No Man’s Sky is so Yesterday, Let’s Get Hyped for Planet Nomads

Have you heard about that exploration game? You know, the communist one about skies and such? Many people feel a bit let down by that game, despite the promise behind it. For those who feel a little burned by the hype, fear not. There is another game we can relentlessly hype up! Planet Nomads may be what you’ve been hoping for.

Planet Nomads is a Sci-Fi version of Minecraft, mixed with survival elements and space exploration. Alien lifeforms, flora and even the atmosphere itself could be potentially dangerous to the player. To survive, you have to build shelter, weapons and vehicles while still hunting for food and materials. Then there’s the simple matter of leaving the planet that is trying so hard to kill you. To do so, you need to build a spaceship that’ll allow you to not only leave, but travel to whatever planet you want.

Want to be a cartographer and chart out maps to planets or solar systems? Knock yourself out, Galileo. Want to ruthlessly hunt down and wipe out an entire species on a given planet? You’re a monster! Want to build mining facilities and sit back and watch your resources pile up? Also doable, however corporate espionage doesn’t appear to be a feature just yet.

One of the coolest aspects of Planet Nomads is its attention to details. Physics control everything constructed by the player, so structural integrity is important. That land rover you built might soar like a bullet train, but if it was built out of string and spit, it’ll fall apart at the slightest bump. Physics also dictate how the weight of a vehicle influences its handling and ability to climb hills and mountains.

If brightly colored planets with beautiful environments and skies are your thing, Planet Nomad has you covered. Each planet has its own color palette. Every screenshot and video showcases gorgeous habitats reminiscent of Sci-Fi book covers from the 70’s and 80’s. It’s similar to No Man’s Sky with its breathtaking vistas, but here they have a slightly more realistic vibe. This makes the environments feel almost super natural.

These environments are all procedurally generated as well. The art style allows for more diversity, and a less uniform feel between planets than No Man’s Sky‘s worlds. Hopefully developer Craneballs will look to No Man’s Interested as a blueprint for what not to do. As well as providing some coherent structure to the mindless exploration, they need to be careful not to drop the hype hammer too hard.

While it isn’t out yet, its February 2017 release date isn’t as far off as some of the amazing planets you’ll get to explore. With the alpha coming out later this month, we’ll get to see first hand just how awe-inspiring Planet Nomads is.

Do keep in mind we don’t want another No Man’s Sky hype-train derailment, okay? There’s no way Planet Nomads is going to get anywhere near as popular or talked about. But on a personal level, don’t get too carried away by the promise and intrigue. Yes, the premise sounds great and those screenshots are beautiful. Remember the last time we all thought that though? You should, because I only mentioned it half a dozen times already.

Additional reporting by Bryan Rumsey.