PC No Man's Sky NEXT vs Empyrion

Roland

Roland

Community Moderator
I've owned Empyrion for 3 years. I got it as soon as it released to Early Access and loved it for a little while. But, it got old fast. I haven't played very much for the last two and half years other than every once in awhile loading it up to superficially look at the changes.

This past week I stayed with my brother-in-law and he owns No Man's Sky for the PS4 so I tried it out and it was a lot of fun. I played the survival mode and it was a tough lethal experience. I even let it update to the NEXT version over night one night and although I got a bit confused by some of the changes it was still lots of fun. So I started feeling tempted to buy it--especially as it is on sale.

But then I came home and feeling an itch to play "a game like that" I went ahead and loaded up Empyrion and it was pretty fun again and there was a whole lot more to it than the last time I played. It didn't feel as lethal as No Man's Sky though. But it was fun.

So what do people think who own both? Do you have fun playing both? Does one kill the other? Should I just keep waiting for No Man Sky and content myself with Empyrion since it seems fun again? Should I snag No Man Sky quickly (during the next 12 hours) before the sale ends?

 
So what do people think who own both? Do you have fun playing both? Does one kill the other? Should I just keep waiting for No Man Sky and content myself with Empyrion since it seems fun again? Should I snag No Man Sky quickly (during the next 12 hours) before the sale ends?
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I have both games. I can not play Empirion, it's a very raw game. But I loved No Man's Sky. I recommend buying this game. This game is very interesting now.

 
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I liked Empyrion v6 a lot. 7 was ok, but the changes to mining took some getting used to. Once you had enough auto-minters, it was game over. 8 I'm not as happy with. Getting started is a lot harder, and it's less fun. If something happens and you die, you're almost completely hosed.

NMS, overall is like Ark, but in space, and with no static maps. I love the interface, and how things work. It can be a real challenge starting, especially if you're on the toxic or ice planet when you first spawn. It's not that hard to grasp though, and looks like it will have a lot of replay-ability.

I managed to talk a friend into getting it an joining me, but the challenge for them was even harder than it was for me. They basically spawned on top of a plant that was trying to kill them in the toxic planet. They didn't stand a chance.

The biggest issue with NMS, is the lack of guidance when you start. Once you get past that hiccup, it's golden.

 
Okay. Thanks guys. I’ve decided to wait for the Fall sale. I’ll give Empyrion a few more plays and then upgrade to NMS.

 
Okay. Thanks guys. I’ve decided to wait for the Fall sale. I’ll give Empyrion a few more plays and then upgrade to NMS.
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Not sure where folks think there's no guidance.. the guidance is better than ever if you open your info page and read it. Literally everything you want to know is in there as far as elements, equipment, buildables etc. There is so much information available.

Also it's 50% off right now.. not sure it'll ever be any cheaper.

Highly recommend the game. It's a nice peaceful time killer or a fury of space battles and destruction. It's all what you make it!

 
Also it's 50% off right now.. not sure it'll ever be any cheaper.
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Do you always buy your video games new?

They always get cheaper if you're patient...

I felt well guided with the pop-up objectives so I agree with you but what can I say? I'm patient. :)

 
Do you always buy your video games new?
They always get cheaper if you're patient...

I felt well guided with the pop-up objectives so I agree with you but what can I say? I'm patient. :)
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I buy them new when im excited about them and want to play them. I rarely buy new otherwise.

I wont pretend i ever kept track of its price month by month as far as discounts but it stayed at 60$ for 2 years. I was happy to see them discount it for one of their biggest updates.

 
Ah crap...they extended the sale to the 6th of August. I thought if I could resist until this morning when the timer ran out I would be able to wait. Now, I'm not so sure....haha.

 
Empyrion is more about crafting your ships and NMS is more about exploration. The exploration in Empyrion was kinda meh until the last update. Now it got bigger planets and a better terrain generator (with severals biomes in the same planet, wich is really cool).

I played a lot of Empyrion with a friend before the last update. We have a lot of fun. He really likes build spaceships. I like the adventure and the exploration (when we play 7d2d, he always builds the base and I m outside scavenging and exploring). I feel that the exploration is weaker in empyrion compared to NMS. To be fair, Empyrion is still in early access and NMS is a full launched game (although we all know that it was in early access until NEXT update). Nevertheless, I think both games are great, Empyrion has a lot of potencial (for me, is 7d2d in space) and NMS is like a lifetime exploration project. I will play both games occasionally. I do not think both games are supplementary but complementary.

 
One thing I didn't do was fly any spacecraft in NMS. How does that compare to Empyrion?

Simulation Space Flyer -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Arcade Space Shooter

I would place Space Engineers towards the left side of that spectrum with Empyrion more towards the middle but on the same side of the middle as Space Engineers. Where would you put NMS? After playing some Space Engineers and Empyrion I think space craft should handle more on the Arcade side of things for my own preferences.

 
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One thing I didn't do was fly any spacecraft in NMS. How does that compare to Empyrion?.
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I love the flying in NMS. It's smooth, the gun fire is perfect from go even with basic weapon systems.

I have not done anything with the freighters yet or land vehicles.

Having never flown (IRL) a spaceship however I don't know where it fits. I would say it's fairly easy on planet where you have a sense of what's under you. When you're floaty in space with no true up or down then it gets disorientating while still feeling comfortable.

Also you get to mine astroids via shooting them. Who doesnt wanna do that!?

 
Complete the "Approach the compound." quest in random Empyrion, OMG, it can be hard so there must be a backdoor way. So many POI's and 'other' things, to keep you from approaching the compound.

I would tell you how I do it, but why ruin the fun of dying? :)

 
I would say the flying is more toward the Arcade end of the spectrum. It's pretty simple, not many buttons, but at the same time getting used to using a mouse for steering can be a pain. It might be even easier if you use a controller.

Honestly seems like 90% of the game is gathering and inventory management, especially once you start scanning minerals to get the secondary element. The prices of ships and tools are pretty obscene, too.

 
One trip in a cheap SV to a rare metals planet for some elements you still need, after striping the Titan aft section of everything. I'm talking put a core in there, and literally take every block.

You can build your own cheap (everything tier 1 and smallest):

View attachment 24839

This baby will face roll any non-player POI or any ship in atmosphere.

 
Sorry for the late answer but i couldnt answer when you asked

Empyrion

+++ Build ships

+ Menues and controls

+ Nce looking planets

* PVP possible (even if it happens nearly never on a decent way)

- No real Randomizing

- Bad Gunplay

- Bad economy

-- No endgame

Playable but far behind 7D2D, at least currently

No Mans sky

++ Sounds are well made

+ Nice randomizing of Creatures

* Nice Scouting with scanner sadly often unusable (no map, you are often leaded to the same pois you know)

* Randomizing of Planets and ships (sadly all the same)

--- Console optimized controls and menues

--- No Planetary or Orbital maps. A no go for a Exploration game

-------- Mainquest is currently broken, unplayable since a week

Not really good, Fallout 4 with a much larger map would be far better

 
Play Subnotica on Hardcore mode. There is no better game for waiting on 7D2D to drop, if you use that setting.

That is all.

 
Play Subnotica on Hardcore mode. There is no better game for waiting on 7D2D to drop, if you use that setting.
That is all.
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I really want to buy this game, but I cannot support Perfect World Entertainment. How they ended up becoming the publisher for Subnautica, I will never understand. Especially given their history of poor business practices.

 
I really want to buy this game, but I cannot support Perfect World Entertainment. How they ended up becoming the publisher for Subnautica, I will never understand. Especially given their history of poor business practices.
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"Don't cut off your nose to spite your face". If this is your kind of game, you only hurt yourself.

Subnatica has just about the most gated and rigid tech tree you can imagine. The plot is also pathetically rigged at key points.

BUT, its still a fun and challenging game at Hardcore.

If you buy it, don't waste any resource. I do recommend building a single structure underwater base for storage near your starter (the one that looks like a "+" is best IMO), as you could have too much titanium early game and start running short by late game.

 
I uninstalled Empyrion after the 8.5 update. I had a lot of fun putting 2100 hrs into it, but the recent development meta just turns me off. The devs just aren't as community-involved and communicative as the Pimps, and the recent trend in "features" is to restrict more and more into certain progression paths, which just doesn't fit my definition of sandbox. They were off to a good start, but just don't seem to have the plan to really take it somewhere, just one band-aid fix or half-implemented addition after another.

The game other than 7DtD that really has my eye is Skywanderers. Not as visually appealing, but the gameplay and building possibilities are already far beyond any other sci-fi voxel game, and that's more important to me than the fluff...

 
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