Dhruv Sharma
No Man’s Sky is an action-adventure science fiction survival game that can be played on PlayStation 4, Microsoft Windows, and Xbox One. The game is built around four pillars: exploration, survival, combat, and trading. It is a game that captures the sense of exploration and optimism that comes with any great sci-fi adventure game. Over time, No Man’s Sky has become quite popular surpassing expectations of even its developers.
Now it’s truly uplifting to watch the rise and fall of a character but most of us would never want to go through all of that ourselves. Isn’t that the reason why we play video games? Certain video games not only give us an escape from real life but they also teach us something about it. Experiencing loss, hardships, and sorrows in real life can be extremely impactful but experiencing the same in video games can give us a small stint of the lessons one can learn from these. So the list mentioned below includes games from various different platforms having one thing in common: survival against all odds. Here is the list of video games similar to No Man’s Sky that are our recommendations. You can play these open world games like No Man’s Sky on mac, ps4, android, iphone, XBox or even online.
12. Final Fantasy X
The storyline of FFX revolves around saving the world with outlandish characters. But FFX has managed to portray something much deeper. The story of Tidius who is mysteriously transported to Spira and looks for a way back home. But on his way back he runs into Yuna, a summoner, and slowly the two characters develop a bond that feels more real than most love stories these days. But you know what they say right? “Nothing’s ever built to last”. By the end, you’ll find yourself wiping your tears away as Tidius slowly disappears in Yuna’s arms. It’s funny how someone always has to die in these great love stories. But that’s the whole point of it right? More emotions mean more drama.
11. The Last Of Us
Now romantic love stories are great and everything but nothing beats the bond and platonic love between a father and his daughter. The last of us has an abundance of emotions. The game has absolutely no chill. Within the first 15 minutes of the game Joel, who is the protagonist, loses his daughter when she is shot by a government agent in a post-apocalyptic world. Later in the game, Joel is asked to look after Ellie who is a young child just like his daughter. What follows is a battle to survive while both the characters develop a strong sense of affection and care towards each other.
10. Silent Hill 2
This one game hits you right in the feels. The game’s vibe is full of remorse, resent and depression. The main character James Sunderland loses his wife to a terminal illness and she dies a slow painful death with her body slowly being ravaged by the disease. Three years later James receives a letter from his wife asking him to go back to Silent Hill. Psychological aspects of this game like the disappearance of items and historical references make it, even more, stranger and dramatic. As the game moves forward one can feel the guilt and the sorrow the protagonist is going through. The game shows a much darker side of love.
9. The Uncharted Series
Relationships in real life are more complex than how they’re portrayed in games and movies. This game shows a more realistic universal love between the two main characters- Drake and Elena. The game revolves around the adventures of Drake who is a treasure hunter, where subtle references are made to his connection with Elena. But the game does not overly romanticize their relationship and shows that at times they’re better off working as individuals rather than working with each other. Through the game their relationship has its own share of ups and downs, separations and reconciliations, uncertainty and betrayal, but like every great love story, they do find their way back to each other.
8. Gone Home
Gone home is a very simple first-person exploration game. The player takes the role of Katie who returns home from overseas finding her house deserted. As she enters the house she finds various letters and notes sporadically scattered all over the house. All these brief notes and tiny hints all over her house help her understand what exactly happened. As the story starts to unfold, your understanding of love and relationships will further start expanding. This game captures love and relationships in a very unique and outlandish way. The critically acclaimed game doesn’t really have any defined set of goals but it gives you a very warm and homely feeling without even getting any physical characters involved.
7. Life Is Strange
A very unique game with a subtle touch of indieness and nostalgia. The plot of the game focuses on the life of Max Caulfield who is an 18-year-old student. She discovers that she has the ability to rewind time at any given moment and every choice and action that she makes creates a ripple effect. The narrative of the plot unfolds with respect to the choices made by the protagonist. Along the storyline, Max who is gentle and studious develops a strong bond with Chloe who is punky and defiant. Due to their contrast in personalities, they tend to compliment each other’s strengths and weaknesses and go through a series of events together involving immense love and extensive sorrow.
6. Red Dead Redemption
Unlike other games on this list, Red Dead Redemption is not a game about a newly found love or romance. But it’s more about how a man named John Marston who is a former outlaw, sets out delve into his past to save the life of his son and wife who are being held hostage by the government. The game is set up in a fictionalized Western America and Mexico and goes about showing the devotion of man towards his marriage and the extent to which John Marston is willing to go to save the future of his wife and kid.
5. Shadow of Colossus
To what extent would one go just for the sake of love? This game proves that there are no limits to how far one can go for their loved ones, at least in the fictional world. The story revolves around the main character named Wander who travels across a vast unknown land where he meets a spirit and makes a pact with it in exchange of the revival of the life of his lover Mono. According to the pact he makes with the spirit, he has defeat 16 enormous beings by ascertaining weak points of each of these beasts. With each kill, he gets one step closer to bringing back Mono. As the game proceeds the weight of killing the 16 beasts weighs him down with each kill, but he keeps moving and keeps on going further all for the sake of love.
4. To The Moon
A game with one of the deepest plots you’ll ever come across. This game is the story of a company named Sigmund Corp. develops a technology to create artificial memories. They use this technology as a means of wish fulfillment for those who are on their death beds. Johnny Wyles is one such patient who is on the verge of dying and has had this lifelong dream of going to the moon. Though initially, it is unclear why he wishes to do the same, as the games move forward and one gets to dwell more into Johnny’s memories of the past. It becomes evident that his desire to travel to the moon has a lot to do with his childhood love-River, who he had later married and was later on a guilt trip after her death. The game’s plot makes you travel through a journey of extreme tragedy and eventually a truly uplifting story.
3. The Legend Of Zelda
The Legend Of Zelda is one of the most well-known love stories in gaming history. The game series centers around Link who has to save Princess Zelda from an evil warlord named Ganon. While their relationship in the game has not been overly romanticized at any point. The bond that they share goes a long long way. Despite the fact that everything around them is extremely unfavorable for their relationship and never being able to truly be with each other, they still manage to maintain a strong sense of dedication towards their relationship making this one of the most significant stories on this list.
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2. Enslaved: Odyssey To The West’s
The game is full of fantastic acting making the role of the two main characters- Monkey and Trip very significant and realistic. It starts off with Monkey being Trip’s slave only because Trip needs someone’s support to find her way through a world that has been infested by evil robots. The extreme conditions and intense situations they go through together strengthens the bond between them over them. Though there no physical implications of their love, over time, one look at their characters and the depth of their eyes implies that the two are deeply in love.
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1. Heavy Rain
Heavy Rain proves that gaming can be as fun as watching a movie out there. The game is heavily grounded to reality involves four main characters who try solving the mystery of finding the “origami killer” who has been responsible for the killings of many young boys. One of these characters who is investigating the case is Ethan Mars whose son has been kidnapped by this killer. The game shows heavy and impactful visuals that leaves the player baffled between making tough choices of either killing a character just so that Ethan Mars can reach his own son or let the character live because he has kids of his own. In this game that is full of deep characters and emotional triggers, a total of 22 different endings make sure that there are endless possibilities to what you can do in each given situation.
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