The Trappings of Anticipation: How the Hype Train Killed No Man’s Sky

We weren’t all there, but we felt its impact. E3 2014 took our hopes, loaded them into a rocket, and shot it into the stars. Hello Games, backed by Sony, showed us footage of an all-new type of gaming experience. They promised an entirely procedurally-generated universe for players to explore, and gamers everywhere hoped that this would be the next step in video game evolution. As time went on,...