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No Man’s Sky got off to a rocky start but has since developed into a titan of the sci-fi genre. With a procedurally generated universe to explore and plenty of cool ships to fly, NMS offers hundreds, if not thousands, of hours of entertainment. Thanks to Starfield, players now have a new galaxy to investigate, so it’s worth considering which Starfield mechanics would work best in NMS. Despite the major differences between Bethesda’s RPG and Hello Games’ space sandbox, many features would transfer extremely well. Here are the top Starfield mechanics that No Man’s Sky needs most, ranked from good to desperately needed additions.
5. Traits
No Man’s Sky players can choose to explore the galaxy as a Gek, Korvax, or Vy’keen. The choice of race adds a lot to roleplay and cosmetic options, but unfortunately, there’s no mechanical difference. The result is that one character ends up feeling pretty much the same as every other. Given how long NMS has been around, messing with the races themselves would be a bad idea at this point, but there’s another solution. Starfield allows players to choose up to three Traits for their character. You can be an Empath, Hero Worshipped, or Taskmaster; every choice sets you apart from other characters. Traits would be one of the best Starfield mechanics to deepen gameplay in NMS without messing up existing systems.
4. Boarding Parties
Starfield has some fantastic dogfights. Shifting energy to different systems, regulating your speed, and blasting away with multiple weapons all feel great. There are several Starfield mechanics that NMS could learn from when it comes to space combat, but boarding is arguably the best. After disabling an enemy’s engines, the player can board their ship like a true pirate. You’ll have a fight on your hands once you break in, but if you survive, you can sail away with a free ship. No Man’s Sky has always been about exploration over combat, but adding boarding party mechanics like in Starfield would be a great way to deepen the game’s battles.
3. Weapon Modding
No Man’s Sky already has weapon modding of a sort, but Starfield mechanics go further. Whereas the former game only allows the player to alter the effect of weapons, Starfield allows players to alter their weapons’ look as well. Having to trek across the universe in the hopes of finding a gun that looks the way you look doesn’t feel great. Even if you find something that’s close, it might not be exactly right. No Man’s Sky should either bind stat mods to cosmetic alterations or allow the player to mod the looks of their character’s gear independent of its stats. Yes, this system clashes with NMS’s procedural generation philosophy, but it sure would be nice.
2. Powers
Without spoiling anything, at a certain point in Starfield, the player unlocks unique powers they can use to complement their gunplay. These range from altering gravity and changing the atmosphere to dashing and throwing energy balls. Each offers a fun twist on conventional combat, as they can be mixed and matched at will. NMS isn’t a pure combat game and doesn’t want to be. That doesn’t change the fact that combat is one of the game’s weakest points. Introducing something other than just guns to battle would go a long way toward deepening the strategic options and helping maintain the excitement over a long playthrough.
1. Skills
Mechanically, only three things separate one NMS character from another: their suit, ship, and Multi-Tool. The problem is that multiple playthroughs of NMS tend to feel more or less the same. Every character can be good at everything, given enough time. Skills are the Starfield mechanic that would combat that feeling the most. In Bethesda’s sci-fi epic, you can be a scientist, gunfighter, or ace pilot, but not everything at once. The expansive skill tree forces each character to either specialize or live as a jack-of-all-trades, master of none.
Starfield is available now for PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
