Out of the three, this looks the most different from what we can tell from tech demos. It is completely fair to say that No Man’s Sky will go down as one of the most hyped titles in gaming history. Elite: Dangerouscertainly stands out from the crowd but for how much longer. The ships handle in proportion to their size and one has to be really accurate when manoeuvring around spaceports and alike. You really do get the sense that this is a simulator. The game takes a (relatively) realistic approach. This does make the game somewhat of a grind though, as all of the jobs that you can take are randomly generated so it is simply luck of the draw when you arrive at any given spaceport. Much of the focus is on the economy of the galaxy and the various trading routes and market prices. This game, in essence, is Euro Truck Simulator 2 in space. To get around you must use the hyper speed mechanic to go from system to system and there is super speed to get around those systems once you are there. Yes that’s right, this game has accurate portrayals of distance. In theory you can visit every single star system of which there are absolutely thousands. This game is huge! Using some complex maths, Frontier Developments have managed to recreate our galaxy and put it into a game.
The one thing that will hit you the first time you boot up the game is the size. It has been around 20 years since we had the last entry in this franchise. But are any of them going to be/are any good? In Elite: Dangerous, No Man’s Sky and Star Citizen we have three similar yet completely different games. We have been witnessing the reincarnation of one of the oldest and most popular genres in the gaming industry. The return of the Space Sim is nearly complete.