{"id":19323,"date":"2026-01-28T13:27:27","date_gmt":"2026-01-28T13:27:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gamers.online\/blog\/?p=19323"},"modified":"2026-01-28T13:27:33","modified_gmt":"2026-01-28T13:27:33","slug":"why-no-mans-sky-is-the-best-ongoing-game","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gamers.online\/blog\/why-no-mans-sky-is-the-best-ongoing-game\/","title":{"rendered":"Why No Man’s Sky is the Best Ongoing Game"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

When No Man\u2019s Sky won the Best Ongoing Game of the Year in 2025<\/a>, the community backed it up, acknowledging what has become one of the largest redemption stories in video game history. From its launch failure ten years ago in 2016 to becoming an incredible galactic exploration game with multiple possibilities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

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Image from No Man’s Sky, Hello Games. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Evolution of a Whole Galaxy<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

A Complicated First Launch<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

No Man\u2019s Sky<\/a> was first released in August 2016 as an action-adventure survival game, developed and published by Hello Games. The game was built around four essential pillars: exploration, survival, combat, and trading. However, its reception was one of the most controversial\u00a0in modern gaming history.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After years of massive hype, filled with trailers and interviews promising a vast, open generated universe, full of exploration and opportunities, the video game did not reach the users’ expectations and the initial excitement quickly gave way to disappointment, once the players experienced the release version.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2757During its first release in August 2016, on steam alone it drew over 210,000 players.\u00a0<\/mark><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Players found that several features widely expected by the community weren\u2019t really in the game. Features like the multiplayer mode, highly expected by gamers, simply weren’t present at launch. Many players felt that the core experience and plot was shallower and less interactive than advertised.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The response, on Steam alone, was overwhelmingly negative, with roughly 12% of the reviews on the platform in the first 30 days were positive. This backlash put No Man’s Sky on the podium of being one of the lowest rated games on Steam. For many users, No Man\u2019s Sky was not the game they were expecting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ten years have passed since the game\u2019s first launch. What has changed? How has the game improved?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Best Ongoing Game, What Changed?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

What changed is that, after the negative backlash, Hello Games treated the launch as a starting point instead of a finished product. The studio and publisher went quiet publicly but kept working on the video game, releasing large, free updates that complemented and expanded the game experience.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Abandoning the project was never an option.<\/mark><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

2016-2017 Foundation Update and Pathfinder<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

The Foundation Update<\/a><\/strong>, released in November 2016<\/strong>, was the sign that the studio wasn\u2019t abandoning the game.<\/p>\n\n\n\n