I'm also a day one NMS enthusiast. I thought I was the only one. I can definitely agree with your critique, and I think the difference was in how I played it. O

I'm also a day one NMS enthusiast. I thought I was the only one. I can definitely agree with your critique, and I think the difference was in how I played it. On release day it was basically a really pretty tech demo. You couldn't really die/fail in any meaningful way unless you tried to. But wandering the universe in a goals-agnostic sort of way, looking for different types of exocritters, learning the different alien words and doing some resource gathering/trading was satisfying enough as a second screen experience. Much like when I play American Truck Simulator, or when I focus on cargo hauling in elite dangerous, it's just kinda something to keep my hands busy while I listen to a podcast or documentary or just sit and bullshit with my wife.