When comparing Star Citizen vs No Man's Sky, the Slant community recommends Star Citizen for most people. In the question“What are the best open world space games?” Star Citizen is ranked 2nd while No Man's Sky is ranked 6th. The most important reason people chose Star Citizen is:
Players will be able to command multi-person ships with other users who will be able to command their own stations on said ships.
Specs
Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking
Pros
Pro Ability to command persistent ships and stations
Players will be able to command multi-person ships with other users who will be able to command their own stations on said ships.
Pro Over $73 million in funding
A game with the huge scope of Star Citizen will cost a lot of money to develop, and through multiple campaigns, Star Citizen has raised a huge amount of money to make that happen. More money means more developers, and designers which can lead to a ton of features.
Pro Includes a singleplayer mode, called "Squadron 42"
Squadron 42 is a single player campaign that takes place in the in game universe that allows players to play offline.
Pro Vast, detailed sci-fi world
A long term goal is to have over 400 different star systems in game, most of which will have many planets within them.
Pro Dynamic economy system
The economy of the game and the actions to keep it moving are constantly going on in the background but allows for players to step in and out of it at their leisure in order to take part.
Pro A true PC game
It's been stated that the game will take full advantage of PC's capabilities and will not be held back by a need to accommodate a console port.
Pro Endless procedural generation
This game procedurally generates almost everything. Your spaceships are procedurally generated, so are the planets, moons, every animal on these planets, the resource nodes, trade routes, languages, etc. When discovering new species or planets, players get to rename these and leave their mark on the galaxy.
Pro Good graphics
The art style of this game is very colorful and saturated and uses hues in a way that it gives you an otherworldly feel. Graphics like these tend to remain good for a much longer time than classic 3D graphics.
Pro Massive galaxy to explore
Thanks to the fact that the entire galaxy of No Man's Sky is procedurally generated, the amount of planets to explore is almost endless. The number of planets would be 18,446,744,073,709,551,616. However, the fact that 2 players managed to find each other in game on the first day, seems to make this number quite questionable.
Pro Seamless space to planetary flight
Pro Freedom to choose how you want to play
Ally with factions, trade or just be a pirate. When trading with NPC aliens, you build up a positive reputation with the faction they belong to. Alternatively you can also be hostile and attack trade ships, or even be attacked by NPC pirate spaceships. Both can be ways to get what you need, so do whatever suits your play style.
Cons
Con Commercial launch is at an undetermined date
The commercial launch, initially slated for 2016, is now at an undetermined date in the future.
Con Online shop
They sell premium ships for cash rendering early backers ships obsolete before the game has been released and creating a pay to win mechanic.
Con Incomplete; might never come out
The alpha is playable but very buggy; it supposedly represents less than 10% of the finished game, which was supposed to be released several years ago (as of 2020) and has no release date in sight. Despite a frankly staggering amount of funding, the developers never hit their deadlines and it's becoming ever more doubtful that the game will ever be released in anything resembling a finished state.
Con Maybe too big to be real
The game want to be the biggest Space game ever. I want everything and maybe Will not be able to deliever.
Con Long waiting
The game Will be released in 4 or 5 years.
Con Requires a powerful computer
To be able to run the game you need an expensive pc with high end materials.
Con No clearly defined missions
The objective of the game is to ultimately reach the center of the galaxy. However, the player is completely free and unguided from the beginning. You figure it out for yourself as you start mining, crafting and upgrading your ship and gear. This game doesn't have a big story to tell.
Con Expensive
No Man's Sky is a pretty big production for an indie game as the team of devs and artists consisted of 14 people in the later stages of development. The game stands out above most indie games in size, features, technology and graphics. Along with the amount of enthusiasm from the gaming community, this has allowed the studio to set the launch price at $60 (or €60).