No Man’s Sky is the ultimate space exploration and survival game, giving players the ability to travel across a galaxy to explore unique planets and uncover the secrets of the game. With Starfield adopting a space RPG style, fans are hoping that the worlds in Bethesda’s upcoming game are as diverse and enjoyable as the ones in No Man’s Sky. Starfield should look to how No Man’s Sky developed its planets and the exploration opportunities to give players more freedom when venturing out to new worlds.
After a rocky release, No Man’s Sky has turned into one of the best games in its genre, and much of this is thanks to how each planet can offer something different. From resources to wildlife, planets will undoubtedly be the main locations in Starfield where players can truly explore and build as well. While space flight is also a big component of the game, Starfield’s planets cannot fall short, or else the game will be confined to only a handful of planets, since players will not want to explore every available world.
Planet Diversity in Starfield
While No Man’s Sky did include a near-infinite number of planets, the one thing that made exploration so attractive was the differences between the planets. From the animal and plant life that can be scanned to materials unique to certain kinds of planets, the world diversity means players are encouraged keep searching for unique and rare materials. Starfield does not host as many planets as No Man’s Sky, and this gives it the opportunity to take this diversity a step further.
Starfield needs to encourage players to travel to new planets with lots of engaging content. While the number of Starfield planets is limited, there will still be around a thousand to explore, which will likely keep players busy if they have enough diversity to be worthwhile. With each solar system probably housing about ten planets, there is a chance that a few of them may not be explorable at all, such as gas giants or planets too close to the star. If this is the case, the planets that players can explore should be even more diverse than No Man’s Sky's worlds thanks to the reduced number.
Planets Should Have Different Uses
No Man’s Sky featured types of planets, each filled with unique resources, wildlife, and activities, but it also grouped planets based on how many of these are present. Certain planets are filled with living things, rich with resources, and can even house alien life or outposts. This makes certain planets more useful for certain activities; for example, when mining for carbon, players likely must kill plant and animal life, which will cause Sentinels to turn hostile. Instead, players can go to planets with no Sentient life and mine without worrying about the Sentinels.
Starfield should include something similar, offering players planets that are rich in natural resources and uninhabited for mining expeditions, and other planets that are packed with loot and enemies. Including No Man's Sky categorization of planets will allow players to understand the systems they visit and could hold insights into lore. This will make exploration much more important and could give players the opportunity to discover rare planets filled with the best resources and loot.
Activities and Exploration
No Man’s Sky's open play style encouraged exploration and rewarded players by giving them key insights into existing settlements or even ruins of lost settlements; however, it does not feature the large settlements of Starfield’s civilizations. This allows it to have larger ruins that players can explore, somewhat similar to dungeons, and give them an opportunity to focus on the lore of that civilization and the game's RPG elements.
The large cities and ruins in Starfield will give players an experience unlike any seen before and will provide much of the diversity in locations across the game. No Man’s Sky provides players with many ways to explore a planet in the form of vehicles, and Starfield should do the same. Exploring a planet from the air should allow players to map out a planet and discover larger features like mountains, forests, or ideal base locations, while driving or even diving underwater could let players discover caves and mines, giving exploration a sense of realism.
No Man’s Sky fans slowly fell in love with the space survival game that boasted ultimate freedom by allowing players to do whatever they desired while frequently adding more content. While Starfield will likely not follow the same strategy, it is already committed to giving players a lot of freedom within the game, but it will need to deliver. Diverse activities, unique planets to explore, and special activities could help give Starfield players that degree of freedom.
Starfield is scheduled to release in 2023 for PC and Xbox Series X|S.