Light No Fire is the newest game coming from No Man’s Sky developer Hello Games, and there’s good reason to keep an eye on this title. It might be easy to assume that the upcoming open-world experience is going to over-promise and under-deliver, as the original launch of No Man’s Sky fell short of some intense expectations that had been built up over the course of its development and promotion. If anything, however, it’s easier to make the case that something closer to the opposite scenario is likely to happen this time around.
Light No Fire was revealed at The Game Awards 2023, and what’s been shown of the game so far indicates both some striking similarities and core differences between it and No Man’s Sky. The new title from Hello Games carries forward the focus on exploration on a massive scale, but it locks things to a single planet instead of a universe of possibilities. The big sell is that this one planet is huge in an almost inconceivable way, and Light No Fire is billed as being as large as the Earth itself and full of varied biomes, creatures, and secrets to discover.
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No Man’s Sky’s Launch Failure Is Good For Light No Fire
Although it might seem counter-intuitive, the serious failure of No Man’s Sky to live up to expectations when it first launched is the exact reason why Light No Fire isn’t likely to make the same mistakes. Hello Games knows firsthand how much goodwill can be killed by failing to deliver on promises made before launch, and the incredibly negative news cycle that No Man’s Sky generated is something that no one at the studio would want to revisit. The trailer available on the HelloGamesTube YouTube account leaves off a release date for the time being, and it makes sense that they won’t release it until it’s reasonably polished and ready.
One note in the trailer that shows Hello Games is aware that there could still be lingering effects of its initially tarnished reputation is the clarification that all the trailer footage is captured from “in-game multiplayer.” Some pre-launch promotion of No Man’s Sky implied that multiplayer would exist, although players would be unlikely to meet, the game launched without any support for the feature whatsoever. Light No Fire is taking pains to deliver a more complete promise of multiplayer, and the trailer is drawing the lines clearly in a way that was never done the first time around.
The Light No Fire trailer also shows features in action that didn’t make it into No Man’s Sky for its original release. Players toss up stone walls in the middle of building a base and hop on antlered mounts and chunky dragons. Although features like base building in No Man’s Sky might be familiar to players today, the barebones feeling that the game had at launch was partly thanks to the initial lack of any such gameplay elements, putting Light No Fire ahead in some key regards right out of the gate.
No Man’s Sky Updates Show That Hello Games Cares
The updates to No Man’s Sky that have come out over the years are ultimately the key to understanding the investment that Hello Games would have in getting Light No Fire right. Despite a clearly exhausting original development cycle, the company never consigned No Man’s Sky to its poorly received fate and instead worked to improve the game and add the features that it originally lacked. The game has added over 25 significant updates that set high standards for DLC since its launch, all available for free with the purchase of the base game.
Considering that Hello Games has never charged for any of its fixes, improvements, and expansions to No Man’s Sky, it’s clear that the studio is exceptionally invested in cultivating a good relationship with players and strengthening a brand that has gotten better with each passing year. Launching Light No Fire in an incomplete or buggy state would torpedo a lot of this hard work, and any short-term profits that it would generate wouldn’t be worth the cost to the company’s image. The lessons that Hello Games has learned in game design over the decade since No Man’s Sky‘s reveal are also certain to appear in some form in the game.
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Although there’s no guarantee that the same update model that No Man’s Sky uses will be followed for Light No Fire, it also bodes well for the support that players can expect for the title. Whether Light No Fire gets constant free expansions or not, Hello Games is unlikely to suddenly pivot to any particularly predatory monetization model. All the planned features for launch will likely be included in one package rather than split up among DLC packages or live-service models with recurring fees.
Light No Fire Could Still Have Problems
The case for Light No Fire‘s success is strong, but there can never be a guarantee that any game will deliver on every level that it promises. The scale of Light No Fire is inherently ambitious to a fault, and expecting there to be absolutely no major compromises in reaching its lofty goals will likely lead to disappointment. Anyone who decides to buy the game at release or purchase it ahead of time if pre-orders open up should do so with the understanding that they’re taking at least a minor risk, and whether that investment pays off won’t be clear until the game is actually in the hands of its audience.
Unlike the original release of No Man’s Sky, however, there’s actual proof of relevant experience and commitment to rely on when it comes to Light No Fire. General optimism doesn’t seem unwarranted, and it’s exciting to think about what Hello Games could reveal for the game in the future. No Man’s Sky might have once been a black mark against the company, but after a long road of improvement, it might be the best testament possible to why Light No Fire could actually work.
