Glance into the gaming-est corners of the internet and you'll see that No Man's Sky (opens in new tab) is, apparently, back. Or it could be more accurate to say the game, which was released to pretty widespread disappointment a year ago, has finally arrived. No Man's Sky's Atlas Rises update (opens in new tab) has players excitedly exploring heretofore unseen biomes and coming to grips with a new storyline (not to mention appreciating all the previous updates that relatively few stuck around to see).
This Reddit user summed it up (opens in new tab) pretty well.
Or, in short (opens in new tab).
And Twitter seems pretty happy about it too.
Things I didn't think I'd say in 2017: I'm enjoying going back to No Man's Sky.August 15, 2017
Hey, have you played No Man's Sky since the new update? If you need something quiet and chill and relaxing, I recommend it. It's so good nowAugust 15, 2017
wtf this. wtf that. that is me playing no man's sky. it's actually pretty alright now, not gonna refund it pic.twitter.com/bGQjwIWRT8August 15, 2017
Even notoriously fickle Steam ratings are coming around. You know you've finally managed to placate your player base if things are going well there.
No Man's Sky is starting to recover! pic.twitter.com/D7TEdctLIYAugust 15, 2017
I only played a few hours of No Man's Sky in the weeks after it came out and I liked it (not enough to stick with it, obviously). But I could have easily gone the other way if I hadn't consciously set my expectations to "sci-fi chillout game" rather than "limitless online universe" as much of the pre-release hype had indicated. No amount of discrepancy between promise and product could excuse the cruel ways some disappointed players reacted (opens in new tab), of course, but that old venom does make these fresh, happy reactions feel all the more heartening. Good job sticking with it, Hello Games!
Still not sure what the big deal is? Follow the year-long arc to redemption with our original No Man's Sky review (opens in new tab) and these looks at the Foundation update (opens in new tab) and the Path Finder update (opens in new tab).
