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No Man's Sky got a huge 'Outlaws' update and works well on Steam Deck

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No Man's Sky, a Steam Deck Verified title that also works great on Linux desktops with Steam Play Proton recently got another massive free update. Hello Games have well and truly shown how to recover from a rough launch, it's now such a completely different game.

Quite a lot is new with this update adding in the likes of overhauled space combat, a new pirate underworld, a new solar ship class (the first new ship class in a long time), you can hire wingmen, smuggle around naughty goods, there's new and more impressive explosions, pirate raids, frigate fleets that will fly overhead, an overhaul to warp and engine effects of all frigates and freighters, in-atmosphere combat and much more.

Their new trailer can be seen below:

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Want to see how it can run on a Steam Deck? Good news, I have just the video you need to see after messing around with it for a while. It's interesting, as No Man's Sky was a title a tried quite a few times during my original Steam Deck Review, where it really didn't run well, even after their Steam Deck update. Going back to it just recently though? It's like a different world, as it does perform quite a lot better. Still has plenty of frame drops when loading in new bits but it's now actually enjoyable.

Here's quite a few minutes of it:

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I think I'm going to be playing a whole lot more of this.

You can buy No Man's Sky from Humble Store and Steam

Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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I am the owner of GamingOnLinux. After discovering Linux back in the days of Mandrake in 2003, I constantly came back to check on the progress of Linux until Ubuntu appeared on the scene and it helped me to really love it. You can reach me easily by emailing GamingOnLinux directly. Find me on Mastodon.
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8 comments

ExpandingMan Apr 13, 2022
Hello Games really does not want me to uninstall this game.

Aside from simply being a lot of fun, No Man's Sky is great at showing off how perfectly windows games can run on linux if they are compiled with vulkan in the first place and serves as a great example for the message to send to game developers: "It doesn't really matter if you have a linux native version or not, just compile with vulkan!"
Quill Apr 13, 2022
Quoting: ExpandingManHello Games really does not want me to uninstall this game.

The game is full of bugs. Disappearing buildings in my base, spontaneous terraforming and constant loosing of hours of progress (sever issues?) made the otherwise great game unplayable for me (I played vanilla, Sentinel war).

On easy difficulty it is great fun, but do not try to struggle in the survival mode or even the hardcore.
The game rules on higher difficulty are way better, but the bug bites are much more itchy...

Wait for the discount and you could be totally happy.
syxbit Apr 13, 2022
Quoting: Quill
Quoting: ExpandingManHello Games really does not want me to uninstall this game.

The game is full of bugs. Disappearing buildings in my base, spontaneous terraforming and constant loosing of hours of progress (sever issues?) made the otherwise great game unplayable for me (I played vanilla, Sentinel war).

On easy difficulty it is great fun, but do not try to struggle in the survival mode or even the hardcore.
The game rules on higher difficulty are way better, but the bug bites are much more itchy...

Wait for the discount and you could be totally happy.

I wonder how many linux games also have a console. I'm always stuck deciding whether to get something on Steam or PS4/PS5.
No Man's Sky is highly regarded on PS5. Are your bugs related to the Steam version, or Steam via Proton?
Nezchan Apr 13, 2022
Quoting: Quill
Quoting: ExpandingManHello Games really does not want me to uninstall this game.

The game is full of bugs. Disappearing buildings in my base, spontaneous terraforming and constant loosing of hours of progress (sever issues?) made the otherwise great game unplayable for me (I played vanilla, Sentinel war).

On easy difficulty it is great fun, but do not try to struggle in the survival mode or even the hardcore.
The game rules on higher difficulty are way better, but the bug bites are much more itchy...

Wait for the discount and you could be totally happy.

Weird, I've played on survival and haven't noticed much of that at all. I did have a problem with one of the story quests having a target inside a volcano and thus inaccessible, but that was the worst of it. And I managed to reset that quest just by hopping through a black hole and trying again.

I think the worst thing for me is how utterly boring the main quest is, which is an overall design problem. So much of the game is about exploring individual planets and doing things there, but the main storyline (should you choose to follow it) heavily encourages you to *not* do that, but hop from system to system instead, not wasting more time than necessary at any particular one. And that doesn't depend a bit on difficulty.
Nezchan Apr 13, 2022
What I'm hoping for after this is to see the space stations and planetary bases overhauled a bit. Right now they're about as exciting as airport waiting areas. Which I suppose they are, in a way.

And maybe the language learning, which I do enjoy but could stand improvement.
Quill Apr 14, 2022
Quoting: syxbitNo Man's Sky is highly regarded on PS5. Are your bugs related to the Steam version, or Steam via Proton?
it was Steam version. I hope it's true, I am something like weak Linux (ab)user :)
but the errors was recreated on Win 10 and 11 too. We experienced the issues with lost progress only in multiplayer to non hosting players. The save spot (or what is the correct name for it) did not work right.

Try to edit wires in the building and you will see the disappearing of things. (the workaround for this one is not to edit, just to delete the wire and never edit/delete wires/furniture around expensive equipment).


Quoting: NezchanSo much of the game is about exploring individual planets and doing things there, but the main storyline (should you choose to follow it) heavily encourages you to *not* do that, but hop from system to system instead, not wasting more time than necessary at any particular one. And that doesn't depend a bit on difficulty.

So I played it wrong :) I have been building bases on every planet I liked a tiny bit and identifying everything in the system before I moved on... hmmm...

I found main story broken (the goals was not generated, or maybe it was generated deep in the solid rock) right at the start and I did not try to reset it and continue with it.

I don't want to make an impression the game is bad! The game is beautiful, fun and full of content (1/4 discount on Steam right now ;) ).
scaine Apr 14, 2022
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Quoting: Quill
Quoting: syxbitNo Man's Sky is highly regarded on PS5. Are your bugs related to the Steam version, or Steam via Proton?
it was Steam version. I hope it's true, I am something like weak Linux (ab)user :)
but the errors was recreated on Win 10 and 11 too. We experienced the issues with lost progress only in multiplayer to non hosting players. The save spot (or what is the correct name for it) did not work right.

Try to edit wires in the building and you will see the disappearing of things. (the workaround for this one is not to edit, just to delete the wire and never edit/delete wires/furniture around expensive equipment).


Quoting: NezchanSo much of the game is about exploring individual planets and doing things there, but the main storyline (should you choose to follow it) heavily encourages you to *not* do that, but hop from system to system instead, not wasting more time than necessary at any particular one. And that doesn't depend a bit on difficulty.

So I played it wrong :) I have been building bases on every planet I liked a tiny bit and identifying everything in the system before I moved on... hmmm...

I found main story broken (the goals was not generated, or maybe it was generated deep in the solid rock) right at the start and I did not try to reset it and continue with it.

I don't want to make an impression the game is bad! The game is beautiful, fun and full of content (1/4 discount on Steam right now ;) ).

Sounds like you've had a really hard time! In 130 hours, I've experienced a single bug, where a completed (side) quest stayed active, even though I got the reward and it didn't block anything.

Agree with how dull the main quest gets, but it's pretty good until it asks you to do the system-hopping. I never bothered with that. I completed the other two primary quest lines as far as they could go, and when I got to the point where the third primary quest line asks you to system hop, I realised the game had turned into Elite:Dangerous and I uninstalled it.

It's a great game overall though - thoroughly enjoyed my time in it. Outlaws isn't enough of a pull to play it again so soon (I only un-installed it last month), but it'll be a nice addition when I decide I want to revisit it later.
Quill Apr 14, 2022
Quoting: scaineSounds like you've had a really hard time!
I consider myself lucky :)

I asked few more friends how they enjoyed the game and if their experience was near to mine. They did and it was not.

Me and my group mates are bunch of wierdos doing strange things... It could be taken to consideration :D
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