If we're planning a year based on unexpected obsessions, mine were (in no particular order) weird Italian genre cinema from the 60s and 70s, an unhealthy appetite for overly complicated physical collector's editions, folk horror in literally any form I could consume, and, obviously, No Man's Sky. According to Steam's usual year-end post, the space exploration sim is by far my most played game of 2025, accounting for—somewhat incredibly—nearly 20 percent of my total playtime.
That might seem like a lot for any game, but it's especially surprising given that No Man's Sky is on the cusp of its tenth anniversary, meaning I've been hanging around its procedural universe for the better part of a decade. This is quite an achievement; I sincerely cannot remember any other thing that has interested me for so long, except perhaps Karl Poppabut it's a strange musical anomaly that even I can't adequately explain.
Carl Grimes' rhymes aside, it's truly been a banner year for No Man's Sky, as developer Hello Games continues to let its imagination run wild by filling in universe-sized gaps around its space sim's traveling core. Back in January, the happy travelers and excursionists among us received significantly more dramatic and realistic landscape creation admire, as well as gas giants and ocean worlds. And almost 12 months later, I still don't find those bottomless, watery depths of suffocating darkness and unseen horrors any less terrifying – which I very much consider a victory.
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And from that moment on, things only got wilder. Never in a million years would I have expected “the opportunity to dig up prehistoric fossils and turn them into skeletal museum pieces” to appear on my 2025 No Man's Sky bingo card, but that's exactly what Paleontology Update for March brought. Even now, when I spot a layer of fossils, I pause briefly, determined to collect them all. Then, of course, the real thing happened: ability to create fully customizable multi-crew spaceships. People went crazy for the project, creating everything from The Simpsons' space Homer to floating floating cities to No Man's Sky. celebrated the highest number of players on Steam since launch as a result. My efforts to build a ship, in case you were wondering, were stalled by the “bulky toaster”, but this my It's a bulky toaster and I still like it.
It was all great – and No Man's Sky recent win at The Game Awards for Best Current Game seems more than deserved, but when I think back on my year in space, it's not the flashy new features that immediately come to mind. Rather, all my memories are harmonious, down to one happy moment repeated over and over again: walking up a hill and discovering the procedural stars lined up to create the appearance of perfect waves; tree-covered hills and swaying meadows, oceans lapping against mountains lost in mist, a patch of untouched sci-fi beauty that can be appreciated in a brief moment of calm before moving on.
I think somewhere along the way, No Man's Sky became my comfort game, a soothing digital respite – with its peaceful solitude and atmospheric procedural beats – from whatever bullshit the world has in store for us in the near future. And while I love the animated buzz of Hello Games' peripheral add-ons, I love the fact that the simple and soothing action wandering – gentle movement and slow laser guidance – if you look at it, remained at the heart of No Man's Sky. I'm currently working on the Expedition events that I missed earlier this year, which were placed so close together that there's little to hide that it's essentially the same thing happening over and over again. But I don't care; it's another reason to log on and take a walk with a vague purpose, so I fire up the next one and find myself back in my happy place.
I recently had a great time adding the finishing touches to my long-running desert base, hanging around planets and gathering resources before heading home to unleash the full power of my decorating prowess, happily brooding over laying out carpets (the base looks great, by the way, but I wouldn't recommend visiting it during a storm if you value your framerate). And yet Hello Games continues to fill the space around me in surprising and unexpected ways. studios the next big thingLight No Fire is getting closer, but whatever that means for No Man's Sky, we're in for another year of exploring this most unpredictable of space sims.
This article is part of our final series, Games of 2025, where we highlight great moments, great games, and our personal favorites of the year. You can read more in our Hub “Games 2025”. Thanks for reading and happy holidays!
