Light No Fire vs No Man’s Sky: Key Differences Explained

9/24/2025 • Updated 9/24/2025

Why Compare Light No Fire and No Man’s Sky

The studio behind No Man’s Sky is called Hello Games. Almost two years ago, in December 2023, they announced they were developing a new game: Light No Fire.
The trailer has now accumulated over 19 million views and spread a lot of hype around it. That’s why we are discussing their differences and similarities. Every studio has its own style and touch to its games. If you played No Man’s Sky before, you may have noticed some visual similarities between both games. The first time I saw the trailer, Light No Fire seemed a lot like its older sibling No Man’s Sky. I have over 300 hours of playtime in No Man’s Sky myself and have played since release.

Characters

At first glance, the characters of No Man’s Sky and Light No Fire don’t look the same visually. But I think the walking animation in both games is pretty much the same. The characters probably only differ in their theme. That’s because the settings of those games are very different. I will cover more of the setting later on. Especially the swiming animations look pretty much the same as seen in those two screenshots:

Map Differences

This is probably the biggest difference between No Man’s Sky and Light No Fire. No Man’s Sky is set in an almost infinite universe, with dozens of galaxies and an estimated 18 quintillion planets — which, by the way, is more than three times the number of grains of sand on Earth.

Light No Fire, on the other hand, is set on a single fantasy planet — though a really big one. Hello Games said it will be as large as Earth itself. It would take over 300 days to walk the full length. This also tackles a big problem with No Man’s Sky’s map: theoretically it is a multiplayer game, but stumbling upon other players is almost impossible. Light No Fire, with its relatively smaller map compared to NMS, has better potential for real multiplayer gameplay.

No Man’s Sky received two major world-overhaul updates in the past year, which is likely technology developed for Light No Fire. These updates made No Man’s Sky absolutely stunning. We already saw some parts of the map in the reveal trailer, and we put everything we saw onto a speculative interactive map for you to explore.

Gameplay Differences

Genre

No Man’s Sky is labeled as an action-adventure survival game. I wouldn’t consider it “survival” at all. The survival aspects are pretty minimal — it’s more of an exploratory adventure and grind game.

Light No Fire is considered a survival game as well, but this time I actually believe it. In the trailer, we saw a person chopping down a tree and someone building a hut. We also saw hostile creatures like a big crab being fought. There is a health bar in the bottom left corner as well. NMS has a health bar too, but the shields are very resistant so you almost never die. Light No Fire looks more like a classic survival game based on what we’ve seen so far. But it could still turn out to be more like No Man’s Sky — we don’t know yet. This is purely speculative based on the trailer.

Travel / Exploration

First, some similarities: both games have creatures you can ride. In No Man’s Sky, pets can be mounted, and in the LNF trailer we saw the player riding dragons, birds, and antelopes. No Man’s Sky’s creatures vary greatly: some can fly, some can swim, and others are land-based — from flying centipedes to giant teddy bears.

Both games also feature vehicles for traveling. For planet-based travel, No Man’s Sky offers vehicles like a buggy or a submarine. For space travel, we have freighters, spaceships, and the new corvette-class ships, which you can build and enter with your friends in the newest Voyagers Update. Sean Murray, the CEO of Hello Games, said this was technology needed for Light No Fire. He was referring to the vehicles mentioned in the trailer: boats.

Light No Fire will have vast oceans to traverse. With the planet being as big as Earth, it would take days to get from one continent to the next. This requires large boats and the ability to use them with your friends.

Setting

Light No Fire is set in a more medieval theme, with dragons, wooden cabins, and old-looking equipment. It is less likely to be science fiction like No Man’s Sky. After all, both games are fantasy games — but Light No Fire has a more classic setting, while No Man’s Sky has a futuristic one.

Conclusion

Category	Light No Fire	No Man’s Sky
Genre	More survival	More exploration and grinding
Travel	Travel with boats and creatures like dragons	Big vehicles and spaceships
Map	Real-life sized Earth with vast oceans and large landmasses	Gigantic universe with 18 quintillion planets
Characters	Different animal-based species	Different alien-based species
Multiplayer	Much more multiplayer components, probably requiring a good team	Few multiplayer aspects — you don’t see players often and can’t interact much
Setting	Fantasy, medieval	Science fiction

I think we will see a lot of elements and technology from No Man’s Sky being reused — but in a more interesting and exciting way. For instance, I can imagine the fishing mechanic from No Man’s Sky being added to Light No Fire. Both games share a lot because they share the same developer. Nevertheless, Light No Fire will be something new and fresh — something we can all look forward to with high expectations.