Since this year began the procedurally-generated space opera No Man’s Sky has added living spaceships, exo-mechs, creepy derelict freighters, bobbleheads, and crossplay between PC, PS4, and Xbox One. Today developer Hello Games caps off 2020 with Origins, a massive update that adds billions of new planets to discover, ups the diversity of flora and fauna, adds new weather systems and dramatic terrain types, and basically changes everything.
New lighting conditions, new colors, new creatures, new weather. Planets with alien infestations. Swamps and marshlands. Massive alien buildings reaching into the sky, filled with stories of ancient civilizations. Gravitational shifts. Volcanoes. Lightning. Rogue robots. Holy hell the Origins update for No Man’s Sky is massive. I am completely overwhelmed by the patch notes. Basically, Hello Games has completely refreshed the universe. More variety, more aliens, more danger, more excitement.
It’s not just more stuff, it’s also higher quality stuff. More details, like clouds gathering and darkening during storms. They’ve upgraded the “Ultra” graphics setting on PC, allowing for more detail at a greater distance.
The idea behind all of these changes is bringing back the wow factor to the game. The feeling of landing on a new planet and having absolutely no idea what to expect. Maybe you’ll be chased across the surface by a giant sandworm.
Or maybe you’ll just find a nice little spot with some pretty new procedurally generated plants.
Check out the No Man’s Sky Origins trailer below to get an idea of what fresh excitement lies in store.