‘No Man’s Sky’ A Different Game After Day-One Patch, Turns Early Impressions On Its Head

Even as the game’s release date draws near, it seems that there is no shortage of issues related to “No Man’s Sky.” From a leaked version of the game ruining years of hard work to panic caused by inaccurate reports regarding review copies, “Hello Games” has had a lot to contend with. With the sandbox space exploration title’s day-one patch, however, the developers made some major changes that practically erased the relevance of concerns directed at “No Man’s Sky.”

The day-one patch was a significant move by “Hello Games” because it involved adding some new features, making some changes and fixing some problems that were attributed to early (read: unofficial/unfinished) versions of the game, Kotaku reports. The list of changes that “Hello Games” made is listed on their website, and they include three unique paths that players can choose from, increased diversity, and improvements on the survival aspect.

Among the troubles that the game ran into including the leaked version that was bought for $1,300. The buyer then proceeded to post their impressions of the game and caused alarm among fans due to the bugs that they supposedly ran into. Then there was the debacle caused by OpenCritic’s decision to publish an article last week, talking about the lack of early review copies of “No Man’s Sky.”

As it turns out, review copies were actually in the works and OpenCritic simply jumped the gun on the issue. As far as the impressions regarding the leaked version go, patient players who waited until “Hello Games” actually released the title will be treated to what is actually the version that the developers were aiming for thanks to the day-one patch.

In terms of the importance of the patch, an article posted over at Polygon explains why “Hello Games” was forced to do this and why it’s just an expected part of the industry now. Basically, the leaked copy of the game should have no bearing on player decisions to buy the game nor does it paint the whole picture of what the game is about.