I was originally extremly sceptical about No Mans Sky, as many were back then.
To be honest, the game got maybe a bit too much hate, but the hype built by the devs was equally ridiculous. And the devs lied.

BUT: I think they mostly redeemed themselves by now. At least considering No Mans Sky. The only other game that i can think of at the moment, that got similar long-term free support is Terraria.

I have not played yet, but will likely buy now, or the next time it is discounted.

As a non-Galaxy user, is it now a good time to buy No Man's Sky for offline gaming?

I believe the Crossplay updates lead to crashes for many users, but as I don't use Galaxy, I won't be able to downgrade to a previous known-good version of the game. Is the latest offline installer regarded as stable for offline gaming, or am I better off waiting a bit longer before taking the plunge?

Have you reached for the skies? Keep pushing harder, failed launches are just a part of the starting sequence...

They certainly made some bad choices and gave the appearance of being untrustworthy at launch for sure. A friend of mine had the game installed on his PC which he left here for LAN gaming around the time when it came out, so I got to play through the game once, enjoyed the first 12 hours and then was bored and disappointed through the rest of the game, especially the ending. When all was said and done, my recommendation to people was that the game was worth $5 to satisfy their curiosity during a big sale or whatever, but not worth more than that. The game got slaughtered on Steam and GOG reviews and very lowly rated due to all the controversy.

Now fast forward several years to today and it seems that the developers have continued to add various features and functionality over time that they had previously promised the game would have, and additional stuff as well. They've done several free major updates to the game and sentiments about the game from people who have played it with these updates appear to be increasingly positive.

It does appear now that the devs did screw up on launch, but have tried to make good on their promises over time and remain committed to the game over time which has made me cautiously curious... Have they redeemed themselves now?

It would seem that many people seem to think they have when I look over the reviews and review scores on Steam. The game hit an all time low of 20% or so approval originally if I recall correctly, and since then it has climbed up to 62% approval overall, and 88% approval the last month. That is as far as I know unprecedented for a game to come back from the dead after being effectively "cancelled". It means a lot of people had to either update their review to be positive and/or incredible numbers of new players had to give it great reviews over the long haul.

Whatever the case may be, it has me curious about it again and whether it's worth giving the game another look, and giving the devs a pass for having come good.

What do others think, have they finally come good?

In my opinion yes, they have redeemed themselves.

For disclosure, I have worked in the game industry for more than 25 years, and know waaay to well how the 'sausage is made' - Often in cases like this there is a publisher pulling the strings from behind the curtain, and is often limiting the support that a developer can provide the game. In the case of No Man's Sky, I'm sure the Sony played a role in it being released far earlier than it should have been (contracts and finances).

Fortunately Hello Games apparently has control of the NMS IP and has been able to do what they think is right and not be beholden to a Publisher's quarterly earnings or internal Politics.

I was very involved in remastering a game that has been highly requested here on GoG, but it's being limited to that other platform. As soon as it shipped, our little developer was kicked to the curb because they got tired of us pushing back. Players are complaining about a ton of issues but the publisher considers it to be "sunk money" at this point and won't spend a dime on further development. All their focus is on the next game in the series which is badly delayed at this moment.

It's is very rare in the industry, that's for sure. 'unprecedented ' is a valid word in this case.

Only you can decide that it is or isn't the kind of game that you are going to enjoy. However, objectively as a game, it's has come a long, long way since release. Give the Internet Historian video a view to see if it piques your interest further. I often see it on sale here (and have the offline installers going back to the "beyond" release) and the price is often very reasonable if you think it's something you would like. I just got a Valve Index and hope to try it in VR soon.

Tbh I never followed the hype surrounding this. I saw a few previews - almost infinite procedural universe, fly in space and land on planets, then explore them on foot and gather stuff to build better stuff - I was already sold.

When the game launched, it was what I thought it was. A relaxing, meditative experience, with some wtf (or just "fuck!" - like when I found that planet full of resources, but also extremely aggressive tentacle monsters ganging up on me within seconds after exiting the ship) moments. I was happy.

The game, as it is now, with all the complexity of crafting, refining, manufacturing, growing stuff, then base building, fleet management, quests and missions... it's crazy cool, but not what I was looking for any more.

If I could install the original NMS and the now NMS alongside, as different games - I would probably say the "new" is the better game. But it might actually be that I would launch the old more often - after a long day at work and all the daily family issues.

The VR controls feel weird if you are used to k+m, but once you train a bit, it starts to make sense. Imo one of the best VR seated experiences on the market today. Except for ship controls in space - once space combat starts, I can run, loose, or grab my mouse and win easily.