Norman’s Sky is a lo-fi take on No Man’s Sky

Flying through space for no reason is what I look forward to doing most in No Man’s Sky .

. Many wonder about the game’s progression, combat and reward systems, but some of us just want to glide through the stars and take in the sights. While we wait for that game’s June release, Norman’s Skymight keep us occupied – if only for half-an-hour, and if only to do some very pixellated sightseeing.

Norman’s Sky was created in ten hours for the Low Res Game Jam, which required participants to “make a game with a resolution of 64x64 pixels”. With a restriction like that it doesn’t seem sensible to embark on an open world space exploration game, but developer Nothke did it anyway. Every one of the game’s dots can be flown to and landed on, and apparently you can “achieve stable orbits around bodies”.

That is basically all there is to it. I played for about an hour, and once I muted the (perhaps deliberately) abhorent engine sounds, I found the game to be quite relaxing. It's free, so you might as well give it a shot.