When comparing No Man's Sky vs Shelter, the Slant community recommends Shelter for most people. In the question“What are the best indie games on Steam?” Shelter is ranked 79th while No Man's Sky is ranked 82nd. The most important reason people chose Shelter is:
By tugging at the players heartstrings when a child is lost due to elements in the game, the player ultimately feels a sense of loss and failure.
Specs
Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking
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 Sense of loss and failure
By tugging at the players heartstrings when a child is lost due to elements in the game, the player ultimately feels a sense of loss and failure.
Pro Interesting use of design to communicate danger
A shadow of a looming bird or the sound and look of rushing water signals looming danger for the mother badger and her young offspring.
Pro Suspenseful
Knowing your children may be taken at any time gives you a sense of danger/suspense not typically found in non-military games.
Pro Absolutely fantastic and original art style
Hands down one of the most original and interesting graphic art styles used in a modern game.
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 Food is too plentiful
As long as the player takes advantage of every piece of food they run across there will be no feeling of impending urgency to feed the cubs.
Con Short
The full game is only about 90 minutes long.