What it's about wake up on a strange planet, fix your ship, and the universe is open
You wake up next to a crashed spaceship on a strange planet, with a broken suit and no idea where you are. That's it. Fix the ship, take off, and the whole universe opens up. Planets, moons, space stations and a huge number of star systems are there to visit, and almost nothing is the same twice.
Under the pretty surface it's a survival and crafting game. You mine resources, build gear, trade, fly, build bases, look after companions, raid abandoned freighters and follow missions, if you feel like it. You can also ignore nearly all of that and just look around. And the game keeps changing: it's constantly evolving, with new things to do all the time.
How I got into it a space fan, a search for an open universe, and a very late start
First of all, I'm a huge fan of space and everything space related, so any game that has it catches my attention. I was literally searching the internet for an open-world space exploration game on the Nintendo Switch with some online play, and No Man's Sky popped out immediately. I started playing pretty late, at the end of 2025.
The beginning was a bit daunting. There's a little bit of a learning curve, and the game looked like a lot at first. But I got the hang of it faster than I thought, and I was already having fun within the first fifteen minutes. It's one of my all-time favourite games.
How it looks every planet is a postcard, and the Switch 2 version is a marvel
The art is beautiful, and the game looks amazingly realistic and just magnificent. I'm running out of adjectives. Every planet has its own colours, weather, strange animals and odd plants. Some are pink deserts under two moons, some are frozen oceans, some are lush and glowing at night. The sky does a lot of the work.
Leaving a planet and flying straight into space without a loading screen is still a lovely moment. It's amazing what Hello Games managed to do with it on Switch 2, with a much higher resolution, a higher frame rate and denser textures. I didn't play much on Switch 1, but I've seen players complain about how it ran there, so I can't say more.
How it sounds music with all the grandeur that space deserves
The music is insanely good. It has that sense of magnificence and grandiosity that space exploration and discovery needs. It's the band 65daysofstatic, with soft synths and slow guitars, and it swells when you find something big. It reacts to what you're doing, so the same planet can feel calm one minute and awe-inspiring the next.
The little sounds matter too: your boots on different surfaces, the hum of the ship, the wind, the odd creatures calling in the distance. With headphones on, it's a long, quiet holiday.
The story and the people a quiet mystery, and strangers you rarely meet
There's a story, a quiet mystery you can follow if you want, but it stays out of the way. Most characters are strange aliens you meet at stations, speaking an invented language you slowly learn words of. For me the story is the feeling of being small in a huge place.
The multiplayer isn't overwhelming at all. Just like in the real infinite universe, it's very unlikely that you cross paths with other people. The exceptions are the Space Anomaly, a giant hub station where players can gather, and the expeditions, the community missions Hello Games run every so often, when everyone heads to the same areas. It's pretty cool to see random players going about their business in the Anomaly.
After work: effort and challenge you decide the effort, even if that's just sightseeing
Does it give you space to chill? Yes, and the nice part is that you decide how much. There are different modes in the settings, and on top of that you choose what to do each evening. Some days I focus on my companions, the pets. Some days I go resource hunting, so I never have to when I'm feeling lazy. Some days I raid a derelict freighter, or work on my base. And my favourite: I get lost exploring the endless variety of systems and planets.
If you want to chill, you can system and planet hop and enjoy the variety and the beauty. Sometimes I do just that, take screenshots, and that's my whole evening: pure sightseeing, with no resources and no mechanics. So the effort is yours to set.
One honest note: the very first time, you need to set aside some time to learn the game before it becomes properly relaxing after work. After that, it's yours.
Docked vs handheld docked is insane, handheld is great if you plug in
Docked is just insane, and it's clearly my preference. Handheld is also very enjoyable, but the game drains the battery really fast. I try to play plugged in when I'm in handheld, and if I can't plug in, I already know the battery is going to disappear.
What gets in the way late patches, a thirsty battery and a first-time learning curve
It's hard for this game to get in the way of a relaxing time, because you control the experience. What does bother me:
- Updates arrive much later on Switch because of Nintendo's validation process, which can take several weeks. That's especially annoying when a patch is meant to fix bugs and you wait far too long.
- The battery drains really fast in handheld.
- The first time you play, you need some time to learn it before it becomes relaxing.
On Switch 2 a free upgrade that makes a huge difference
There's a free Switch 2 Edition for anyone who owns the Switch version, released in June 2025. It renders at a much higher resolution, with a higher frame rate and denser textures, and adds cross-save, cross-play, gyro aiming and touch controls. The game costs €49.99, and it's one of the best Switch 2 upgrades because it costs nothing extra.
Verdict a universe that fits whatever kind of evening you have
No Man's Sky is one of my all-time favourite games, and it's an exceptional, incredible game. It's a space fan's dream, with a magnificent soundtrack, planets that keep surprising you, and updates that keep adding more.
The best part is that you set the level. Want to grind, build and craft? Go ahead. Want to sit back and sightsee for a whole evening, taking screenshots? That counts too. That makes it one of the best games for winding down after work, as long as you give yourself a bit of time to learn it at the start.
The downsides are small: patches take weeks to reach Switch, and handheld eats the battery, so plug in. If you love space, play it docked, with headphones on.
