‘No Man’s Sky’ wows VGX viewers with its randomized universe

By Adam Rosenberg December 9, 2013

mans sky wows vgx viewers procedurally generated universe no — Image used with permission by copyright holder

Spike TV’s annual video game award show – redubbed VGX for 2013 – is usually a place for mega-franchise reveals and blockbuster trailers, but the talk of this year’s show turned out to be an admittedly ambitious indie from the four-person team at Joe Danger developer Hello Games. No Man’s Sky appears to be equal parts open-galaxy space exploration, dogfighting, and first-person open-world action – a mish-mash of ideas enabled procedural world generation that randomizes both planetary terrains and the outer space between them. It looks like they’re really pulling it off too. Crazy exciting.

The trailer that Hello premiered at VGX appears to be more tech demo than fully fleshed-out game, a promise of what the finished effort will deliver. There’s a lot more polish, a lot more play, than you’d expect from an average tech demo. There’s no release date/window or platform(s) listed for No Man’s Sky, though we’ll surely get a better sense of that in 2014. We’re excited to see more from this one; follow Hello Games on Twitter and keep an eye on the game’s official website for more.

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Former Digital Trends Contributor

Previously, Adam worked in the games press as a freelance writer and critic for a range of outlets, including Digital Trends…

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Gaming

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Spider-Man soars through the air in a biomechanical suit in Marvel's Spider-Man 2.

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How to change suits

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