No Man's Sky Updated With "Living Ship" Expansion, Introduces New Ship Classes, Missions, Improvements

[Raevenlord]

I like to write articles on No Man's Sky because barely have I ever seen a game this well supported. In fact, I'd even risk saying this game sees better support - and more support - than many other games that even have the "games as a service" philosophy. The only other game I can think of that has had comparable improvements and overhauls throughout its lifecycle is Warframe, but that's a completely different beast. In No Man's Sky, I think we can see exactly how studios that make games as a work of love go on about supporting them.

While the games' release may have been a flop compared to the expectations set upon it (in no small part because of their own creators), I think it really is commendable that hello games didn't just pocket the immense profits they made with the games' release and are, instead, still working it up to its entire potential. It just really goes to show how good tool planning and the adequate mindset can bring about improvements over time.





This latest Living Ship update introduces biological spaceships, rare, sentient starships that also come accompanied by their own unique organic technologies for players to explore. There are dozens or procedurally-generated variants of these (which players can even incubate and grow), and alongside them is the introduction of a new, small campaign in the form of Starbirth, which tells the story of how these starships came into being (Korvax had a hand in them, fyi).

Also introduced are randomized, mysterious space encounters, that should help populate otherwise desolate space, as well as space NPCs for players to interact with. The update also comes with additional quality of life improvements and improved performance libraries for terrain generation and rendering, as well as memory optimizations. Follow the source link for the full patch notes.



View at TechPowerUp Main Site

 

[Chrispy_]

I really need to revisit NMS. I haven't touched it in about 18 months and it sounds like there are two major overhauls of the experience I need to catch up on.

Honestly, I'm looking forward to seeing what else Hello Games puts out. If they put as much effort into that as they do with NMS, I'll buy it on launch just to support them, since it doesn't seem to matter if it's stillborn - they'll pump life into it until it outshines everything else.

 

[Raevenlord]

I really need to revisit NMS. I haven't touched it in about 18 months and it sounds like there are two major overhauls of the experience I need to catch up on.

Honestly, I'm looking forward to seeing what else Hello Games puts out. If they put as much effort into that as they do with NMS, I'll buy it on launch just to support them, since it doesn't seem to matter if it's stillborn - they'll pump life into it until it outshines everything else.

Absolutely and wholeheartedly agree. I'm glad I ponied up for the collector's edition, it is one of those rare games that's like fine wine, and am actually looking forward to launching it again.

 

[DeathtoGnomes]

I played this on and off when every major update. If this eliminates the need to do combat just to get a freighter, I'm all for it. I know combat was changed a bit too in a prior update, hopefully for the better.

 

[TheLostSwede]

Is that a Screaming Baby in the storage sacs?

 

[neatfeatguy]

It's been a good 18+ months since I played the game. I liked the game, but I hated the auto "keep you from crashing" into the ground flying mechanics. I was super happy when I found a mod that removed that and you could fly anywhere, it made the game feel more alive; dive below land bridges, navigate ravines or even fly under water.

I know they added co-op/multiplayer in, but I haven't looked into it to see how well it actual works. If it's something that does work well I might see if my brother will grab himself a copy on GoG sometime.

It is nice to see them supporting the game 3.5 years after the initial release....I can't believe it's been that long already. I'll need to give this game some more attention.

 

[delshay]

I will update within the next two days.

 

[Vayra86]

While I liked the game and got pretty far in it, it does get old before you reach... well, anything really. Doesn't make it less enjoyable though. There is a lot to see, there are quite a few very weird surprises along the way, and every time it reinvigorates the game for you. With the base building and fleets they added, its not just fun on the planets but also in space. Combat overall is pretty horrible IMO, but its a bit like Skyrim; it can be overlooked, and still be immersive.

 

[Ferrum Master]

I rather replay subnautica. This game took many things they had regarding habitat building.

 

[JAB Creations]

I've played No Man's Sky and it was nothing like what people described it right after it's launch.

Personal taste is still relevant, the aliens are pointlessly ugly, no doubt to make them feel more alien. Organic ships are...well, a stretch and one that we as humans have no evidence (AFAIK) to support in the least. I doubt anyone will be waging wars while piloting in something's liver.

That being said the game play was a lot of fun and I'm thrilled that they've made so much progress.

 

[C1ff0]

Updated the game yesterday, I will play this evening after work. I really appreciate the passion that the team is pumping into this game.

@Ravenlord , @Chrispy_ , They have announced a small side project, that it's in developement. It's titled " The last Campfire "

The Last Campfire on Steam

The Last Campfire is an adventure, a story of a lost ember trapped in a puzzling place, searching for meaning and a way home.

store.steampowered.com

EDIT: found the dedicated website: https://thelastcampfiregame.com/

 

[Raevenlord]

I've played No Man's Sky and it was nothing like what people described it right after it's launch.

Personal taste is still relevant, the aliens are pointlessly ugly, no doubt to make them feel more alien. Organic ships are...well, a stretch and one that we as humans have no evidence (AFAIK) to support in the least. I doubt anyone will be waging wars while piloting in something's liver.

That being said the game play was a lot of fun and I'm thrilled that they've made so much progress.

Well, that depends on whether you like hard sci-fi or admit less fact-based approaches to science fiction. I can tell you that Carl Sagan is a proponent of alien beings not being at all alike human life (unlike the usual green bipeds...); you also have some sci-fi books that approach this subject matter with organic ships - biological technology that compares to the usual metal/electornic-based tech we usually see. You have the materials in a biological approach to build ships that self-regenerate, that change their form according to the intended function... I mean, I don't find it really a stretch. It's just more out of the box than what we're used to seeing.

 

[deu]

Respect to the dev-team for righting the wrong many moons ago, and to keep improving a game that have a following

 

[milewski1015]

No Man's Sky has been on my wishlist for ages. Was excited pre-launch, and then as we all know, it flopped hard. The developers really busted their ass to improve it, but all the reviews I saw even after a lot of support made it sound like the game got old pretty fast. It doesn't help that it never drops below 50% off: I can't bring myself to spend $30 on a game that I could see myself getting bored of in just a few hours. Been burned like that too many times when my friends convince me to buy RTS games that I'm horrible at to play with them. My buddy did pick up NMS not long after it came out for his PS4, but I don't think he's played it after any of the major content injections. Maybe I'll see if he'll give it another go and pick his brain.

For real, props to Hello Games for sticking by their idea and persevering through the flak and continuing to support a game that they very easily could've just bailed on. Bioware take notes...

 

[Vayra86]

I've played No Man's Sky and it was nothing like what people described it right after it's launch.

Personal taste is still relevant, the aliens are pointlessly ugly, no doubt to make them feel more alien. Organic ships are...well, a stretch and one that we as humans have no evidence (AFAIK) to support in the least. I doubt anyone will be waging wars while piloting in something's liver.

That being said the game play was a lot of fun and I'm thrilled that they've made so much progress.

These guys would like a word with you

And these, too