Some players loved Battlefield 2042 and No Man's Sky before the fixes arrived

PC Gamer's critic gave Battlefield 2042 a positive review while the game was being called the worst Battlefield of all time. The detractors had valid points, but perspective mattered. The 128-player maps had stretches of open ground where players could get stranded without cover, yet this created what the writer describes as eerie, lonely moments reminiscent of Battlefield 1942. The glitchy hovercrafts and custom game modes built through Portal's scripting tools added to the appeal, despite their rough edges.

EA responded to widespread feedback with an extended campaign of changes, overhauling maps and refocusing on 64-player modes. The publisher wasn't wrong to do it, but the writer didn't return to the game much afterward.

A similar arc played out with No Man's Sky. At launch in 2016, the space exploration game faced intense criticism and accusations, fueled partly by fuzzy marketing language from developer Hello Games. The writer remembered liking its eerie solitude instead. No Man's Sky has since become one of gaming's redemption stories, with Hello Games adding 32-player multiplayer, base building, and countless other features over a decade.

Hello Games founder Sean Murray remains fond of the original version. "I've gone back to the original, played the game without any updates," Murray said. "And I've got a real soft spot for it, to be honest. It's a more esoteric experience. It's a little bit weirder, but it's got its charm."

The post-launch work improved both games for many players, but the writer pushes back gently against calling these overhauls 'fixes,' as if redesigning a game's direction is the same as patching a technical bug. Murray faced criticism for being coy about multiplayer features absent in 2016, but No Man's Sky was still a distinct experience then. Nothing quite matches what either version offered, even now.