No Man's Sky
Give it 10 hours
What the data shows
- In the first 2 hours 1 in 2 reviews are negative (54%); after 35h it's 1 in 14 (7%).
- Fully opens up by hour 35.
- The opening is criticised more than in 83% of games we track.
- The game has no story achievements, so drop-off points can't be measured.
- 73% of owners got the first achievement.
When it gets good
Share of positive reviews by how many hours the reviewer had played when writing the review.
before it gets good opening up fully opened up
Based on all 424,647 Steam reviews in every language. Median playtime in a sample of 297 reviews: 60.6h for positive, 43.5h for negative. Almost every game is rated lower in the first 2–3 hours: that window includes refunds and quick first impressions. What matters is how deep the dip is and how fast the game recovers.
Where players quit
Share of players who started the game and reached each story milestone. 100% is the most common achievement (73.2% of owners), so people who bought the game and never launched it don't count.
This game has no story achievements, so we can't tell where players quit.
All achievements (27)
story milestone ending side
- Cradle Claim a Base or Buy a Freighter 100%
- Foundation Attain ‘Entrepreneur’ status in Most Units Accrued 83%
- Babel-17 Attain ‘Confused’ status in Words Collected 75%
- Contact Attain ‘Known’ status in Alien Colonist Encounters 73%
- Use of Weapons Attain ‘Novice’ status in Ships Destroyed 69%
- The Space Merchants Attain ‘Trader’ status in Most Units Accrued 69%
- Symphony For A Lost Traveler Attain ‘Nomad’ status in On-foot Exploration 66%
- The Diamond Age Attain ‘Magnate’ status in Most Units Accrued 63%
- The Stars, Like Dust Attain 'Trailblazer' status in Space Exploration 61%
- The Languages of Pao Attain ‘Interpreter’ status in Words Collected 48%
- Have Spacesuit - Will Travel Attain ‘Adventurer’ status in On-foot Exploration 43%
- Navigators Build an Exocraft 43%
- Who Goes There? Attain ‘Diplomat’ status in Alien Colonist Encounters 42%
- Pattern for Conquest Attain ‘Notorious’ status in Ships Destroyed 39%
- What Mad Universe Attain ‘Ambassador’ status in Alien Colonist Encounters 30%
- The Forever War Attain ‘Legend’ status in Ships Destroyed 30%
- The Longest Voyage Attain 'Pioneer' status in Space Exploration 29%
- Reunion Visit another Player's Base 28%
- Citizen of the Galaxy Attain ‘Babelfish’ status in Words Collected 26%
- A Scanner Darkly Attain ‘Naturalist’ status in Planet Zoology Scanned 19%
- A Space Odyssey Attain ‘Discoverer’ status in Space Exploration 19%
- The Star Beast Attain ‘Archivist’ status in Planet Zoology Scanned 5.3%
- Galapagos Attain ‘Encyclopedia’ status in Planet Zoology Scanned 4.2%
- Stranger in a Strange Land Attain ‘Robust’ status in Extreme Survival 4.0%
- The Sentinel Attain ‘Everlasting’ status in Extreme Survival 2.3%
- Take a Deep Breath Reach the Centre of the Galaxy in Survival Mode 1.8%
- To Live Forever Reach the Centre of the Galaxy in Permadeath Mode 1.1%