When Hello Games, developers of the Joe Danger series, first announced No Man’s Sky at E3 2014, it had lofty ambitions. Procedural generation this, infinite planets that, center of the galaxy something – No Man’s Sky was a game shrouded in mystery, but it captivated the gaming populace by offering a specific take on sci-fi and space: exploration. And though Founder Sean Murray and his team at Hello Games have had a rocky start – the game was embroiled in controversy when the studio was accused of misleading advertising in 2016, but the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) deemed the ads weren’t misleading – it seems No Man’s Sky is getting ever closer to its original vision, with the help of a new upcoming update titled NEXT. You can watch the reveal trailer above.
Murray took to the PlayStation Blog to give a bit of an outline of what the NEXT update is all about. “When No Man’s [Sky] launched it was broad in a way that almost no other game is, but with four updates it has become broader and so much deeper too. Now the release of Next brings a full multiplayer experience which makes the universe even more rich.” The NEXT update is will add full multiplayer – both cooperative and competitive, though competitive multiplayer sounds a bit limited – the ability to play in both first- and third-person – on the ground and in the air – unlimited base building, upgradable freighters, a visual overhaul to “make space more beautiful than ever,” character customization, and a bunch more. And it’s all for free and will launch on July 24.
The full list of features in the upcoming No Man’s Sky update include the following:
Multiplayer
- Team up a small team of friends and explore the universe together, or be joined by random travellers.
- You can help friends to stay alive, or prey on others to survive.
- Tiny shelters or complex colonies that you build as a team are shared for all players.
- Fight as a pirate or a wingman in epic space battles with friends and enemies.
- Race exocraft across weird alien terrains, creating race tracks and trails to share online.
- Character customisation allows you to personalise your appearance.
Visual Overhaul
- The game is fully playable in third or first person, both on-foot and in ship.
- Planetary rings and improved space visuals make space more beautiful than ever.
- Dramatically improved planetary terrain generation, ground textures, water and clouds bring the environment to life.
- Significantly more detail added to ships, NPCs and buildings.
Unlimited Base Building
- Bases can now be built anywhere on any planet.
- Dramatically increased base building complexity and size limits.
- Hundreds of new base parts.
- Own multiple bases.
Command Freighters
- Assemble and upgrade a fleet of frigates and command them from the bridge of your freighter.
- Send your fleet out to into the universe, or deploy them to help you as you explore a specific system.
- Improved freighter base building allows a truly custom capital ship.
- Invite your friends aboard and take on challenging multiplayer missions from the Galactic Commission Station on your bridge.
In our review of the game, we gave it a 9/10, saying, “So No Man’s Sky isn’t flawless. It’s probably not for everyone. Then again, No Man’s Sky is exactly as described by the eccentric Sean Murray. If you’ve ever dreamed of being a cosmonaut, of starting with practically nothing and amassing a fortune, of becoming a notorious space pirate, or had any other of the countless sci-fi fantasies out there, this is probably the game for you. Now, those fantasies might not play out exactly as you’d have hoped in No Man’s Sky, but this is a game that begs those who put in the time to come back just once more and see what lies just over the horizon. If this game is right for you, you won’t be able to put the controller down.”
No Man’s Sky is available now for PC and PlayStation 4. Xbox One owners will have to wait until July 24, but at least you’ll get the update and the game at the same time.
[Source: PlayStation Blog]
No Man's Sky Info Dump
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No Man's Sky - Everything You Need to Know
Scrub up on your knowledge of Hello Games' space oddity in time for its long-anticipated release.
Your universe awaits.
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First Gameplay Revealed
Six months on from its show-stopping unveiling, Hello Games took to the stage at E3 2014 heralding the first look at No Man's Sky in action.
It proved a defining moment in the game's development arc, not only wowing the industry with tangible gameplay, but aligning it closely with Sony and PlayStation 4. Which brings us to...
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Why PS4?
Despite some confusion at first, No Man's Sky will be releasing as a timed PS4 exclusive, expanding to PC soon after its debut early next week.
But the power of Sony's system effectively shaped Hello Games' approach to No Man's Sky from top to bottom -- be it design, control or performance.
Said Sean Murray at the time: "We’ve always had PC in mind but in my head [console-y] means solid framerate and immediate controls."
During production, it's understood NMS had the "full weight of PlayStation" behind it.
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Expect Journey-esque Multiplayer
In adding a sense of order to the chaotic cosmos, Hello Games is eager to implement seamless multiplayer that will evoke memories of thatgamecompany's Journey.
Given the sheer scope of No Man's Sky, the odds of you crossing paths with another player are seemingly "really, really small."
But that doesn't mean you're totally alone, with Murray revealing that, "you get a sense that you’re playing with other people, and you can see the actions of other people, plus you’ll share things that are significant – if you take out a space station, we’ll share that, and that’ll be shared across the entire universe."
In space, no one can hear you, ahem, gather resources. Whatever the case, let's hope the prospect of running into potential allies offsets any boredom.
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No Load Screens to Report
Tedious or no, one thing Hello Games is confident about is its game engine, which all but negates the need for load screens.
That allows you to jump from planet to planet without interruption, with Sean Murray noting that the studio "demoed this at gamescom, just jumping round the universe to different planets. There are no load times, because nothing needs to load, as the planets are entirely computer-generated."
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More Than Meets the Eye
Unbridled exploration isn't the only selling point of Hello Games' new IP, and as development wore on, new details began to emerge regarding combat and the in-game wanted system.
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One Year Later
A lot can change in a year. By 2014, The VGAs were now known as The Game Awards and No Man's Sky, commemorating 12 months since its reveal, unleashed a new gameplay clip that thrust viewers out into the far reaches of space.
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No DLC Plans
As things stand, Hello Games currently has no plans for downloadable content, and appears to be angling No Man's Sky to be more of a platform.
Besides, with upwards of 18 quintillion planets to explore, is add-on content really necessary? In fact, the game is so big that Hello Games had to employ probes to oversee creation.
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Too Big to Spoil
Even if you watched every single YouTube video for No Man's Sky -- of which there will surely be thousands -- it's virtually impossible to spoil the entire experience.
That's a point of contention that re-emerged quite recently, too, with Sean Murray asking early adopters to refrain from delving too deep and instead waiting to experience those surprises for themselves.
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Hands-On Impressions
Putting Hello Games' epic to the sword, our own Chandler Wood went hands-on with No Man's Sky at E3 2015. It nabbed one of PSLS' coveted Best of E3 Awards, too.
Fast forward some nine months and we got our hands on a more complete build of the studio's space title. There's also a chat with Sean Murray himself.
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Virtual Reality Not Off the Table
During our chat, the prospect of VR support inevitably came to the fore. That's something that Hello Games has flirted with before -- it could be the "perfect fit" -- even when the PlayStation VR was still referred to as Project Morpheus.
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Smooth Sailing on PS4
Despite reports to the contrary, No Man's Sky allegedly runs smoothly on PlayStation 4, and Sean Murray has allayed fears that the game will be hamstrung by frame rate issues and other technical hiccups.
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Lore, Languages and Alien NPCs
That's reassuring, too, considering the amount of lore here to discover. From NPC interaction to alien languages, No Man's Sky comes packing a rich, unfathomably complex universe to explore.
It's an interstellar narrative mapped out by the talented duo of Dave Gibbons (Watchmen, Kingsman: The Secret Service) and James Swallow (Deus Ex: Human Revolution, Star Trek).
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Planetary Weather
Such a boundless scope entices you to jump in the nearest spacecraft, right? Not so fast. Whether it's scorching hot temperatures or bitter-cold lows, many of the planets found in No Man's Sky are inhospitable.
"There are things like rain, dust storms, snow, blizzards, storms and a bunch of other things possible. There are also more alien weather types, effectively like radioactive and toxic hazards, and atmospheres made from different compositions to ours."
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Prolonged Development
First showcased in the latter stages of 2013, it's fair to say No Man's Sky has been a long time coming.
Confirming initial reports to be true, Hello Games announced plans to postpone its hotly-anticipated title back in May, pegging No Man's Sky to the now-final release date of August 9 in North America.
If you're wanting to delve a little deeper, check out our piece recounting the road so far.
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Hello Games Came Close to Pulling the Plug
Fearing that the game wouldn't garner much interest, Sean Murray admitted that Hello Games came close to never revealing No Man's Sky in 2013.
That wasn't the only time when doubt was cast over the ambitious space sim. Only a few weeks after said announcement, the studio's home base in Guildford, England was hit by a devastating flood.
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The Flood
Christmas Eve, 2013. It's a time when Hello Games should have been riding high coming off the back of The VGAs. But a cruel flash flood brought that fairytale down to earth, with the studio revealing at the time that a significant chunk of work and development tools had been lost.
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Legal Tussles
Hello Games' struggles stretched beyond natural disasters, too, after the developer was forced to settle a "secret" dispute regarding the No Man's Sky title, not to mention the allegations made against the patented superformula. Both were settled with relatively little fuss.
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Most Anticipated Title of 2016
It makes for quite the comeback story, though; according to a straw poll conducted by Amazon, No Man's Sky stands as the most-anticipated title of 2016.
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Soundtrack
Featuring music from instrumental band 65daysofstatic, the official No Man's Sky soundtrack will be released in tandem with the game next week with the promise of additional music further down the line.
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No PlayStation Plus Necessary
Though it's recommended to get the full experience, PlayStation Plus is not required to play online in No Man's Sky.
The only drawback is that you can't contribute to the in-game Atlas: "PS Plus won’t be a requirement to play online, however you will need to connected to the internet for your discoveries to register with the universal atlas." Speaking of which...
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The Atlas
It's the floating translucent diamond that has been synonymous with No Man's Sky from the start, but that symbol actually represents The Atlas, the mysterious fixture of Hello Games' universe that is seemingly harbor a secret or two of its two.
Players will use the Atlas to chronicle their discoveries -- be that planets, flora, animals and everything in between.
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PC Version Pushed
Once set to launch alongside its PS4 brethren, we learned recently that Hello Games had postponed the PC version of No Man's Sky by three days.
It'll now arrive on August 12, though the studio failed to explain its reasoning behind the last-minute delay.
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6GB on Disc
Though the digital size is yet to be determined, No Man's Sky will weigh in at 6GB on retail discs.
Although it seems someone paid an exorbitant amount of money to get their hands on an early copy...
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$1,300 on eBay
eBay user daymeeuhn forked out a whopping $1,300 for an early retail copy of No Man's Sky.
That's quite the headline, but in responding to questions via Reddit, the user posted a fairly reasonable response.
"I’m a lucky guy. I’ve done well for myself. I have disposable income and I’m happy in life. I’m in a state of being where I don’t look at a purchase and determine the overall value by the price tag, but rather by how much happiness it will bring myself or the people I care about."
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Done Deal
In a second update, that same flush eBay user claimed to have beaten the game. That is, reach the center of the universe. Mild spoilers within.
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Top 5 & Trophy List
In anticipation of the No Man's Sky's arrival, we here at PSLS ran through the Top 5 reasons why we can't wait to delve into Hello Games' procedural universe.
The Trophy list has also popped, revealing the game's wealth of sci-fi inspirations.
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Four Pillars & First Post-Launch Update
In educating would-be explorers about the moment-to-moment gameplay of No Man's Sky, a recent four-part video series covered the primary pillars: Survival. Combat. Exploration. Trading.
Beyond that, there's also word of the first post-launch update. It'll add "new features, balancing and content."
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Rated T for Teen
Citing laser blasts and explosions, the ESRB has officially rated No Man's Sky T for Teen.
Here's the rundown:
"From a first-person perspective, players travel between planetary systems to explore alien worlds for resources, upgrade equipment, and discover unique life forms. As players pilot spacecrafts to different planets, they can engage in space combat against enemy ships and space pirates; combat is accompanied by laser fire and large explosions."
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Limited Edition & Faceplate
Priced at $79.99, the No Man’s Sky Limited Edition bundles together the game itself, steelbook, art book, comic, and more.
There's also a sleek faceplate to add to your PS4.
