No Man's Sky

Moderate overall intensity
Highest flag: Substances — player uses or trades
AdventureSci-fiSurvival

What's in it

Substances player uses or trades
High

A planet plant called Nip Nip, an unmistakable cannabis joke down to harvesting its "buds", can be gathered, farmed in the player's own base garden, and sold to traders for profit as a commodity. No character is ever shown taking drugs or drinking.

Horror & psychological frightening
Moderate

Some abandoned freighters and derelict wrecks feature dark, tense environments with biological threats and unsettling atmosphere.

Violence cartoon/stylized
Low

Stylized sci-fi combat using a mining multi-tool laser and ship weapons against robotic Sentinels, hostile creatures, and space pirates; no blood or gore.

Dark themes mild
Low

The overarching Atlas storyline touches on existential ideas of mortality, memory, and being a construct in a simulated universe, kept abstract and non-graphic.

Crime & lawlessness crime depicted
Low

Players may act as pirates, attacking freighters and trade convoys and raiding cargo, which triggers a Sentinel wanted response.

Animal combat combat mechanic
Low

Procedurally generated creatures can be scanned, fed, or killed with the multi-tool for resources as an ordinary survival mechanic.

Who can reach your kid

Voice chatChat with strangersGifting / trading

What it is

No Man's Sky is a first- or third-person space exploration and survival game set in a vast procedurally generated universe of quintillions of planets. Players mine resources, manage a survival exosuit, upgrade ships and tools, build bases, trade with alien lifeforms, and can follow a loose main story about a mysterious entity called The Atlas. Content is mild: stylized sci-fi combat against wildlife, space pirates, and robotic Sentinels with little blood and no gore, occasional tense or eerie environments on hostile planets, and the option to play as a pirate raiding ships. There is no sexual content, nudity, profanity, substances, or gambling, and no in-game purchases. Online multiplayer with voice and text chat is available.

How it's framed

The game frames its experience around wonder, exploration, and self-directed survival rather than conflict; combat is largely optional and defensive, and the narrative leans toward awe and contemplation of an infinite universe.

Details

Developer
Hello Games
Publisher
Hello Games
Released
Aug 12, 2016
Metacritic 61critic score (third-party) · out of 100

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