’m glad I gave this a go. We started just two of us playing, then added a third. I would like to see what the game’s like with larger groups, probably more chaotic but at least there’d be a better chance of someone having a light for those very dark nights.

I encourage everyone to try and find at least one other person who they can play with and give Big Walk a go.
Euclidian Boxes

Merry-go-round
Saw this video and thought people here would be interested in it. I’ve heard the theory that Silent Hill 2 is a sequel, not a remake, a few times before, but as much as I enjoyed the remake I didn’t really pick up on that as a possibility. I did notice that some things were different from the original, but I just thought that was artistic licence.

There’re spoilers in the video, so I won’t go into any detail, but if you’ve played the game before I think you’ll find it very interesting the way it all seems to add up. If you haven’t played the game, I would very much recommend it and if you watch the video I think you’ll be impressed by the amount of detail Bloober Team put into it.

I know they get a lot of stick for the quality of their other games but for me they did Silent Hill 2 proud. The best thing about this sequel theory is that it’s not even necessarily true. The video makes it seem that way but it’s all up to your interpretation and I hope Konami never gives an official answer as to what’s going.
Cobalt84

Dutch uncle
I don’t really know what to say about 1666: Amsterdam, other than I’ve never heard of it before, it sounds pretty weird, and also pretty janky. I’m not really a fan of the idea of releasing a single-player game half-made into early access. You can’t argue with Baldur’s Gate 3 and Hades 2 though, so I’ll guess I’ll keep an eye on it.

I would’ve been much more interested if it skewed closer to Prince Of Persia: The Sands Of Time though, instead of Assassin’s Creed. If he made that I’m surprised the platforming side of the Amsterdam game seems so bad. Also, we don’t really need more Assassin’s Creed but we sure could do with more 3D platformers like Sands Of Time.
Murphy2

Drone attack
I love that that id Software dev really ripped into Microsoft and publishers in general. Of course they don’t understand art. These people are just robots… corporate drones. They don’t seem to understand any kind of human emotion or the concept that not everyone is as rich as them.

The only time I ever heard anyone at Microsoft saying they were upset about laying off thousands of people is when one of them said we should feel bad for Phil Spencer, for having to do it. These people can only think about their own well-being, not their employees, not their customers, and definitely not the games industry as a whole.

It’s not just Microsoft either, it’s all of them. They’ll see the whole of gaming go the way of the dodo if it meant they could just make a bit more money this year, because who cares about what happens afterwards?

There’s nothing we can do about this either. You could try and play nothing but indie and retro games but even using a PC you’re probably using Microsoft products. There’s Linux and SteamOS but only the super hardcore are going to do that, so we’re just stuck giving money to these awful companies, that treat us like dirt.

How many of us buy and play EA Sports FC and look at what EA has become now. I don’t want to give them a penny of my money, but will I really have the strength not to?
Walker

Busy day
Good morning readers! Please can we give a bit of pre-emptive love for Resonance: A Plague Tale Legacy.

The trailer looked amazing, the last two games were outstanding, and the next is out in two weeks! Cannot wait! What’s that?! GTA6 trailer preview out that day too?! Pffft to that!
Sid Spector

GC: That’s also the same day Star Wars Zero Company is out.

First questions
I’m hoping any day now we get an annoucement for a Zelda Direct, although I realise it could easily not be until next month I can’t believe it will be any longer than that, unless it’s been delayed into next year.

I have so many questions about the game, but first of all whether it’s a 1:1 remake with the original, like Star Fox, or if it’s something that will mess with the design a bit. I wonder, for example, whether they will try and give a bigger role for Zelda. She seems to have joint top billing in the movie and Ocarina Of Time technically has a more active role for her (do I need to hide spoilers in such an old game?) but I think it would be quite easy to make those bits playable, when they weren’t before.

The other question is how are they going to handle the fact that the game world is tiny, by modern standards? Is Hyrule Field going to be more or less the same size as it was before or will it be a massive Breath Of The Wild style area? I guess that would be the best idea but it’s going to be a bit of a change – although maybe not as I think those of us that played it at the time remember it as being massive even if it wasn’t really.

If the two seconds of footage they’ve shown is accurate then the art style seems to be mostly realistic, with just a hint of cartoonish, but I’m curious to see how far they’ll go with some of the stranger things. And will that style carry over to the next mainline game? There’s so many questions to ask and Nintendo seems in no rush to answer them.
Gaston

Inbox also-rans
All I ever hear about PC versions of console games is poor performance and bugs. Marvel Tōkon: Fighting Souls is just the latest in a very long list. Ther’s no way I’d buy a PC when all this is so common.
Prince

Never mind the cyberattack, I’m just shocked there was anyone in the UK that actually ordered a Steam Machine. I don’t think anyone from the Inbox has owned up to ordering one, have they?
Christon

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