Look. I really want to like this game. There are aspects of it that are really fun. The worlds are pretty diverse in flora, fauna, and color, though they severely lack in geographical diversity (no mountains, no massive cave systems, no canyons, etc). Building is well fleshed out and you can make very cool bases with a variety of structures and materials.

So, why do I not recommend the game?

Because the game still feels like it's in Beta. There are bugs, items that don't work, and missing features (like geographical diversity) 3 years since the game has been released. That item you just crafted? Sorry, there's a bug that doesn't allow it to be wired to power to actually use it. Those pirates you just killed for 200,000 bounty? Sorry, the game decided not to give you the payout. Your permadeath save? How about it gets ruined when you clip out of the space station into dead space and get killed by cosmic radiation?

Rewind the clock and it was only ever worse than it is now - more bugs and less features.

There is a lot of content there, but it is held back by a relatively monotonous progression, game-breaking bugs, and repetitive procedural generation of landscapes.

I respect the amount of post-launch work the NMS Team has put into their initially broken product, but it's still definitely not worth $60. Maybe worth $20 or $30 on sale if you really really love exploration of infinite worlds and long crafting recipe trees.

Not worth a cent if you don't fall into the above categories or want a seriously exhilarating game.

Look. I really want to like this game. There are aspects of it that are really fun. The worlds are pretty diverse in flora, fauna, and color, though they severely lack in geographical diversity (no mountains, no massive cave systems, no canyons, etc). Building is well fleshed out and you can make very cool bases with a variety of structures and materials. So, why do I not recommend the game? Because the game still feels like it's in Beta. There are bugs, items that don't work, and missing features (like geographical diversity) 3 years since the game has been released. That item you just crafted? Sorry, there's a bug that doesn't allow it to be wired to power to actually use it. Those pirates you just killed for 200,000 bounty? Sorry, the game decided not to give you the payout. Your permadeath save? How about it gets ruined when you clip out of the space station into dead space and get killed by cosmic radiation? Rewind the clock and it was only ever worse than it is now - more bugs and less features. There is a lot of content there, but it is held back by a relatively monotonous progression, game-breaking bugs, and repetitive procedural generation of landscapes. I respect the amount of post-launch work the NMS Team has put into their initially broken product, but it's still definitely not worth $60. Maybe worth $20 or $30 on sale if you really really love exploration of infinite worlds and long crafting recipe trees. Not worth a cent if you don't fall into the above categories or want a seriously exhilarating game.