When No Man’s Sky released just over a year ago, on 9 August 2016, I was shocked and appalled. The game was hyped up beyond belief and didn’t deliver on most of its promises. To this day, the release version of No Man’s Sky still stings for many gamers. Since then and through a lot of well-deserved flak from the gaming community, the developer Hello Games has been hard at work improving the game.
The Foundation Update got the game one step closer to what it was supposed to be from the start, while the Pathfinder Update turned the game into a beautiful title that is worth giving another go. However, arguably the biggest disappointment fans still hold on to is the implied multiplayer that should have been in at launch.
Today, developer Hello Games have revealed the biggest update yet, with dare I say it, over 18 quintillion features and improvements. The most exciting on the list of features is, of course, “joint exploration”. Yes, there is now multiplayer in No Man’s Sky, although it does seem to be only the first step towards a complete multiplayer experience. Hello Games explains:
- “Glitches in the simulation have begun to appear.
- Visualised by strange floating orbs, up to 16 players can see and communicate with one another, and explore the universe together.
- While interaction with others is currently very limited, this is an important first step into the world of synchronous co-op in No Man’s Sky.
- While interaction is very limited, VOIP (Voice over IP) allows proximity based voice chat with other nearby explorers.
- Use portals to quickly travel to more populated planets, or to meet up with friends.”
Atlas Rises is massive Apart from the multiplayer, there are a plethora of new features, changes and improvements to the game, including new procedurally generated missions, portals, improvements to the trade system and even an overhauled central storyline. The patch notes are absolutely massive, so I’ve highlighted the biggest features and improvements below.
A new story
- In the Atlas Rises story, the fabric of existence is starting to falter.
- A mysterious new interdimensional race have appeared.
- Glitches are causing ancient portals to activate.
- Our story brings a new context, quest system and branching narrative to No Man’s Sky.
- 30 hours of new story content.
- Double the lore and interactions of the existing game.
- Discover the truth behind the Abandoned Building logs, the World of Glass, the Sentinels, the Redemption of the Gek, and the meaning of sixteen…
Galactic regeneration
- A regenerated system adds wealth, economy and conflict levels to star systems.
- To control this the Galaxy Map has been overhauled, improving navigation and providing access to key information.
- Install galactic technology to be able to filter the map by lifeform, wealth and economy.
- Improved waypointing, and navigation allows you to see your journey so far, from beginning to end.
New worlds
- The variety and visual quality of planetary biomes has been improved.
- Explore rare new exotic planet types as you journey toward the galactic core.
Crashed Freighters
- Discover and scavenge lost cargo from gigantic crashed Freighters on planetary surfaces.
- Use the terrain manipulator to excavate buried resources in the region.
- Complete Salvage missions for Guild rewards.
Mission System
- Visit the new Mission Agent in Space Stations to pick up unique and rewarding new tasks.
- Missions are constantly generated, and cater to all play styles (scanning, trading, combat and exploration).
- New NPC guilds have been introduced, each with standing and objectives.
- Build your standing with numerous NPC guilds and unlock more difficult, more rewarding missions.
Interstellar Trading
- New economic variables bring new depth to trading between star systems.
- Star systems are now classed based on their economic strengths and weaknesses.
- New trade goods have been added. Meet supply and demand by purchasing goods at a low price, and hauling themto economically favourable systems.
- A tiered crafting system allows increasingly valuable products to be crafted by combining harvestable materials.
- Gas harvesters have been introduced, allowing explorers to extract valuable elements from a planet’s atmosphereto use in crafting.
- Combine crafted products to create increasingly valuable items that can be sold on the Galactic Marketplace.
- New maintenance interactions have been introduced for all harvesting equipment, bringing more depth to farming, mnining and harvesting.
Analysis Visor
- Analysis Visors have been re-calibrated to show more information and offer better rewards for scanning.
- Analyse resources before harvesting for to gain alternative resources from mining.
- See more information about each discovery.
- Scanning Flora and Fauna now yields increased rewards.
- Specialised analysis visor upgrades can be equipped to further improve effectiveness.
Terrain Editing
- Transform the ground beneath your feet using the new terrain editing Multi-Tool enhancement.
- Add or remove terrain to mould the landscape as you see fit, anywhere on any planet.
- Choose from a number of materials, shapes and sizes to sculpt your unique creations.
- Form terrain around your base to make it feel like part of the environment.
Portals
- Ancient portals can now be activated. Revisit previous planets, others bases or jump randomly to new worlds.
- Learn the language of portals by unlocking mysterious glyphs as you journey through the universe.
- Interact with a portal and input a specific combination of glyphs to quick travel to a specific planet.
- Share glyph combinations with the community to help others travel quickly to specific planets and points of interest.
Space Combat
- A number of improvements have been made to space flight and combat.Enemy artificial intelligence has been overhauled, and new difficulties have been added.
- Ship manoeuvrability has been improved, bringing more skill to dog-fighting.
- Devastating rockets can be equipped to ships and upgraded for even greater firepower.
- A new HUD has been introduced to improve the experience of space combat. This includes a communicator, which can be used to advance mission steps, or even to hail pirates before they attack.
Further, there is also a tonne of User Interface improvements and enhancements as well as graphical updates and so much more, for example, gameplay enhancements as well as quality-of-life features and so much more. Read the full patch notes here.
Watch the Atlas Rises trailer below and then tell us what you think about the massive new update for No Man’s Sky.
Source: No Man’s Sky
