on the store page, it looks like you can play older versions of No Man Sky how do I download them

"Now including...
Play with all major updates since launch: Foundation, Pathfinder, Atlas Rises, NEXT, The Abyss, Visions, the 2.0 BEYOND update, Synthesis, Living Ship, Exo Mech, Desolation and the 3.0 update, ORIGINS, Next Generation, Companions, Expeditions and more!"

You cannot. When you download the game you get newest version with all previous updates included.

If you downloaded and kept previous versions of the offline installers you can play them.

If not, then you can only download the latest one. At least for this game. Some games have "legacy" version to download too.

And if you're busy downloading the current version and the version changes, you will suddenly download that newer version and have to restart downloads all over again.

Happends to me with BG3. With NMS of course its not such a problem since the game is so much smaller.

Buy it on Steam (on sale if ya like) then you can download every version since day 1 from their archive.

I didn't like the new direction after they did the console type UI - so I've been playing mostly Sentinels for the last year or so (in VR of course!) and also Frontiers and Prisms, but I have them all.

There's a guide how to do this on Reddit - in fact there are several guides around now - I did it first years ago with 7 Days To Die when i first found a guide, in 2016.

I can save you some time with this info.You need the manifest ID to download a particular version:

=========================

Beyond 2.16 - 14-08-19 to 07-11-19 ID: 3316653034691579082

Synthesis 2.27 - 28-11-19 to 04-02-20 ID: 4131722998131020791

Living Ship 2.34 - 19-02-2020 to 31-03-20 ID: 99407181682787874

Exo Mech 2.42 - 07-04-20 to 16-04-20 ID: 7464613103538631399

Crossplay 2.55 - 10-06-20 to 26-06-20 ID: 1051177205616279980

Desolation 2.62 - 16-07-20 to 12-08-20 ID: 1941000434979213763

Origins 3.03 - 23-09-20 to 09-10-20 ID: 2835393896182069888

Halloween 3.05 - 26-10-20 ID: 1852752019883284397

Next Generation 3.15 - 28-10-20 to 27-01-21 ID: 7446069109246682091

Companions 3.22 - 17-02-21 to 26-02-21 ID: 3671633697766850274

Expeditions 3.38 - 31-03-21 to 30-04-21 ID: 5659358320284361520

Expeditions (Two) 3.41+3.42 - 21-05-21 ID: 164905428981274941

Prisms 3.53 - 02-06-21 to 16-06-21 ID: 8457564640834371088

Frontiers 3.68 - 01-09-21 to 30-09-21 ID: 3440377711915765408

*Emergence 3.70-71* - 20-10-21 to 28-10-21

*Expeditions Revisited 3.72-75* 24-11-21 to 03-12-21

Sentinel 3.84 - 16-02-22 to 01-03-22 ID: 6056621687197733627

Outlaws 3.89 - 13-04-22 to 03-05-22 ID: 3791474409496605069

*Leviathan 3.90-93 - 25-05-22 to 17-06-22

Endurance 3.99.1 - 20-07-22 to 19-08-22 ID: 8802028389294487328

Waypoint 4.06 - 07-10-22 to 08-11-22 ID: 7444032356953351440

*Holiday Expeditions 4.07-08* - 23-11-22 to 06-12-22

Fractal 4.15 - 22-03-23 to 16-03-23 ID: 9028934462948511997

Interceptor 4.23 - 05-04-23 to 17-04-23 ID: 2553862631934504589

Singularity Expedition 4.38 - 07-06-23 to 20-07-23 ID: 8987115219851254482

========================

Just open the Steam console and type in this command:

download_depot 275850 275851 3316653034691579082

That last number is the manifest ID - it's the only number you need to change for different versions (this one would be for Beyond).

The console will tell you when the download has finished and where it is.

Have fun!

Forgot to mention - you have to download the current game on Steam, then go to where it is installed and delete the two folders (Binaries and GAMEDATA), then paste the same two folders of the version you downloaded on the console in the root folder and you're sorted.

If you want to download several versions, just rename them to which version they are after downloading and move them to a storage place - then just copy over the two folders from whichever version you feel like playing.

It's very easy and works without issues. You can then launch it as normal from the steam library or notification tray (recently played list). Make sure you set the properties for the game in your library to not update ("Don't Update Unless I Launch It" setting) otherwise Steam will just update it back to the current version!

It is possible to play the Steam version without Steam (and of course without network functions)? Because I want to play older versions but without Steam.