How No Man’s Sky Helped Me Deal With Depression
By: Joe Douglas
Tags: Videogames, No Mans Sky, Mindfulness, Mental Health, Depression

How No Man’s Sky Helped Me Deal With Depression

Finding Peace in the Void.

One of the many beautiful vistas from my time playing No Man’s Sky

I was diagnosed with depression in my early 20s, but I’m pretty certain I had it long before that, at least since my early teens. Now 35 I’ve been knowingly living with it for 15 years and in that time I’ve tried many different methods of managing it.

Talking to professionals, going on medication, attending groups, journaling, CBT-ing, even meditating. I’ve tried a lot of different things and while some have worked better than others, for me the best way to manage my depression is to lose myself.

The phrase “to lose oneself” can conjure up a myriad of meaning, not all of them good. However, what I mean here is to lose yourself completely in a fictional world; to forget the reality around you and completely surrender yourself to the immersion of this new reality. Of course this can happen with any kind of medium; a novel, a comic, a film or TV series, a podcast or audiobook.

For me though, the medium in which it is easiest to lose myself is video games, in particular those that offer you a grand, rich universe to explore.

Such as No Man’s Sky.

If you’ve not heard of No Man’s Sky, in essence it is a game which presents players with an open world universe of 18 quintillion planets, all of which are procedurally generated. You literally have an entire universe to explore, no hyperbole needed.

While the game does have a story with missions and goals like traditional games, the true brilliance of No Man’s Sky, and I would argue the true joy of it, is when you put all those to the side and simply explore.

Every time you visit a new planet you are never sure what you are going to find. Perhaps it will be a huge seed pod large enough to build a little rest stop in, or a gigantic canyon through which you can fly your ship. Maybe you’ll come across the ruins of a previous civilisation and uncover secrets of the past, or find a hidden nest of creatures long thought to be extinct.

Sometimes you’ll happen across an abandoned communications station to find a distress call that has gone unanswered for decades. Investigating the source of the call will reveal a long-ago crashed starship, the final recordings of its pilot hinting towards greater mysteries.

If you explore the deepest depths of the universe, you may even discover the nature of reality.

One of the many strange and wonderful creatures you can discover.

The planets of No Man’s Sky range from peaceful green paradises to volcano-filled hell holes where the ground literally catches on fire. All of them are a joy to explore. There is something very satisfying about landing on a planet, jumping out of your ship, and beginning your trek across the landscape, not knowing what it is you’ll come across.

If I’ve had a bad day mentally, few things help me relax and get back into a positive mind space as well as exploring the universe of No Man’s Sky. I find it very relaxing to walk around the various planets, scanning all the flora, fauna and rock formations into my planetary discoveries database. Coming across a settlement or building is always exciting as they often hold something of interest, even if it’s just a store from which to buy the various resources to help on my exploration.

I recall one day that had been particularly bad. I was feeling extremely low and wanted nothing to do with the world. I sat down and began playing No Man’s Sky. I arrived on a new planet and after a half hour or so of exploring, I began to see something I’d not seen before off in the distance. It looked like trails of dust being kicked up from the ground. As I drew nearer I saw that about half a dozen such trails were criss-crossing over themselves. Puzzled, I continued up the small hill on which I saw them and when I crested the top I was met with an amazing sight.

The cause of the dust trails was a new type of fauna I had never encountered, despite my many hours of playing. They were creatures which I can only describe as organic corkscrews, playfully burrowing into the earth, travelling underground for a few seconds to then burst out again in curving arcs through the sky. Seeing something for the first time after playing the game for longer than most games take to complete was incredibly exciting for me, and spurred my desire to explore and delve into the universe further, leaving behind the troubles of my more mundane existence.

The planetary discoveries database record of the “corkscrew” creature.

I think this joy of discovery and exploration speaks to something deep within humans. From our earliest histories we’ve gone exploring, wanting to find what is over the horizon, or just beyond the next mountain range. While this has not always ended well for all the peoples of the world, humans as a species would never have grown as much was we have without the desire to discover. Now, with much of the world known, video games gives us the opportunity to explore and discover once more.

Escapism has long been the balm of the troubled mind, and it can be argued that video games are the ultimate form of escapism. The brilliance of No Man’s Sky, however, is that the escapism it provides can be as serene as one wishes. While there is combat in the game, as well as other obstacles the player must overcome, it is all optional. The game provides you with the information on how likely a battle is to break out, or if you’ll have to deal with a planet’s toxic environment. Thus, if you wish to simply relax and explore you can, and you can play the game for hours without having to worry about any of those aforementioned troubles.

My favourite screenshot I’ve taken throughout all my time playing No Man’s Sky.

No Man’s Sky is unlike any other game. In fact, the only other game I can really liken it to is the equally genre obscuring Myst series. The game allows you to play at your own pace and discover its universe as you wish.

With everything that’s going on in the world, to be able to simply explore and discover is an experience of pure joy.

No Man’s Sky has saved me mentally many times, and I’m sure it’ll save me many more. It’s pure escapism and it’s incredibly good for the mind.

If you need me, you’ll find me among the stars.