When comparing No Man's Sky vs Ghost of a Tale, the Slant community recommends Ghost of a Tale for most people. In the question“What are the best indie games on Steam?” Ghost of a Tale is ranked 68th while No Man's Sky is ranked 82nd. The most important reason people chose Ghost of a Tale is:
Even though the game world isn't huge, the game does do a good job of keeping you busy. There's a lot of collectibles to search and find. In doing so, you'll need to pass by enemies. The game gives you the option to either knock them out, distract them & slip by, simply try to sneak by them, hoping they don't turn around and see you... or you can just run straight past them since you're faster and try to hide in a barrel or cupboard when they briefly lose sight of you. You can also make enemies follow you inside a room with a lever controlled door, run outside and close the door with the enemies trapped inside.
Specs
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Pros
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.
Pro Exploration and tactical gameplay
Even though the game world isn't huge, the game does do a good job of keeping you busy. There's a lot of collectibles to search and find. In doing so, you'll need to pass by enemies. The game gives you the option to either knock them out, distract them & slip by, simply try to sneak by them, hoping they don't turn around and see you... or you can just run straight past them since you're faster and try to hide in a barrel or cupboard when they briefly lose sight of you. You can also make enemies follow you inside a room with a lever controlled door, run outside and close the door with the enemies trapped inside.
Pro Adorable story-based game
You play as a mouse who needs to escape jail and venture into the world to try and find your wife and son. The mouse, Tilo, is a minstrel who wears a little lute on his back and has a little hat with a bell on. You meet a lot of interesting characters along the way with their own stories. This game was made by a former Dreamworks animator and the level of detail is one of the game's biggest strengths. This translates into a well done animations, including idle, and overall high standard of graphics in the game that are spot-on in terms of creating the right atmosphere.
Cons
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).
Con Not a lot of action
This game does not have a combat system, so you can't kill any enemies. It's about not getting caught as you try to collect things and progress to find your family (as well as the atmosphere and story). So if you really hate sneaking, running away and hiding, then it's probably not for you.