Alright, this may come across as a weird question, but it actually bothers me for a few days now. Apart from the obviousity that the two are different games made by different developers I really wonder what sets them apart. Especially regarding the fact that everybody is totally hyped for No Man's Sky while GRAV has become a bundle game nobody really cared about even before it got bundled.

Both seem to be about exploring procedurally generated alien planets while trying to survive, harvesting resources, fighting hostile creatures and other players, and eventually explore outer space and travelling to other planets. So really, what's the difference?

Obligatory giveaways (too bad I just used my copy of GRAV for the Berlin Underground, would have been a fitting gib)
You might have to add a s to the http in order to get to the giveaway after passing the SGtools check.

Lead and Gold: Gangs of the Wild West
The Secret Order 2: Masked Intent
Industry Giant 2

GRAV kindly provided by D9sinc ♥ Lvl 2, no sgtools
For all the lost wanderers in space our adorable cucooo has provided yet another chance on GRAV! ♥♥ Lvl 2, no sgtools

8 years ago*

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Whether it lives up to the hype or not, No Man's Sky will, as far as I know, be released as a completed game (as completed as any game ever is when it's release, these days), whereas GRAV is still in early access and, at least according to the reviewers, abandoned already. And that's just one of the reasons they're really kicking the game's teeth in, over in the review section.

Those are some of the more significant differences, as far as I know.

Hello Games seems to want to keep Sony at arm's length, regarding the actual creation of the game, but I have a feeling if they dropped the ball to the point of people saying it was 'abandoned,' Sony might at least try (for better or worse) to step in and either dump their own money into the team as motivation or try to get some new people working on the game.

To some people, the prospect of a complete and more well-rounded game might be enough to make up for the fact that No Man's Sky is three times as expensive as GRAV. On the other hand, GRAV may garner new attention as a one-third as expensive alternative No Man's Sky, whether it fulfills that role or not. Whether said theoretical new attention would be enough to bring the developers back to work, if the game truly has been abandoned, is anyone's guess.

8 years ago*
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Hey there, I just seen I was part of your blacklist.. Could I ask why? :P If its from 3+ years ago, I can understand, but if its recent, why? Actually pretty sure you were on my whitelist :c

Also, to contribute to the discussion, isn't No Mans Sky supposed to be a survival? I thought GRAV was a different type of game, strategy almost. I must be wrong :P

8 years ago
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Hey there, I put you there because you won your 9th game in the Unlucky 7 group, which clearly asks their members to leave the group as well as all group giveaways after winning their 8th game. I'm in charge for keeping this group spirit alive and I was pretty pissed earlier today about how many people actually try to take as much as they can before finally getting kicked instead of just leaving.
I do realize you left on your own after that, so please excuse me if my outrage hit the wrong person.

8 years ago
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I left earlier as I realised my mistake. Is there a way I can make it up to you? I can contribute a game if need be, I have some codes lying around. It wasn't until after I realised my mistake and I left as soon as I could.

8 years ago
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Do not worry, please. I have removed you already from the blacklist that is. If you want to make another person happy tho then gifting a game sure is a way you could go by :)

8 years ago
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I feel bad for what happened, could you invite me back to the group so I can make a giveaway on it? Don't want to be a bad guy c:

8 years ago
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Of course, invite sent.

8 years ago
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I think its cause of a hype and lots of marketing.

8 years ago
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Based on the trailers of GRAV, it focuses on survival, co-op, and being weird.

No Man's Sky focuses on exploration, discovery, and curiosity.

8 years ago
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Maybe it just looks more exciting? It's definitely more colorful than GRAV is. I think they both look fun.

8 years ago
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Can't speak for GRAV as I've not played it, but from comments here it seems it's got more typical survival/MMO aspects, which I'm not particularly fond of in general. On the other hand I fell in love with No Man's Sky the second it was revealed, and everything Sean Murray has said about the game and his reasons for making it have just bolstered that. I'm a solitary person when it comes to games; I want bright scifi colours and I want to just waste my time exploring Things in Space(TM), and I've not really seen any existing space-based game that's pushed all my childish excitement buttons in quite the same way.

8 years ago
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I kind of feel you. The only thing that keeps me from getting really excited is the lack of an actual goal / a story.

8 years ago
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From Playstation blog: https://blog.eu.playstation.com/2015/08/03/41-amazing-things-you-might-not-know-about-no-mans-sky/

There isn’t a story to follow
There are no cutscenes or characters, but there is a big objective: get to the centre of the universe. We don’t want to tell you a story, we want you to tell your own. No Man’s Sky is about your journey.

I pre-ordered the game and I'm really excited about it. I've spent 140+ on Starbound just travelling from planet to planet and walking around with no goal in mind. So I think I might enjoy NMS.

8 years ago
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that just makes me more excited :D it's been quite a while since I've played anything that gives me free rein for imagination

8 years ago
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I'd sort of written off NMS as multiplayer / MMO = not interested. But you're getting me interested again.
Damn you!

8 years ago
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NMS is not MMO =)

8 years ago
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The trailer made it look like it had lots of multi-player/squad-based combat, encountering planets discovered by other players, like I would expect in a space MMO. I guess I'm wrong, though...
[Edit: The trailer makes it look like anything but a single-player experience, yet the Steam tags don't even include "multi-player," let alone MMO.

8 years ago
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It's quite the opposite. It's a lonely journey, but you might get in trouble.
Look for the #21 on the post below
https://blog.eu.playstation.com/2015/08/03/41-amazing-things-you-might-not-know-about-no-mans-sky/

8 years ago
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I see what you're saying. The trailers made space look like a bustling, violent place. I guess none of what you see there are other players. I was struck by the comment, "it’s super unlikely that people will even visit the same planets," where in the trailer, that happens all the time.

8 years ago
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you should really watch/read some of the interviews with Sean, because if that doesn't lure you to the dark side then it's probably just not the game for you (join us)

8 years ago
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Reading the article linked above, it does look more interesting.

8 years ago
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GRAV(played it for a while, abandoned due to hadware performance) and No Man's Sky are completely different games, and there's no real way to compare one to the other.

8 years ago
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Except both are about about exploring procedurally generated alien planets while trying to survive, harvesting resources, fighting hostile creatures, and eventually explore outer space and travelling to other planets.

8 years ago
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GRAV doesn't use procedural planet generation(although dungeon names are pseudorandom) and doesn't really have outer space exploration(only warpgates to other maps).

Survival in GRAV basically boiled down to "convert ore into ammo, eat enough food to be able to sprint and throw enough logs to keep your shield generator powered for about a week so no one else can enter your base", a ton of creatures are passive/semi-passive and the best feature is being able to poop into stuff.

Starbound, or even Space Engineers for hell's sake, compare better to No Man's Sky than GRAV does.

8 years ago
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Great responses in this thread already. For what it's worth, I found GRAV to be a grindy survival 3rd person shooter with rpg elements and unintuitive crafting system. The vehicles in GRAV seem to not allow interstellar space travel. It just uses portals that teleport players to other planets. Scope of the game is much smaller than NMS. Multiplayer is Coop/PvPvE. On the other hand....

NMS seems to be a proof of concept/techdemo pushed by Sean Murray to give players the freedom to interact with this vast galaxy. Even though its a singleplayer game, Sean did mention that the game will leave traces of other players if you manage to visit a place that already has been explored and catalogued. Lore and cryptic artifacts written in a language created by the NMS team seems to encourage a community of explorers and puzzle solvers to share their discoveries with eachother. This IGN vid with Sean has him mentioning that he hopes players will track and find things out online.

8 years ago
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Thanks for the video, I watched it. Tbh this game looks like it might bore me really fast.

8 years ago
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Yeah I can see how it can get old pretty quick. I'm more interested in his algorithm. Be interesting to think of what's possible if other games or simulations will be like with a powerful procedural generating algorithm like that one.

8 years ago
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GRAV is yet another early access survival crafting game and everything that goes with that.

No Man's Sky is a space exploration game and will hopefully be polished, but beware hype. It's not a true sandbox and there's minimal narrative so it could end up feeling rather shallow and dull if you binge on it.

8 years ago
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From very observant deer's point of view: there is a player's back on every GRAV screenshot, and there is a ship on every NMS screenshot =3
Actually, I really don't know much about any of them, but I was fascinated by how you can fly through space and land on different beautiful planets in No Man's Sky - this is the only aspect I'm interested in, don't want any fights or survival elements =<

8 years ago
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lol, best answer ^^

8 years ago
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Where are all the giveaways even coming from for Grav? I'd like to buy it cheap or win a giveaway, but the first option is miles easier :P

8 years ago
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It has been in the Humble Monthly last month and now it is featured in this bundle: https://www.humblebundle.com/glens-staff-picks-games
You might want to check out Group Buys for a bundle split if you want nothing else from the bundle: http://steamcommunity.com/groups/groupbuys

8 years ago
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Guten abend!
Ich weiß nicht den Unterschied.
:)

8 years ago
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Bump, thank you eeev.
I am yet to try it on my new laptop so I can't really tell atm.

8 years ago
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In No Man's Sky, mankind doesn't own the sky. In Grav they do.

Just kidding, I have no idea.

8 years ago
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i will win no man's sky and i don't enter for grav GAs, that's all i need to know. :3

8 years ago
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Hehe, I wish I could be that sure :P

I'll likely buy No Mans Sky myself, but I wish you luck in winning it!

8 years ago
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8 years ago
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Omg, you are just too cute. Thank you, cucoo ♥♥♥
I'll add this to the OP right away!

8 years ago
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8 years ago
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Awww, this has been added when I was out with friends and staying overnight. Now it's ended already. Thank you so much for your lovely contribution <3 <3 <3

8 years ago
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