No Man’s Sky is a decade old. Let that sink in. No, seriously, you’ll need plenty of water to survive the trips that the massive space game’s 10th anniversary update allows you to embark on. It’s now possible to get up close and personal with the stars that serve as suns in each system. Or, if the risk of fiery death’s not your cup of tea, you can establish a new home by taking over as director of a space station or building an orbital base that floats among the stars.
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“Stars in each system are now reachable via long-haul flight,” the patch notes for the 10th anniversary update, dubbed Cosmos, read. “These burning spheres of plasma are bright, spectacular, but ultimately lethal. Reach the sun at your own risk.” Sounds like a challenge that’ll end well. Maybe you’ll discover that the sun’s actually not too toasty, and land on it to discover an ancient race of star-dwellers. Or be violently barbecued inside your craft.
Unsurprisingly given my dalliances with NMS over the past few years have almost exclusively revolved around making nice little bases to hang out in, the two new methods of homemaking which the update adds have caught my eye. The first is becoming the director of a space station, giving you the option of turning it into a big clubhouse for you and your mates by decorating the interior and exterior. If you fancy, the update’ll also let you found a galactic alliance from your director’s chair, formalising your space-travelling crew with a customisable name and banner.
For those who prefer solitude to running the local den of scum and villainy, Cosmos adds deep-space outposts. You can find these platform-based abodes floating in existing inhabited systems and manned by aliens with whom you can do business. Naturally, you can also build one for yourself, to serve as a home not confined to the surface of a planet or the interior of a space station. To do so, you’ll need to deploy a deep-space base computer, with Hello Games insisting that there’s plenty of variety to what you can construct if you’re into interstellar roleplaying.
There’s even more to the Cosmos update than those brief highlights, including a new star system map and derelict ships to salvage, some of which are engulfed in biohazards. “It’s been a lot of work,” Hello Games boss Sean Murray said to sum up the update in a deep dive video. “All of this is tech we get to test now, refine, and hopefully players will also experience on our other game, Light No Fire.”
Light No Fire’s still without a release date as of right now, while the Cosmos update’s out now for free as long as you own a copy of wizened old bloke No Man’s Sky.