Tag Archives: Exploration

“No Man’s Sky” Leviathan Expedition Review: The Surprising Success of Challenge

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No Man’s Sky, the survival crafting game developed by Hello Games set in a colourful, massive and procedurally-generated universe, has been around for many years. It is long enough for many to have completed its main storyline and fully explored its mechanics.

However, this is where “expeditions” come in. An expedition is a free, temporary game mode with a new storyline with altered mechanics. It is like playing a modded version of the game but with full support from the developer and only available for a limited time.

The current and seventh expedition, “Leviathan”, has five phases, each comprising eight goals. Some goals are story-focused, usually travelling to a point on a planet or using a crafted item. Some are mechanical, like collecting rare items, acquiring a pet or clearing a derelict freighter. A few are community-based and repeatable, encouraging players to help everyone. 

Unlike the regular game, this expedition is rogue-like, meaning you start anew each time you die. You lose inventory, bases and upgrades. However, you can recover unlocked phases and goals, or “memories”, after restarting. Death is more a setback than a reset. 

Leviathan uses survival mechanics. It limits your item stack space per inventory slot. Base building components require more salvaged data to unlock.

Leviathan is challenging. Most quest planets have dangerous conditions, mountainous terrain and aggressive sentinels. Pirate attacks are frequent when flying. Thankfully, completed goals give you the needed tools, such as a Minotaur exosuit and weapon upgrades, but you need the knowledge to use them or risk returning to the expedition’s start.

Progression is faster. Completed phases give copious new slots and almost overpowered upgrades. For example, I had multiple +10,000% scan bonus upgrades, meaning I earned millions of units for scanning one planet’s fauna, flora and wildlife.

These rule changes and restrictions focus the player toward the expedition goals and core mechanics of exploration and travel, not on the ancillary mechanics like base building. It opposed my usual playstyle of relaxed exploration, gathering, hoarding and occasional quest advancement, but it was a refreshing tone shift once I twigged.

The increased challenge is unusual for No Man’s Sky. For example, you can dogfight by pressing two keys: brake and fire. However, this expedition’s difficulty works because the rogue-like death mechanics are otherwise impotent. The expedition is aimed at a limited audience, looking for trophies, and not the broader, more casual player base.

Leviathan’s storyline examines themes of existentialism and the cyclical nature of existence. Story has never been No Man’s Sky‘s focus. However, it integrates well into the mechanics, reinforcing each other, and is consistent with the regular version of No Man’s Sky‘s storyline.

Expeditions like Leviathan invigorate No Man’s Sky, giving players something familiar yet novel. I tried out new weapons and upgrades and cleared a derelict freighter for the first time. Starting again with experienced eyes, accelerated progression and a different purpose is motivating and fun. 

Beyond cosmetics, the reward for successful completion is a biological frigate for your freighter, the titular “Leviathan”. The community goals also encourage people to hang around, building a feeling of community.

No Man’s Sky‘s Leviathan expedition takes about fifteen hours to complete without external assistance, although a few goals may take longer if you are unlucky or unobservant. Old hands will find it rewarding. New players may find its challenges and rogue-like aspects unforgiving.

However, the best thing about expeditions is Hello Games’ continued experimentation, potentially leading to new game features. It also shows that Hello Games can keep delivering frequent, high-quality content for a six year old game without paid DLC. Like many of the No Man’s Sky‘s planets, Hello Games is almost unique. Let’s hope it stays that way.

Beginner Diamondback Explorer (DBX) Exploration Build

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An Elite Dangerous ship build for beginner players.

Goals

The goals are:

  1. Build a ship for exploring. Exploration requires a long jump range to reach distant star systems, a Fuel Scoop for refuelling, a Detailed Surface Scanner (DSS) to map planets and a Planetary Vehicle Hangar to house a Surface Reconnaissance Vehicle (SRV).
  2. The build must be accessible to early-game commanders. It should be cheap and require no engineering, rank, reputation or unlockable ships or modules.

Exploring can easily and quickly earn millions of credits, a huge boost early in the game. While not action-oriented like combat or as lucrative as trade, exploration has the lowest barrier of entry of all the main game loops. It appeals to those looking for a relaxed, self-paced playstyle motivated by seeing and discovering new things. It also gets the player out of their comfort zone by travelling long distances.

Build

Diamondback Explorer Blueprint by CMDR-Arithon (https://swat-portal.com/forum/gallery/image/9458-diamondback-explorer/)

Links: EDSY and Coriolis (have your preferred one open as you read the guide for easy reference)

The Diamondback Explorer is the cheapest of the four best exploration ships, the others being the Anaconda, Krait Phantom and Asp Explorer. 

This build can jump around 37 LY. While jump range is not the only indicator of a good exploration build, it helps. Unlike similar games, exploring in Elite Dangerous requires travelling long distances. Fewer jumps mean reaching the destination sooner.

If the just over 10 million credit cost is too high, B-rate the Frame Shift Drive and Fuel Scoop. This change halves the cost but significantly reduces the jump range. Upgrade as soon as you can afford to do so.

Finding a station that sells everything can be a challenge. Early- to mid-game players will not have access to Jameson Memorial station in Shinrarta Dezhra. Thankfully, both EDSY and Coriolis link to EDDB, locating nearby stations selling this build’s ship and modules. 

Exploration:

  1. Frame Shift Drive: The 5A Frame Shift Drive grants the longest jump range possible. Once you can, add the Increased Range blueprint and Mass Manager experimental effect. Even a grade one will have a marked improvement. The double engineered version from a human technology broker is even better but requires harder to find materials. The Fuel Scoop means you can keep jumping as long as scoopable stars are within range.
  2. Lightest core internals: The rest of the core internals are as light as possible (D-rated) or even lower classes. This decision has little noticeable effect except for only boosting every 28 seconds.
  3. Exploration essentials: A Detailed Surface Scanner (DSS) maps planets for credits, identifies points of interest and creates the geological/biological heatmap. A Planetary Vehicle Hanger facilitates surface activities like material gathering.
  4. Empty optional internals: This build intentionally leaves several optional slots empty. They are not needed and can add weight. 
  5. Empty hardpoints and utility mounts: As with optional internals, this build runs from fights.
  6. Artemis suit for exobiology: Not technically part of the build, but grab an Artemis suit before setting out. Exobiology is a great excuse to get out of your ship, earn a few extra credits and watch the sunrise on alien worlds. 

Variations

  1. Longer exploration trips: Add a Heat Sink Launcher to minimize heat damage when caught in a star’s exclusion zone. Advanced Field Maintenance Units (AFMU) can repair module damage caused by heat or Frame Shift Drive damage caused by fuel scooping neutron stars or white dwarfs. Two AFMUs mean they can fix each other if needed.
  2. Rare commodity hauler: Fill the empty slots with cargo racks. This change turns this build into a passable long-distance hauler, suitable for rare commodities. The selling price of rare commodities increases the further you sell them from their point of sale. It can also help with long-distance cargo hauling for community goals.
  3. Rescue ship: Add a Rescue Multi Limpet Controller and a Cargo Rack for limpets. This variant can refuel or repair other commanders.

Tactics

  1. Initial exploration: If the goal is to learn exploration mechanics or early cash, find high population systems in the bubble and map earthlike words and anything terraformable using the DSS. While many systems’ bodies are already in the navigation computer, no bodies are pre-mapped. You can earn over a million credits per mapped earthlike world.
  2. Seeing the sights: Elite Dangerous’s galaxy has many natural wonders. For example, visit a nearby black hole, like at Maia. Travel to the nearest neutron star, Jackson’s Lighthouse, then neutron jump back. Visit the famed red giant Beetlegeuse and fuel scoop outside the orbit of the innermost planet. The codex has many suggestions.
  3. Find the lore: Elite Dangerous has lots of lore but finding it requires effort. Abandoned settlements, ghost megaships and tourist beacons are plentiful. EDDB (https://eddb.io/attraction) has an easily searchable list.
  4. Exploration rank and credits: Following lists of high-value star systems can quickly earn exploration rank and credits. These include the Alpha Orbital “Road to Riches” (https://www.alpha-orbital.com/pathfinder) and Spansh (https://spansh.co.uk/riches).
  5. Engineer unlocks: Travelling long distances away from your starting location unlocks some engineers. Elvira Martuuk requires 300 LY and Professor Palin requires 5000 LY. An exploration build such as this is ideal for such long trips. 

“FAR: Changing Tides” Review

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FAR: Changing Tides, a casual puzzle platformer developed by Okomotive, is the sequel to the popular FAR: Lone Sails. Set in the same world, you play a child on a sea journey whose purpose gradually reveals itself.

Most of the game’s controls and puzzles are straightforward and deducible by trial and error. Buttons or actionable items have a distinctive cyan colour and, later in the game, yellow lights direct the player’s focus. While movement feels unrestricted, most areas present only a few actual options to the player. Getting stuck is usually caused by insufficient exploration or wrong assumptions. “Breaking” a puzzle or losing required items is impossible.

The puzzles’ goals are usually progression, usually travelling from left to right. However, sometimes solving puzzles improves your ship, such as adding an engine or a new mode of transport. Sometimes they hint more about the world, such as revealing a diorama or a painting.

The game is short, containing about five to six hours of playtime. While that may dissuade some from its undiscounted price, the design of FAR: Changing Tides is economical and efficient. Mechanics are introduced, practised then the game moves on without overdoing them. Lengthening the game would not necessarily have made it better.

As with the previous game, FAR: Changing Tides separates puzzle areas with long stretches of travel. Your ship’s controls are puzzles themselves, like tacking the sails against the wind or powering the engine. Once the controls are mastered, these travel stretches give you short breaks, temporarily immersing yourself in the world via the backgrounds and soundtrack. 

FAR: Changing Tides tells its story by implication and subtle reference. The flooded world drowned humanity’s cities and towns, but the strewn detritus shows the flood’s ferocity and suddenness. The unnamed protagonist encounters no living humans, only hints of their existence.

FAR: Changing Tides continues the retrofuturistic “dieselpunk” feel of FAR: Lone Sails, putting 1930s through 50s aesthetics on advanced technology. Desaturated colours and dull, rendered plaster buildings are typical of that era and make the world feel bleak. The rusting carcasses of humanity’s leviathan mechanical creations dot the landscape. Some are almost organic, and you can hear a faint heartbeat when nearby.

This desolation contrasts with the game’s naturalistic moments. Nature continues. The deer, birds and sea life are oblivious to your and humanity’s struggles. Glimpses of bioluminescent jellyfish or rays through your ship’s glass bottom or distant whales are wondrous moments.

FAR: Changing Tides, as implied, is about the younger generation reacting to contemporary issues like climate change. The protagonist is a child, forced to undertake a journey to build a better life. He or she finds toys like wooden stags, music boxes and stuffed ducks but cannot play with them, forced to grow up early to confront older generations’ hubris.

The protagonist demonstrates how the newer generation views the world. He or she does not blame technology – it is unclear in FAR: Changing Tides what caused the flood. Technology is something the new generation masters early and is vital to survival. The ship even looks like one a child might draw. The ending shows the new generation’s focus on each other and subversively ties it back to FAR: Lone Sails.

However, FAR: Changing Tides could have appealed to our senses more. While the game’s engine has moved from predominantly 2D to wholely 3D – and shows it off at the end – much of the extensive backgrounds are simple and blandly textured. The developers are going for a stylized, cheap-to-develop aesthetic. However, desaturated does not mean uninteresting. The soundtrack adds emotion and context to otherwise empty moments but lacks memorable motifs or consistency.  

The casual puzzle platform genre also has limits. Its puzzles are too simple for someone wanting a challenge. The storytelling is too subtle for those looking for clear themes. Experienced gamers enjoy these short diversions but the gaming landscape continues to expand and diversify beyond puzzle platformers.

That said, FAR: Changing Tides is a worthy successor to FAR: Lone Sails, developing its novel vehicle operation mechanic enough to feel different but still comfortable. Those looking for a casual but not overly taxing game will enjoy it, especially if you fondly remember FAR: Lone Sails.

“A Short Hike” Review

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A Short Hike is an exploration game with resource gathering, light puzzling and a few quests. You play as Claire, an anthropomorphic bird, who travelled to an island with her Aunt May, a local ranger. The goal is to climb Hawk’s Peak, the island‘s mountain and namesake.

Connecting with people along the way is where this game shines. Fuelled by childish naivety and a good heart, Claire’s every interaction is curt but cheerful, helpful and lacks any conflict or aggression. She never judges people, even those ripping her off, with seeming silly superstitions or realising their shortcomings.

A Short Hike does not challenge the player, letting them explore, advance, or backtrack freely. Quests are not tracked in a quest log, reducing pressure to complete them. Most are completed by a keen eye when exploring or chatting honestly and openly to everyone you meet.

Some minigames, like “beachstickball” or parkour sections, require some effort but are optional and fun. Sometimes you just glide over the foggy landscape and relax. The light, upbeat soundtrack supports the cheery atmosphere, and the pixelated art style keeps the game non-serious, almost retro.

A Short Hike is an allegory on life. One may start with a goal (reaching Hawk’s Peak), but life happens on the way. We often need to deviate (such as to acquire golden feathers and learn how to climb, glide or run). We frequently get side-tracked to help others (quests) or satisfy short term goals (the many side paths or shortcuts). While others can appreciate our achievements, introspection determines how important a goal was. Everyone’s journey is different. Perspective and experience help tackle and cushion us from life’s ups and downs.

What elevates A Short Hike is its unashamedly uplifting outlook and minimalist but effective game design. It is a non-challenging and quickly completed (3 hours to see most of it) ray of sunshine that runs counter to the grit, darkness, or moral ambiguity common in modern media.

“Subnautica: Below Zero” Review

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Subnautica: Below Zero

Subnautica: Below Zero is the latest survival horror game from Unknown Worlds. Originally a mod for the successful Subnautica, this game is more evolutionary than revolutionary. However, it continues to deliver the almost perfect combination of exploration, tension, frustration, achievement and wonder as the original.

You play Robin Ayou, a xenologist investigating her sister’s death. The game starts by jumping out of an orbiting spacecraft over planet 4546B, the same as Subnautica, amidst a meteor shower. After a quick scramble to the safety and warmth of the ocean, the game settles into a more sedate pace driven by the player.

While Subnautica: Below Zero has a storyline, it only serves to bookend the core game loop. The player’s curiosity and experiences drive the real story. While the voice-acted log entries from previous inhabitants flesh out the world and give context, a narrow escape from a leviathan is far more memorable.

The game loop consists of exploring the environment, avoiding threats, gathering materials then crafting tools, vehicles and bases to venture further. Robin starts with minimal resources and capabilities but has a Star Trek-like fabricator to prepare food and create tools.

The game loop’s freedom occasionally frustrates. If you miss a cave that leads to the next area or a fabricator blueprint to progress, there may be few hints to guide you.

The game’s setting moves from the sunny tropics into the frigid arctic. Some biomes are familiar from Subnautica, like the safe shallows and kelp forest, and some are new, like the vertical ecosystem of the lilypad islands and fantastic, disorienting crystal caves. The move allows some rebalancing. For example, the oxygen plant replaces brain coral, switching a permanent source of oxygen for a temporary one when doing “the bends”-defying freedives.

However, the main reason for the move is mechanical. The game needs equivalent challenges on land as underwater. Moving the setting to the arctic replaces the standard underwater oxygen meter with a hypothermia meter and oxygen plants with steam vents. Add aggressive fauna, exploitable flora and the Snowfox, a hoverbike, and you have a challenging, rewarding and intuitive environment to explore.

The flippancy implied above does not mean the on land environment lacks thought or care. For example, the thermal lillies found near Robin’s initial crash site keep Robin warm, subtly teach the player to leverage their environment, provide something to scan and reinforce the planet’s alienness. There is a trick to counter each land predator, which Robin can discover through trial and error, old logs or fabricable blueprints. Pengwings and penglings are cute, and the robotic spy pengwing has the right mixture of retro-futurism and novelty. The fast-changing weather means players must be on their toes or risk disorientation.

As for below the water, the map is smaller both laterally and vertically than Subnautica. Many areas are claustrophobically narrow and maze-like. Getting lost is easy. Players should carry extra food, water and supplies just in case. Beacons and scanning rooms also help.

The smaller map and narrower spaces dictated vehicle changes from Subnautica to Subnautica: Below Zero. The modular and practical sea truck replaces the mammoth cyclops, which would be too large to manoeuvre, and the zippy sea moth, whose speed would highlight the smaller map. Sonar, required to navigate the open spaces of the original game at night, is no longer needed.

The developers have crafted a sensory experience similar to games like Abzu or Beyond Blue. I often stopped and listened to the gentle sound of rain on the water’s surface, swam with the glow whales or marvelled at aurorae. The colours are oversaturated, making the world feel vibrant and “larger than life”. Each biome also has a distinct colour palette, helping segregate them or the player locate themselves at a glance.

The soundtrack is very similar to the original. Extended, sweeping chords give the impression of the vast unknown. The initial songs use electronic instruments, providing a science fiction feel. “Artic Peeper”, for example, reminds me of the Mass Effect series’ citadel music. However, later tracks give way to xylophones, claves and drums, creating a more primitive, haunting and naturalistic feel.

Subnautica: Below Zero’s themes are subtle. When zipping along in the sea truck, failing to dodge the oblivious and slow swimming fish, I considered humanity’s impact on planet 4546B. Experiencing the natural wonders through Robin’s eyes is only possible because her technology and resource gathering did not materially impact the environment. Can humanity have its cake and eat it, too? The game’s nonviolence and the lack of weapons are also well-publicized.

While the game’s genre is “survival horror”, Subnautica was more effective at generating tension and dread. Perhaps this was my meta-game thinking, but the predators and environmental hazards felt more challenging than frightening. No biomes matched the old blood kelp biome. Predator roars lost their impact from overuse and could have been more distinct.

The relative lack of Subnautica: Below Zero’s new content and ideas is more a testament to the original’s strength than the new game’s unoriginality. The third-party music tracks discoverable for the in-game jukebox are a tribute to the original’s popularity and impact. Those looking for an encore with a new map, residents and story will be pleased. A straight play through the storyline takes about 20 hours. However, most will take far longer as they explore every inch of the environment at their own pace. Remember to play with the pengwings!

“Elite Dangerous” Review

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Elite Dangerous promotional image

Elite Dangerous is a space trading, exploration and combat simulator released in December 2014 and regularly updated since then. Based on the 1984 Elite that seemingly crammed a galaxy into 64KB, Elite Dangerous expands this to a massively multiplayer online (MMO) game with modern graphics and gameplay.

You play a pilot flying a single spacecraft. You start with a small fighter, then work your way up via combat, exploring, trading, mining, ferrying passengers and completing missions to earn larger, better or more specialized ships. The Horizon expansion adds landing on planets, driving a ground vehicle and limited multi-crew. The upcoming Odyssey expansion adds “space legs”, allowing pilots to leave their vehicles and walk around space stations and some planet surfaces.

Elite Dangerous is set in the Milky Way galaxy. All of it. As you zoom out on the galaxy map for the first time, its sheer enormity becomes apparent. The game is set a bit after the year 3300, where humanity has colonized “the bubble” around 150 lightyears from Earth, encompassing over 20,000 inhabited star systems. However, 400 billion stars are accessible, backed by hard science, where possible, and procedural generation, otherwise. Looking at the sky and realizing you can travel to most visible stars is a humbling experience.

Life in the Milky Way is not static. Like many space trading games, an economic and political simulation underpins Elite Dangerous. Perform enough missions for your favourite faction or fight along one side in a war and see the borders shift and economies wax and wane. Although more as a backdrop to weekly in-game events than a narrative, there are also ongoing events and lore.

While the original Elite’s graphics were appropriate for their time, it left a lot to the imagination. Elite Dangerous’s renders planets, nebulae, gas clouds, asteroids and other stellar objects beautifully. It has spawned a whole stellar cartography and photography community.

Stations’, settlements’ and ships’ beautiful graphics have an industrial, semi-realistic aesthetic. Space stations are gorgeously detailed, with triangular reinforcement struts, flashing warning lights and BladeRunner-like holographic advertising. Ships’ thrusters fire realistically as they manoeuvre. Lasers rake glowings arcs of molten yellow-orange metal on ships’ hulls.

The sound design is also exemplary. Ships have distinctive sounds. You can hear the subtle creaks and vibrations as a ship decelerates into a planet’s atmosphere or the shudders and groans as a landing pad retracts into a space station. Closing your eyes as you dock with a station reveals many small sound effects that add so much.

Unlike many games, Elite Dangerous’ soundtrack is more atmospheric and ambient than inspiring and memorable. One notable exception is the rousing orchestral choral theme for a capital ship jumping into a conflict zone. It is reminiscent of John Williams’s scores to any of the Star Wars films. Another exception is Straus’s “Blue Danube”. It plays whenever auto-docking and is a nod to the similar scene in 2001: A Space Odyssey and the original Elite.

While I play with neither, Elite Dangerous is considered one of the premier examples of virtual reality (VR) and using a HOTAS (Hands-On Thrust and Stick). Using both apparently creates an immersive experience few games can match.

I usually choose single-player games (note the blog’s name) with more apparent stories or themes. At first glance, Elite Dangerous does not fit that mould.

Instead, Elite Dangerous is an example of great game design. Despite some lingering bugs, Elite Dangerous consists of many different games strung together. At the lowest level are the simple mechanics like targeting, shooting and manoeuvring. The game combines these into dynamics like combat, exploration and trading. Above them, you have more abstract and strategic activities like advancement, supporting in-game factions or galactic superpowers. It reminds me of how Paradox Interactive, the developer of games like Crusader Kings and Europa: Universalis, builds games.

This breadth allows players to construct their own goals. One goal could be working toward an expensive or reputation-locked ship. Another could be travelling to the edges of the galaxy. Many choose to focus on the combat, whether it be against NPC opponents or other players.

While Elite Dangerous is an MMO, you can still play solo or with small groups of friends. I spent my first several weeks solo, but I still rarely interacted with a human even after “graduating” to open play. Almost all content is soloable. Even PvE content seemingly made for cooperation, like fighting aliens introduced in the recent expansion, is frequently soloed.

That does not mean players are absent. While the game economies and politics are not player-centric like in Eve Online, there are many thriving squadrons and player groups, both for good and bad. PVP-focused players frequent star systems where others congregate, praying on the weak. By comparison, the “Fuel Rats” is a group of volunteer players who help those that have run out of fuel.

Meanwhile, Elite Dangerous’s greatest strength and biggest weakness is its demand for self-discovery. While there are some tutorials, players must learn most of the game’s mechanics themselves, either through player-generated content or trial and error. Even seemingly basic things like landing a spacecraft are difficult for first-time players. This demand attracts some but repulses many.

Elite Dangerous delivers a form of retro-futuristic nostalgia. The crackly radio transmissions you overhear are reminiscent of the attenuated analogue radio used during the moon landing. Spacecraft fly like World War II or Korean era fighters, at least until you turn off “flight assist”. All text in the user interface is uppercase like early computers.

With a few exceptions like faster than light travel, Elite Dangerous is about a realistic simulation of the future as you can find. In its future, artificial gravity does not exist, meaning spinning space stations or. Physics rules spaceflight and spaceship modifications. Make it heavier and your spacecraft will be slower and less manoeuvrable. Space is big. Travelling, even with a faster than light drive, takes time.

Elite Dangerous is a game for serious space fans willing to invest time learning the game. It is also for those comfortable setting their path. Those looking for something thematic or more casual will find it unfulfilling.

Why did I play this game? I remember watching Carl Sagan’s Cosmos as a young child. He talked of a ship of the imagination, allowing you to travel to only dreamt places. Elite Dangerous provides that. I felt the joyous wonder when I first jumped into a system, seeing the kineticism of hurtling toward a star when decelerating. I felt it when I saw my first black hole and the light lensing around it. I felt it seeing starlight reflecting off an alien gas giant at sunrise, illuminating a ring of asteroids. Elite Dangerous is for those happy to head to the “second star to the right and straight on ‘til morning”.