Since I promised a bit of depth but my original thread has been locked...
No Man's Sky is quite different that ED in a number of ways. First, it's true, you will never (unless updated in a future patch), have to concern yourself with running into another human-controlled character. However, given the sheer scale of NMS, the odds are vastly against you anyways. And that is not the focus of the game.
NMS is an Explorer's Dream on Acid.
You will spend countless hours pointing your scanner at every rock, tree, succulent, bird, bug, beast, -is-that? you find. You get paid for it.
You will seek out ancient ruins and learn alien languages.
You will endure long nights on frozen worlds, learn to enjoy the bacon-like smell of your own skin slowly coming to a boil inside your protective suit on sun-baked worlds, enjoy warm afternoons on tropical paradise worlds where gentle rains of floric acid threaten to melt you into goo.
And you'll do all this in a colorful wash of hues that make you wonder if you haven't started your journey from Haight-Ashberry.
And you'll likely end up buying and selling a number of goods from beings that prove nature has a sense of humor, though Trade is far from the focus here, it's just a good way to raise the money you need to buy the things you want.
Flight control is simple and intuitive, and take-off and landing is close to fully automated. NMS is not a cockpit simulation by far. And again, it is not the focus of the game.
NMS is about exploration - but not just exploration of space and all its wonders - it's about exploring yourself.
Your character is a mystery - you don't see your character. In fact, you don't even see your own limbs, if you have any. You'll see your multi-tool (weapon, scanner, mining device all-in-one) when you need it, but that's about it. You don't even cast a shadow to belie your form. This is a game of discovery - and discovery who and what you are - not as a entity, but as an individual, lies close to the heart of the game.
And while you have many option open to you as to how you earn your day-to-day - be it purely as an explorer, or a merchant, or even a pirate raiding convoys and planetary installations, what you choose to do is merely one small piece of a much larger picture of who you ultimately are.
NMS is addictive, colorful, vibrant and alive. But the pace is slow, relaxed and un-hurried. You'll never have to contend with have 0H 0M to rush a load of cargo anywhere. You will be attacked by groups of hostiles in space, or packs of indigenous creatures on planets that think you look tasty - or waves of Sentinel units bent on your demise, and these fights can be extremely intense, but for the most part, NMS moves at your pace, and encourages you and rewards you for taking your time, enjoying the scenery, and the lovely afternoon - at least until the boiling, acidic rain laden with exo-bacteria starts to fall.
Similarities:
1. Spacecraft - check
2. Seamless space-to-planetary landing and reverse - check, and even slightly better transition*
3. No shortage of aggressive AI's - Check
4. Trade - Check
* The transition from space-to-planet surface and from planet surface to space is perhaps a bit smoother than even ED. In ED there is that peculiar blue-ringed effect of coming out of super-cruise into orbital cruise, and the transition from orbital cruise to glide, or the message Too Steep/Too Shallow to glide that has all the same impact as a Loading screen, without the word "Loading...". In NMS this is completely seamless.
On the downside - There is no support for HOTAS, or even a Joystick, short of using a PS4 controller. The controls themselves are fairly simple, as are most functions, though there is an elegance to this simplicity, that frees you from having to manipulate complex controls to complete tasks, allowing you to focus on the journey.
