Summary
A massive new update forNo Man’s Skyhas been released just days after it was first teased, bringing various new features that many in the game’s community have been hoping to see introduced to the procedurally generated space exploration game since it was released in 2016. Called the Orbital update, version 4.6 is the secondupdate thatNo Man’s Skyhas received so far this year, with even more set to come in 2024.
The update was initiallyteased in a series of tweets fromNo Man’s SkycreatorSean Murray consisting of shooting star emojis, sparking plenty of speculation from fans as to what the update might bring. With the Orbital update releasing just days after this tease, however,No Man’s Sky’s second content drop of the year mostly just came out of the blue. Despite some fans expecting little more than another new community expedition event from the update, it actually focuses on delivering a big promised feature to the game, while also bringing in a couple of surprises.
The flagship content introduced withNo Man’s Sky’s Orbital update features completely overhauled space stations, which now boast incredible new exterior appearances as well as reimagined interior spaces. These updated station interiors offer enhanced utilities as well, with improvements to guilds and merchants allowing players to make donations to guilds in exchange for reputation and enjoy product discounts when purchasing from races that they have good relations with. Despite all of this, perhaps the single biggest feature the Orbital update introduces is the ability to custom-build starships from scratch using a special terminal at space stations.
No Man’s Sky’s New Ship Building Mechanic is a Huge Deal
This essentially makes it possible for players to create any non-exclusivestarship that can generate inNo Man’s Sky, though players will first need to salvage parts from starships that have crashed on planets. This means that players will no longer have to stumble across their ideal starship by chance, though the spirit of exploration that the game encourages is exactly the reason many fans previously believed that starship customization would never officially be added to the game.
While most ofNo Man’s Sky’s upcoming features are usually kept under wraps, these overhauled space stations were actually first revealed as part of a teaser trailer for the game that was shown at The Game Awards last year. The trailer celebrated seven years since the game’s release and thevarious updates thatNo Man’s Skyhas receivedthroughout this time, and thankfully, it seems like the game’s continued development isn’t coming to an end any time soon.
No Man’s Sky
WHERE TO PLAY
Lose yourself in a vast sci-fi odyssey as you explore a near-infinite, procedurally generated universe. Set out from the edge of the Euclid galaxy and carve out your own interstellar existence in a vast universe teeming with life, danger and near-endless mystery. No Man’s Sky is a hugely-ambitious, heavily-stylised, sci-fi adventure that spans entire galaxies all brought to life with procedural generation. Travel through an endless array of increasingly diverse and dangerous star systems, prospecting for rare materials, trading with alien life, populate planets and searching for clues to the meaning of the universe’s mysterious existence. How you survive is up to you. Assemble entire fleets of dreadnought-class freighters and tear across the universe; build sprawling habitable bases across planet surfaces, beneath the ground or under the ocean; buy and upgrade your own weapons and star ships and do battle with outlaw space pirates, hostile alien fauna or the mysterious sentinel fleets. The universe is yours to explore - trillions upon trillions of planets, waiting to be discovered.
