After a 10-Year Redemption Arc, No Man's Sky Is Coming to the iPhone and iPad

No Man's Sky is coming to iPhone and iPad on October 28, more than a decade after its rocky launch and long-running redemption arc. The title will cost $19.99, but a free trial will let users try it out before purchasing. Ars Technica reports: It will run on devices as far back as the iPhone 11 and the third-generation iPad Air. No Man's Sky might not have the most cutting-edge AAA graphics (though they're still strong, and they've come a long way since launch via updates), but the game's uncommon method of generating galaxies of incomprehensible scale on device consistently for all players from a single-seed happening on a phone is remarkable for those of us who remember phones performing far behind consoles or desktop PCs.

This version of the game includes all of the content and systems updates to the game that have been added over the years -- the expansions that famously took the game from a rocky launch reception to a widely beloved redemption story. There are a couple of compromises, though, and it's similar to what we saw with No Man's Sky on the Nintendo Switch. Hello Games says the ability to build and explore player-made planetary settlements is limited to the iPhone 15 Pro and later, and multiplayer is not supported on any iOS device. "We are excited to see player feedback on iOS, and will support it appropriately based on how many folks are playing," the company says, leaving the door open to perhaps not supporting all future content updates if the player base isn't there to justify it.

Is it actually fun for a single player?

[Camembert]

I have been quite curious about it as a science fiction lover, but I thought that it shines mainly as a multiplayer game?

Re:Is it actually fun for a single player?

[pla]

There's effectively no difference between single and multiplayer in NMS. Multiplayer isn't so much a distinct mode of gameplay, as merely hanging out in the game with another player. Think "playing Legos with a friend". Same activity, just more than one person. There are a few features intended to focus on multiplayer, like the nominally co-op Nexus missions - But I'm not aware of any exclusively multiplayer content, and even the Nexus missions are IMO easier to solo than trying to coordinate with someone else. And even in purely single-player mode, you can still see/visit bases/etc from other players, you just won't see the other players themselves.

I suppose a proper answer to your question depends on what you really mean by single-vs-multiplayer, though. There's a core storyline that's honestly more like a long tutorial mode, and they put on events roughly every two months (which are again often about showing off new features); but there's not really anything you'd call a proper "campaign mode". It's fundamentally an open-world exploration / survival / building game, from start to there-is-no-finish.

And just in case anything I've said here sounds negative - NMS is a mind-blowingly good game. Strongly recommend, particularly in VR.

Re:

[Happy Monkey]

Yes, multiplayer is just "they're there too". Whether it "shines" is purely based on who "they" are. This is not a dig at the game, just a note that you shouldn't go into it expecting any multiplayer features you may expect from other games.

Re:

[sabbede]

I played it single, though you do have to see other players running around in certain stations (which I don't like, I feel like I'm being watched and don't like it). I lost interest after a while (164 hours apparently), but may look at it again since there have been a ton of updates since I put it down.

Re:

[sabbede]

I'd recommend X4 over it, but it's still good.

Re:

[gweihir]

I found it quite boring and generic. I stopped playing after about 10 hours and that was about two years ago with the improved version.

Re: Is it actually fun for a single player?

[OrangeTide]

It's better as a solo game than multiplayer. The main draw is exploring and building bases. There are lots of other little mechanics but it's not a deep game. The story is interestingband unique, but confusing and short. You're fed story about two or three sentences at a time over several hours. They whole plot likely doesn't fill a page of text.

Multiplayer co-op was a big disappointment for my wife and I. We can hang out together, but it is hard to sync up main story or side missions together.

The space com

Re:

[drinkypoo]

Multiplayer in NMS is co-op only.

If you do Nexus missions there will be other players there. Otherwise, if none of your friends join your game, you'll only see other players while you're in a Nexus.

NMS is an extremely broad but shallow game. This makes it really impressive... for a short time only.

incomprehensible scale?

[diffract]

are planets actually big or is this like destiny, where planets are just excuses for pre-defined confined levels?

Re:incomprehensible scale?

[jbmartin6]

They are actually big, but also repetitive since the same parameters build every area of the surface. There aren't different climate zones (except for oceans) or ecology.

Re:

[Happy Monkey]

Water (shallow and deep), caves (large and barren or small and populated), and rocky hills/mountains. But yes, the vast majority of a given planet is its one main biome.

Re:

[LostMonk]

The planets are completely open and are BIG, it would many take many hours to walk/drive all around one - not there's much reason to do that, every planet is a single biome type.
There are a bazillion planets * 255 galaxies.

Still no consequences?

[CEC-P]

I had no interest or stake in playing this game and never have. I think Green Hell and Star Rupture are far superior. However, this has happened so many times, don't you think the idiot CEO that promised the moon then released an absolute lie should be charged with false advertising or fraud? I think doing it to one high profile person one time would stop the Peter Molyneux level bullshit we've seen for the last 20+ years.

Re:

[Happy Monkey]

The consequence was a great game, so I'm not complaining. Especially ten years later.

Re:

[sabbede]

How can you make that comparison without having played it? "These games I like are much better than the ones I haven't played" doesn't sound like a fair judgement.

Re:

[pla]

I was one of the haters on initial release, but Hello Games 100% redeemed themselves over time and are still actively maintaining the game with new content - free new content, not paid DLC - every few months. And today, I'd rate NMS as one of my favorite games of all time.

That said, from the two comparisons you made, I suspect you're thinking of NMS as the wrong kind of game here. It's not an "escape room" style survival game, and base building is mostly meant to be a simple place to keep / display your s

Re:

[CEC-P]

If Fire Festival threw a successful event later, would that make up for the first one? No. By the way, that moron just got out of jail recently, which is where the lead designer of No Man's Sky should be.

Re:

[silentphate]

That's a horrible comparison. Nobody at fyre festival got what they paid for. NMS players may have had to wait longer than initial launch but got everything that was promised and much more. They never had to pay another cent and they are still getting free and new content. Did Fyre Festival ever meet expectations for the initial buyers?

Re:

[MachineShedFred]

Bad metaphor. Fyre Festival can't retroactively patch their fuckup to make it what everyone was looking for. Attendees will always have been swindled.Hello Games can.

As it turns out, software isn't linear time and meatspace event planning. Software can improve with feedback, and purchasers can get the original vision plus more. And did.

NMS

[nomadic]

I really wanted to like the game but even a few hours of gameplay showed that it was repetitive and kind of bleak and depressing.

Re:

[sabbede]

When did you play? That's pretty much my feeling about it after 164 hours, ending almost exactly 4 years ago. I know there were a lot of changes between release and when I started, and have been many more since.

blaze your own trail

[znrt]

it's a sandbox game. you're supposed to make your own story, the tools are a vast universe and ship building to fly around it, and that should alone make for more than a few hours of fun. you probably didn't go past the initial quests to get you started and i don't blame you, it didn't grip me either.

maybe a better alternative is elite dangerous. it has a far more complex and "realistic" universe (an actual full scale simulation of the milky way), a very interesting flight model and a very sui generis multi

Remarkable, really?

[Sloppy]

the game's uncommon method of generating galaxies of incomprehensible scale on device consistently for all players from a single-seed happening on a phone is remarkable for those of us who remember phones performing far behind consoles or desktop PCs.

No it isn't. Your phone is a supercomputer by 1980s standards, and seeded generation (whether from a PRNG or hashing coordinates or whatever) goes back to at least then (and probably '60s/'70s). I'm not slamming the game, and seeded generation is often a good