No Man's Sky vs Starfield
In this article, I wrote about the differences and the similarities between Starfield and No Man's Sky. This article will not be about "which game is better", but rather, how their different aspects compare to each other (for example, what are their differences, which game has a bigger universe, what is the gameplay focus and so on). First, I will introduce both games, giving an overall view of their gameplay and unique characteristics, and then I will describe the differences and and the similarities in each important aspect of these games.
Starfield and No Man's Sky are two games that let players experience and immerse themselves in a game universe, in which different planets and planetary systems can be explored. In these games, the player character is able to navigate the stars through a spaceship and meet alien life forms. Due to these similarities, these two games are often compared.
In this article, I will not say which game is better, because I do not believe that comparisons of "which game is better" ever make sense regarding video games, because different players look for different things. No Man's Sky and Starfield offer different experiences, despite some similarities, and in this article I intend to display these differences so that players can better understand which of these games is the experience they are currently looking for. Even though this is an article that displays the differences between these games, and could perhaps be considered a "Starfield vs No Man's Sky" game, this is not an article about comparisons, but of analysis of differences.
While some may argue that all comparisons are biased, I would like to say that I am personally a fan of No Man's Sky, and I am personally a fan of Bethesda's The Elder Scrolls and Fallout video games. For this reason, I am probably biased towards both Starfield and No Man's Sky, and since I'm biased towards both, I consider any comparison that I make between them to be as neutral as possible.
What Is No Man's Sky Like?
No Man's Sky is a procedurally-generated open world survival craft video game. In other words, No Man's Sky is a game in which most of the gameplay time will be spent adventuring, surviving, crafting and building. This is in line with other open world survival craft video games of the 2010s, such as Minecraft (2011), Terraria (2011), Wurm Online (2012), DayZ (2013 Arma II mod), 7 Days to Die (2013 Early Access), Don't Starve (2013), Ark: Survival Evolved (2017), DayZ (2018 video game), Rust (2018), among other games. The survival of No Man's Sky, and of this genre of video games, should not be confused with the survival horror sub-genre, which is seen in video games such as Resident Evil and Silent Hill. The survival video game genre, in general, features surviving (in the sense of acquiring food, water, shelter), as well as crafting, and these games often feature open worlds, whereas survival horror video games generally feature a linear gameplay in which resources are limited and the inventory must be managed, making these narrative-driven games, whereas open world survival craft games are generally not narrative-driven.
While No Man's Sky could be described as belonging to the open world survival craft video game, together with games such as Minecraft (2011), Wurm Online (2012), Ark: Survival Evolved (2017) and others, in my own terms, I describe No Man's Sky as being an immersive sandbox simulation video game, as it combines many different simulation systems to create an immersive experience, that is also sandbox in the sense that the game world universe is persistently and dynamically everchanging.
What Is Starfield Like?
Starfield is a role-playing game (RPG) set in an open world (to be more accurate, an open universe). Due to the in-depth character creation, not only regarding visual aspects, but also personality aspects, it is fair to describe Starfield as a role-playing video game, such as The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (2011) and Fallout 4 (2015). Indeed, character customization has become more frequent in large-scale RPGs of the 2010s, such as Star Wars: The Old Republic (2011), Divinity: Original Sin (2014), The Elder Scrolls Online (2014) and Final Fantasy XIV (2014), though many RPGs of this decade also featured preset main characters.
While RPGs with preset main characters are known for having a well-defined, narrative-driven story experience, in general RPGs with character customization allow for more replayability, or for more ways of progressing through the story or adventuring in the game world. This is especially true in the case of The Elder Scrolls video games as these games allow the game character to join different guilds, develop different abilities, and adventure in the game world in different ways throughout the gameplay, effectively resulting in a unique experience. In the case of large-scale RPGs, such as Starfield and The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, it is reasonable to allow players to customize their own game characters instead of featuring a single, preset game character, because in large-scale RPGs there is usually a vast amount of non-player characters (NPCs) to meet, and this relationship between main game character and game world is more comprehensive in the cases in which character customization is featured in the video game. This is not to say that RPGs with preset characters are not immersive, but that in these games the relationship between the main game character and the game world is much more pre-defined (although with multiple options in some cases), whereas in games such as Starfield and The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, which allow character customization, there is some degree of greater freedom in how the main game character is able to approach different situations in the game world.
No Man's Sky vs Starfield: Which Game Has the Bigger Universe?
This is probably one of the most common questions, and perhaps this is one of the most "Starfields vs No Man's Sky"-like questions of the article. I am, most and foremost, an appreciator of video games, and thus I can see the value of each game beyond objective structures. In other words, I do not believe that the enjoyment of the gameplay of a game is directly related to simply the sheer size of its game world, but rather, to a set of different factors, such as world density, immersion, and gameplay variation. While comparing the size of the game universes of Starfield and No Man's Sky is technically possible, I do not believe this comparison gives justice to either of those games, as they have different focuses throughout the gameplay, and I will explain this more in depth throughout the article.
It is interesting to note that both Starfield and No Man's Sky game universes were procedurally-generated. However, it is likely that the procedural generation of each game carries its own identity, and thus these different respective procedural generations are unique in their own terms. In terms of numbers, Starfield features over 10.000 planets (ten thousand planets). No Man's Sky features 1.8x[(10)^19] planets (18 quintillion planets). However, as I said previsouly, only comparing the numbers is not an effective analysis, as the procedural generations in each of these games is different, the gameplay is different, and the universes of each game were created differently. The game character does not adventure in a planet in Starfield the same way the game character adventures in a planet in No Man's Sky, and for this reason, these numbers should not be compared in an effective analysis, but rather, the gameplay should be taken into account, as it is the gameplay that mostly determines what the gameplay experience in these universes is.
Starfield vs No Man's Sky: Gameplay
Perhaps one of the most important questions of this article, the gameplay is often the defining factor when players decide their favorite games. Indeed, this question and its answer guide much of this article. In my opinion, this is perhaps the most important question in a "No Man's Sky vs Starfield", because this question does not relate to "which game is better", which I do not believe is a question that makes sense, but rather to "the difference of each game" and to "in what way is each game unique?".
As I wrote earlier, No Man's Sky is an open world survival craft game, whereas Starfield is an RPG. To be more precise, No Man's Sky features an almost endless universe for the game character to adventure, discovering new locations, gathering resources, crafting equipment and items, and building bases. Starfield, while also featuring an expansive universe to adventure, has a greater focus on character role-playing (hence, its genre), interactions, dialogues, and story-driven narratives. One important difference in this case that makes this distinction uniquely clear is the fact that, while in No Man's Sky the story exists as a background for the gameplay, in Starfield, the story is important enough to engage the game character in direct combat.
Speaking of combat, whereas No Man's Sky features some combat and some action as elements that sometimes appear, Starfield features a more action-oriented combat, quite similar to FPS (first-person shooter) video games. This simarility is seen in the ease of reloading weapons, finding new weapons, and the depth of the weapon system in the game. For these reasons, perhaps Starfield could be described as an RPG with action elements, or even an action RPG for some, whereas No Man's Sky is an open world survival craft video game with action elements. While No Man's Sky features a first-person camera perspective view, it doesn't feature a gameplay similar to the one found in FPS video games, such as the one that is seen in the combat gameplay of Starfield.
Another element that is present in both Starfield and No Man's Sky is crafting. Over the late 2010s, crafting became increasingly present in video games, appearing in multiple genres, going beyond the survival genre and also appearing in RPGs and other genres. While Starfield and No Man's Sky both feature a crafting system, there are some differences, and perhaps the most important difference is the focus each of these games gives to this system.
One interesting fact that displays the difference between how much each game focuses on surviving and crafting is that No Man's Sky has the player character doing most of the "manual work", in regards to managing bases, whereas Starfield allows the game character to hire NPCs (non-player characters) to take care of the base for them. This exemplifies the description of Starfield as a more action-oriented game, in the sense that the player character, not having to manually take care of their base, can focus on moving forward in the game, as opposed to No Man's Sky, which, as other open world survival craft games, presents a continual experience of taking care of a base.
No Man's Sky vs Starfield: Universe
Both Starfield and No Man's Sky video games feature their own universe, which could be interpreted as a unique view into the future of humanity. While some people may argue that both games are set in the future, I am not sure that this affirmative really describes these universes. Instead, I think it is more reasonable to view Starfield's universe and No Man's Sky's universe to be different universes, not related to each other, and not necessarily at the same time period in the future.
To exemplify my point of view, the universe of Starfield, and in particular the human characters, or human non-player characters (NPCs), appear to be a futuristic version of NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) 21st century astronauts. Indeed, visually there is some resemblance between the suits of Starfield's game characters and NASA astronauts of the 21st and the 20th century, in the sense that the suits of Starfield appear to be more developed. This line of reasoning is confirmed by the fact that Starfield is set in 2330.
No Man's Sky, on the contrary, while sharing similarities regarding the suits of the game astronauts with NASA astronauts, does not share the same striking resemblance that is found in Starfield. No Man's Sky astronaut suits appear to be much more the suits of a foreign universe, or the suits of a far and distant future, than the upgraded suits seen in Starfield. For this reason, while I don't know the exact year or time period in which No Man's Sky takes place, I would safely assume that it is either set in a very far future, or in another continuity (in other words, in which time is not counted the same way as it is counted in Starfield).
Also pertinent to the differences between Starfield and No Man's Sky are the differences in the color tonality of each game, also called color palette. There is a clear distinction in the color palette used in these games, or, to be more precise, in the overall tone of each game, presented through its choice of colors. In general, though Starfield certainly features a diverse array of colors and landscapes, it seems to me that No Man's Sky, in general, features a more colorful universe (in the sense that planets and life forms are more varied in color), whereas in Starfield, there is a more sober color palette, less colorful. This is neither a good or a bad thing, this is simply an aspect of style, also called art direction. How colorful a game is is important in defining the tone of the game. This goes in line with the fact that No Man's Sky is an open world survival craft video game, which focuses on adventuring and crafting, whereas Starfield is a more narrative-driven video game with action elements. The color tone chosen for each game reflects also these differences in gameplay focus.
At What Time is Starfield Set?
Starfield is a video game set in the far future. While many games set in the future feature different ways of measuring time and counting years, it seems Starfield uses the standard year system. At one point in the game, the year 2330 is presented. Thus, it is safe to assume that most of Starfield gameplay is set roughly near the year of 2330.
At What Time is No Man's Sky Set?
While I do not know the exact year or time period in which No Man's Sky is set, I think that No Man's Sky could be better viewed as a game that is set in its own fictional universe, in its own time period. For this reason, perhaps, it does not make much sense to think of a specific year regarding No Man's Sky, and instead it should be seen as being set in its own, unique time continuum.
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