No Man’s Sky promises gameplay that’s as varied as its galaxy

Not only will it have more planets than a person could explore in a single lifetime, but No Man’s Sky is also aiming for a wide assortment of gameplay options too.

We’re not going to give you missions. No-one is going to come to you and say ‘I’ve lost five chickens, they’re scattered around this planet somewhere’,” Hello Games MD Sean Murray told the PlayStation Blog.

We want you to get out and learn about the galaxy to work it out for yourself. There are different roles you could play; you could be an explorer, a trader, a pirate looking for trade routes to plunder – or you could protect other ships from pirates.

You make your own story. I think it’s nice to play something that frees you from missions and quests. There are core concepts that will drive the player on: you’ll start on the edge of space, on a totally unique planet and you’ll make your way towards the centre of the galaxy – there’s a reason to do that, but we’re not ready to talk about it yet.”

Murray also stressed that while online functionality is a big part of the game – with other players discovering other worlds and that information being upload for others – No Man’s Sky is not an MMO and does not require an internet connection.

You’ll see traces of other players and what they’ve discovered, so you won’t feel alone, but if you and I were playing and I said ‘come and meet me on my planet’, I might be days or weeks away from you,” he added.

Even if we were on the same planet and wanted to meet up… it’s like being at random points on Earth and trying to find each other.”