GOTW: No Man's Sky (NEXT Update)
By Austin Durkin:
No Man’s Sky is a space exploration game. It was released on August 9, 2016, to PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Microsoft Windows. It has since been updated massively on May 18, 2018. It can now be played in first person and third person. It is a vast multiplayer game, where you can play with friends or find random people to explore with. The game starts with the character as he/she crashed on a mysterious planet. The first goal is to repair your gear and the spaceship that is crashed on the planet. From there it is up to you to keep going with missions and get better gear or explore the vast ocean of the galaxy.
This game was originally very criticized and was underperforming for what the developers promised. This new version of the game, known as the NEXT update, has changed the game almost completely. This update has added emotes, freedom to build bases where you want, full first/third person perspective, character customization, freighter enhancements, procedural tech, visor enhancements, and so much more. It's now easier and a lot more fun to play with friends due to the way it is now set up. The new emotes make it easy to interact with people that don't have headsets or can't speak.
This game has won the awards of:
E3 2014
Best Original Game
Best Social/Casual/Family Game
Best Independent Game
Special Commendation for Accommodation
E3 2015
Best Independent Game
BAFTA 2017
Best British Game
I give this game a solid 7 out of 10. I gave it this high of a rating because of how much they tried to improve and how well they achieved this.