No Man's Sky: Origins, the latest update for the sci-fi survival game, is a whopper which "effectively doubles the variety in the game."
Specifically speaking, players will now discover all-new planets, some with binary and tertiary stars, and cross paths with new flora and fauna. Origins also tweaks the weather systems in the game, turning them into localised weather effects that travel around the planet. New special weather events will appear, including tornadoes, lightning, and meteor showers, which will bring about rare resources.
Additionally, snap-happy players will be thrilled to learn that cloud rendering quality is now much more realistic, with a range of colours and cloud cover which matches the conditions of the planet when seen from space. Photo mode boasts new filters and adjustments for clouds, fog, vignettes, and depth of field. This, plus the expanded palette for planetary generation and new "atmospheric illuminations," will uniquely define every player's adventure in No Man's Sky.
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Technical and UI improvements have rolled out, as well as the migration of "wild robots" plodding over certain planets. A bit like Horizon Zero Dawn, this one. Abandoned and ancient settlements promise to shake up the structure of dead or anomalous planets, and giant vaults containing "data, treasure, and directions to long-forgotten ruins" touch the sky on others. Volcanic eruptions and firestorms are also possible on volatile worlds, and lush swamps teeming with life will be found on fertile planets. And, traders will now occasionally land on the surface of planets, peddling black-market upgrade modules.
If you're reading this and starting to sweat that your beautifully constructed base will be sliding down a mountain into the maw of a giant sand worm, do not worry. "We didn't want to change the terrain of existing planets," said director Sean Murray. "So the idea that we came up with was to introduce new planets, and to increase the diversity of the universe within the universe. The vast, vast majority of players' progress is completely intact." Phew.
The update launches today, and the patch notes in their entirety are here. You gotta hand it to Hello Games; the journey that No Man's Sky has taken and the growth that it has seen since 2016 are nothing short of astounding. Now, I'm off to download it. I'm sure installing four years of content in an afternoon is perfectly possible. Possibly possible.Featured Image Credit: Hello Games
Topics: Hello Games, No Man's Sky