Yes, I have played a lot of it. And have since 2016.
I feel it is akin to saying FPS games haven't improved since DOOM (95), or simulation games haven't improved since Deus Ex. Are both excellent examples of their genre? Yes, absolutely. Are they still some of the most fun you can have in a game? Yes. Holy crap yes. But to ignore improvements made in the last 3 decades of game development and storytelling just because another game hasn't improved on every single aspect aspect of them is a wild perspective.
Denying the improvements Hello Games has made over the last 9 years feels as if it can only come from a perspective of "I don't like it, therefore it is bad". Which to be clear, again, it is fine if you don't like a game. I don't like WoW, haven't since before Cataclysm. I don't like Diablo III in the same way I liked D2 (and as a result haven't even played D4). But those are personal preferences to me, and both games contain numerous improvements over their predecessors. Just not my bag.
I never understood why people will keep playing games they don't like. It doesn't make any sense to me. If I don't like a game, I play something else.
I believe it happened this way because when they were in danger of self-destructing after the terrible launch, they knew they could no longer afford to risk continuing to try for the vision they had and sold. They had to pivot to a adding shallow crowd-pleasing fluff, and the more the better. And it was a good business decision! Now people go gaga over the fact that you can summon a multiplayer social hub from your menu and do fortnite emotes with strangers.
Let me try to flip this and compliment NMS for what I think it is. It's a good light-hearted space-themed VR chat with some gamelike elements.
-----------------------
Also, no worries about the earlier question. I wasn't offended or upset, but I think it was just a good opportunity to point out that the culture about discussing this game now has that kind of thing baked into it.
Personally think the gameplay loop is shallow, modding helped me find more depth.
But I'd say one of the best experiences I had in the game was becoming self-reliant at the start of a new save. Struggling not to die evolves into having enough resources to survive indefinitely by manual resource harvesting, which evolves into setting up crude crafting pipelines, which then evolves into advanced harvesting and manufacturing, enabling easy interstellar travel and self-sufficient freighter bases. But that can only happen once per save. And it's only really satisfying on survival or permadeath. The other modes are essentially just a no-risk sandbox.
The game has had clearly observable and measurable improvements, in terms of features, like multi-player, but also in terms of overall content, game and storyline components, and substantial new and revised game mechanics.
It is abundantly clear from player feedback that your opinion is in the minority.
Steam reviews - Recent Reviews: Very Positive (1,837) All Reviews: Very Positive (256,838)
Asking people if they've played the game (or "read the article") is also directly against the HN guidelines.