It's pretty amazing how far this game has come. I loved it even at launch (as a kid growing up in the 80's, I always dreamed about playing a game where you could travel from 1 planet to the next, and roam around exploring). Even in its bare bones launch state, I loved No Man's Sky.
Considering how small their team was, the flood that wiped out their offices, and money running out, I can't help but feel sorry for launch turned out, but shit happens, and game development is fucking hard. Like, seriously. It's not a case of "press button to make game." The smaller the team, and the more limited the resources, the harder it is.
The turnaround Hello Games orchestrated with this game is such an underdog story. They could have taken the money and ran, but any developer that has a true passion for creating games wouldn't have just sat there and let their reputations and livelihoods go down the drain. Turning that reputation around is such a herculean task, the fact that Hello Games were able to do so is remarkable. The hate Hello Games got after launch was really sad to see. No developer, especially a small, indie studio, sets out to fuck over gamers. The risk is too great, even if the game sells gangbusters (which NMS did). I have a ton of respect for the Hello Games crew for weathering the blowback, putting their heads down, and pouring the financial success of NMS back into the game to become the game they always wanted it to be (and then some; like, seriously, what the game is now is so far beyond what those early trailers promised).
Looking at NMS year 1, and NMS year 4 is inspiring. I hope they continue to iterate on the game in the next generation of hardware. I'm eager to play it on the PS5! I'm hoping with the added horsepower of the new machines, they'll be able to expand it even more!
