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.
Some abandoned freighters and derelict wrecks feature dark, tense environments with biological threats and unsettling atmosphere.
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.
The overarching Atlas storyline touches on existential ideas of mortality, memory, and being a construct in a simulated universe, kept abstract and non-graphic.
Players may act as pirates, attacking freighters and trade convoys and raiding cargo, which triggers a Sentinel wanted response.
Procedurally generated creatures can be scanned, fed, or killed with the multi-tool for resources as an ordinary survival mechanic.
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.
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.
Balanced Play pools your kids' game time into one budget across Steam, Switch, PlayStation, Xbox and more. We're taking 100 founding families — free for life.
Claim a founding spot →Free for life for the first 100. No card, no spam.