PS5's New Open-World Survival Game Makes No Man's Sky Feel Incomplete

No Man's Sky will forever be one of gaming's greatest comeback stories, and there's no honest way to talk about sci-fi survival games without acknowledging what Hello Games has accomplished since the game launched in 2016. Its universe gives players planets to explore, bases to build, resources to gather, and dangers to survive in a galaxy that still seems almost impossibly large. For many players, landing on an alien world and wondering what might be waiting beyond the next ridge remains the defining fantasy. However, Planet CrafterThe upcoming PS5 launch highlights one thing No Man's Sky never fully embraced.

No Man's Sky allows players to explore planets, survive on them, build on them, and reshape the local terrain, but Planet Crafter it takes the same broad sci-fi survival fantasy and points it towards the more specific goal of turning hostile worlds into habitable ones. Eventually he does No Man's Sky feeling almost incomplete—like he was missing the one thing that could truly take his sense of discovery, freedom, and ownership to the next level. Now, No Man's Sky fans will finally get a taste of what the missing piece looks like on PS5 Planet Crafter starts on July 21.

PS5 has 5 big upcoming games in July 2026

PlayStation 5 gamers can mark their calendars with five high-profile games coming to the console in July 2026.

Planet Crafter turns survival into transformation

The biggest difference between Planet Crafter and No Man's Sky not a scale. No Man's Sky clearly won that contest. Hello Games built an exploration and survival game in a procedurally generated universe Planet Crafter focuses more on terraforming as a major part of its game loop. So, Planet Crafter not only does it ask players to discover brand new planets and then survive on them, but it also asks them to change those planets from the ground up by gathering resources, building machinery, generating oxygen, increasing temperature, increasing pressure, and slowly shifting dead environments to life.

Guess the emoji games.

Easy (120s) Medium (90s) Hard (60s)

In many survival games, progression essentially means that the player becomes better equipped over time to withstand the world. IN Planet Crafterhowever, progress means that the world itself is becoming different. The standard survival mechanics and expectations are still there, but the ultimate goal isn't just to stay alive long enough to build a bigger and better base.

Hello Games built the game around exploration and survival in a procedurally generated universe, while The Planet Crafter focuses more on terraforming as a major part of its gameplay loop.

No Man's Sky it has base building, resource gathering, rough planets, planetary travel and a terrain manipulator – which Hello Games have actually updated with features like recovery and leveling modes. These tools allow players to easily alter the terrain locally, especially around bases, and remain part of the game's creative appeal. But local terraforming isn't the same as making terraforming the centerpiece of a sci-fi survival fantasy, and that's exactly the kind of thing that Planet Crafter specializes in.

While players are challenged to find a planet and build a base there No Man's Skya major part of his own fantasy—which is the thrill of discovery—actually urges them to leave the planet after becoming familiar with it. At this point in its development Planet Crafter it allows players to visit other planets, but it's not so much about exploring multiple planets as it is about finding one and unlocking its full potential through terraforming.

Key features of Planet Crafter

Crafting survival in space in an open world
Terraform enemy planets into habitable worlds
Create oxygen, heat and atmospheric pressure
Build bases, machines, tools and equipment for survival
Control oxygen, thirst, temperature and health
No enemies, timers or forced pressure
Explore ruins, shipwrecks and alien biomes
Unlock new areas by progressing in terraforming
Watch the environment change visibly over time
Use rovers, jetpacks and portals
Discover resources, traditions and hidden places

Another key difference worth noting is Planet Crafterlack of enemies of any kind. IN No Man's Skythe primary goal is exploration and survival, but there are still enemies like Sentinels and Space Pirates that can harm the player. IN Planet Crafteron the other hand, there are no enemy threats, meaning we only focus on the creative and transformational side of the loop, ultimately allowing him to do more with that aspect of the game. The more peaceful approach might sound boring in a bad game, but it fits Planet Crafter perfectly, since terraforming is a key part of how players explore the world.

No man's sky has no scale, but the Crafter's planet has its own influence

Of course, none of this means anything Planet Crafter is greater or more important than No Man's Sky. Hello Games' sci-fi survival game has spent years growing into a massive platformer, and its updates have made it much richer than the game that originally launched. The sharper point is that No Man's SkyGreatest power can also create distance. With the game offering countless planets, each discovery exists alongside the promise of another. This is certainly exciting, but it also means that many worlds become stops along the way rather than places where players can settle in and take ownership.

Planet Crafter it allows players to visit other planets, but it's not so much about exploring multiple planets as it is about finding one and unlocking its full potential through terraforming.

Planet Crafter offers the opposite feeling. Its worlds matter because players can leave them differently than they found them. The satisfaction comes from making enemy spaces come alive and then watching that transformation change where players can go next.

That's the part that does No Man's Sky feel incomplete by comparison. No Man's Sky captures the wonder of planetary exploration better than almost anything else in gaming, but what it doesn't do in the same central way is make the future of those planets feel like the player's primary responsibility.

No Man's Sky it doesn't have to be any kind of sci-fi survival game. Its identity is built around scale, freedom, discovery, and the feeling of being a small traveler in a vast universe—and that fantasy still works. However, Planet Crafter reveals the missing piece in this fantasy. Discovering a planet is exciting, surviving is satisfying, and building on it is rewarding, but watching one change because of the player's work is another layer that No Man's Skythe loop feels complete. Where No Man's Sky gives players endless worlds to visit, Planet Crafter it gives them worlds that can become something else because they've been there.