No Man's Sky

FORSAKEN launched on October 28 with haunted tech, biological horrors, biomechanical Corvette modules, postal missions, and new weapon and suit styles. The same release brought No Man’s Sky to iPhone and iPad for the first time, while September’s COSMOS update expanded ownership and construction in space.

• FORSAKEN horrors and customization: The update expanded derelict and abandoned locations with new threats, traversal options, and collection rewards.

  • Haunted Tech and Biological Horrors: Players searched derelict hulks, abandoned freighters, and infested outposts for rare technology and biological specimens.
  • Biomechanical Corvette Modules: Salvaged mementos could be traded for modules that customized Corvette exteriors.
  • Postal Missions: New delivery-driver missions sent players across the galaxy, alongside new cockpits and ship-building interiors.
  • New Weapon and Space Suit Styles: The grotesque larva tank helmet and grub cannon multi-tool joined the new equipment styles.

• COSMOS space expansion: The September update gave players more control over the space around their systems.

  • Space Station Ownership: Players bought and customized personal space stations.
  • Buildable Orbital Bases: Free-floating modular bases could be constructed anywhere in space.
  • Salvageable Space Hulks: Gravity guns and tractor beams enabled resource recovery from huge hulks.
  • Formation of Alliances: Players built station networks and competed on leaderboards, supported by New Space Outposts offering maps and missions.
  • Asteroid Belts with Resources: Resource-rich asteroid belts appeared, with some allowing players to land.

• No Man’s Sky on iPhone and iPad: The mobile launch included the full universe and more than 40 major updates, including COSMOS, while remaining free to try at launch. Rebuilt New Touch Controls supported mobile play, although multiplayer was omitted at launch.

• Expedition: Our Journey Continues!: This expedition celebrated the game’s 40 major updates by unlocking features and providing developer commentary.

The Swarm Update launched on May 27, 2026, introducing epic space battles and a community war effort against the Hive of Glass, marking a significant addition to No Man's Sky. Alongside this, players gained access to the Xeno Arena on April 8, 2026, allowing them to raise, train, and battle alien creatures, enhancing the multiplayer experience. Notably, new vehicle customization options and the introduction of a gravity gun on February 11, 2026, provided players with fresh ways to engage with the game.

• Major Content Drops:

  • The Swarm Update (May 27, 2026): Featured large-scale space battles with hundreds of ships.
  • Xeno Arena (April 8, 2026): A new feature for creature training and battling.
  • Vehicle Customization (February 11, 2026): Players could customize vehicles, introducing bespoke trucks and haulers.
  • Gravity Gun (February 11, 2026): Allowed manipulation of large objects, adding a new gameplay dimension.

• New Gameplay Mechanics:

  • Epic Space Battles (May 27, 2026): The largest space battles in the game's history.
  • Community Faction System (May 27, 2026): Players joined factions to cooperate against the Hive.
  • Creature Battles (April 8, 2026): Enabled battling pets for rewards.
  • Creature Training and Breeding (April 8, 2026): Introduced genetics and training for new creature variants.

• Seasonal Events:

  • Breach Expedition (October 22, 2025): A spooky expedition focused on salvaging corvette wrecks.
  • Halloween Update (October 22, 2025): Enhanced exploration and ship assembly with a Halloween theme.
  • Limited-Time Community Expedition (February 11, 2026): Players worked together to reclaim a wreck-covered planet.

• Quality of Life Improvement:

  • Corvette Workshop Improvements (October 22, 2025): Enhanced snapping and collision features, along with a new color palette option.

Voyagers Update delivered bespoke Corvette-class starships and new multiplayer features, making ship creation the biggest content beat. Beacon Update expanded settlement management with multiple settlements and robotic Autophage townships, while Worlds Part II transformed planetary exploration.

• Voyagers Update: Players created Corvette-class starships and gained new multiplayer features.
• Beacon Update: Settlement play expanded with:
  • Multiple Settlements: Overseers managed several settlements.
  • Autophage Settlements: Robotic townships added unique building styles and parts.
  • Settlement Defense: Hired wingmen defended settlements from pirate attacks.
  • Jukebox Bars, Fishing Ponds, and custom-starship merchants added new utilities.
• Worlds Part II: Planetary exploration received a broad overhaul:
  • Gas Giants: Added worlds up to ten times larger than existing planets.
  • Enhanced Terrain System: Introduced more varied terrain and huge mountains.
  • New Ocean Technology: Added oceans several kilometers deep alongside rewritten lighting.
• Aquarius Expedition: Fishing became a major new activity:
  • Exo-Skiff: Enabled deeper-water fishing and catch storage.
  • Deep-Sea Diving Suit and Aquarius Flight Pack: Added specialized underwater equipment.
  • Automated Fish Traps: Enabled autonomous floating fish farms.
• Relics Update and The Cursed Expedition: Exploration and expedition challenges both expanded:
  • Relics Update: Added hundreds of bones for excavation and fossil exhibits.
  • Palaeontological Finds: Added alien skeleton excavation and dangerous artefact creatures.
  • The Cursed Expedition: Introduced the Anomaly Suppressor, Elixir of Glass, and portal-only travel without hyperdrive access.
• Platform reach: No Man’s Sky for Switch 2 launched, while full Cross-Save availability enabled save transfers across platforms.

OMEGA launched on February 15, 2024, letting players start the expedition from either a new game or an existing save, then return rewards and technology to their primary save. The update also brought new missions, a pirate freighter encounter, and an Omega expedition that players could try free for a limited weekend; it did not make No Man’s Sky a free-to-play game.

• Omega expedition and free weekend: From February 15 to 19, players could play the game for a free limited time and take part in the new expedition. The promotion was a trial weekend, not a change to the game’s business model.
• Expedition integration: Players could begin the expedition from the main menu and move discoveries, technology, and other rewards back to their primary save.
• New missions and exploration: Omega introduced procedurally generated planetary missions and new opportunities to explore and survey worlds.
• Space combat: The update expanded pirate encounters, including the chance to confront and capture a pirate freighter.
• Later 2024 updates: Orbital revamped space stations, added ship customization, and brought fleet missions; Adrift offered a quieter expedition without NPCs, while Worlds Part I followed in July with broader planet and water improvements.

Waypoint (4.0) launched as the 21st major free update, delivering a sweeping design and balance overhaul with expanded inventories, new milestones, collectibles, and Relaxed Mode. Echoes launched on August 1, 2023, with a secret robotic-alien society and tactical space combat, while Interceptor Update added corrupted worlds and Sentinel-focused starship gameplay.

• Waypoint (4.0): Raised ship, weapon, and player caps and made the game more pick-up-and-play, including on Switch.
• Echoes: Added rituals and robotic-alien language learning alongside its new narrative and combat content.
• Interceptor Update: Expanded Sentinel-related exploration and space combat:
  • Corrupt Worlds: Introduced purple-hazed planets, strange crystals, and twisted Sentinel guardians.
  • Interceptors: Added salvageable Sentinel starships and unique technology such as the Anti-Gravity Well and Crimson Core.
  • Sentinel Capital Ships: Added huge capital ships to its space-combat encounters.
• No Man’s Sky on Mac: Launched with the previous seven years of content, PC–Mac cross-save, and cross-play with Xbox, PlayStation, and PC; the Mac version also used a new Metal and Apple-silicon rendering pipeline.
• Fractal Update and PlayStation VR2: Added PSVR2 support, the Wonders Catalogue, and gyroscopic controls, followed by a VR overhaul with head-and-hand tracking, a redesigned HUD, VR-specific grabbing and piloting, and switching between VR and standard play from existing saves.
• Utopia and Singularity: Utopia challenged players to rebuild an abandoned solar system and awarded the Utopia Speeder, Fearsome Visor, and robotic drone companion; Singularity delivered a narrative-heavy community expedition with rewards including the Wayfarer’s Helm and Construct Customisation Set.

Freighter and Fleet Overhaul was the biggest release, arriving on July 20, 2022, and letting players live and work aboard freighter homes with their own crews. Outlaw Stations and Sentinel Hardframe Mech also significantly expanded spacefaring and Sentinel combat.

• Freighter and Fleet Overhaul: Freighters gained vast themed bases, farming and manufacturing rooms, a bridge for instant warping and teleportation, and planetary scanning from space; asteroid fields, black holes, nebulae, and space atmospherics also became more varied.
• Outlaw Stations: Pirate-controlled stations added pirate missions and black-market technology, while the Solar Starship and Squadrons introduced a new ship class and recruitable wingmen. Smuggling, high-capacity cargo inventories, overhauled space combat, and ownership of up to nine ships rounded out the changes.
• Large Planetary Settlements: Players encountered living settlements, became Overseers, and constructed new buildings as their towns grew. The base-building overhaul added hundreds of parts and advanced construction controls.
• Sentinel Hardframe Mech: The new mech and combat-and-repair drones made Sentinel encounters more dangerous. Sentinel Pillar raids, stun and incineration upgrades, tagged-target damage bonuses, and AI Robotic Companions expanded the combat loop.
• Expedition 3: Cartographers: The expedition lineup covered several distinct adventures:
  • Cartographers focused on mapping the toxic planet Gisto Major.
  • Emergence added a Wasan narrative, Titan Worms, and rideable sandworm companions.
  • Exobiology centered on alien creatures and creature-themed rewards.
  • The Blighted followed the pirate faction The Blight and supported a clue-and-decryption treasure hunt.
  • The Leviathan introduced time-loop roguelike play, Memory Fragments, and Leviathan frigate recruitment.
  • Polestar launched a heavy-freighter cruise and allowed expedition saves to convert to Normal mode.

Companions Update transformed planetary fauna into adoptable partners, adding taming, breeding, training, personalities, accessories, and genetic modification through the Egg Sequencer. Expeditions Mode introduced shared seasonal journeys, while Prisms Update later combined a major visual overhaul with flying creatures, richer caves, fur, and new weather effects.

• Companions Update: Players adopted creatures equipped with neural harnesses, bonded with them as their personalities developed, customized their appearance, and used the Egg Sequencer to modify companion eggs. Flying creatures also became tamable and rideable through the later companion improvements.
• Expeditions Mode Launch: The new mode started players from a shared point in the universe and guided them through Milestones and Phases, community progression, Target Sweep, and re-enabled Weekend Missions. Its rewards could also be redeemed across other saves.
• Prisms Update: The overhaul improved planets, skies, stars, creatures, space-station interiors, lighting, and volumetric effects. It also added rain that refracted light and created slick surfaces, enhanced caves, introduced fur, added DLSS support for compatible PC hardware, and upgraded Photo Mode.
• Beachhead expedition: This expedition added the SSV Normandy SR1 from Mass Effect to players’ frigate fleets, alongside expedition rewards and starting warp fuel.
• New Planets and Worlds: Entirely new planets, larger lore-filled buildings, giant day-and-night flora, lightning storms, fires, hostile weather, and fauna that landed and took flight expanded planetary exploration. Ultra Biomes added denser, richer environments for high-end PCs.
• Derelict Freighters: These encounters received tougher security systems and more aggressive aliens, while Tainted Metal, limited-time Quicksilver loot, Repair Kits, and new Scrap Dealer items gave players additional reasons to explore them.

Version 2.0 delivered the year’s biggest transformation, bringing 16–32-player multiplayer, a social hub, ambient multiplayer, multiplayer missions, VR support, creature taming and riding, cooking, alien languages, and expanded base systems. Living Ships and the Minotaur Exocraft then added entirely new ways to travel and explore, while Abandoned Freighters Exploration introduced hazardous ship interiors.

• Version 2.0: The update also introduced technology trees, improved base building, Power & Logic & Industrial Bases, starship enhancements, and a Discovery Page overhaul.
  • Ambient Multiplayer and Multiplayer Missions: Players encountered more travellers and alien encounters while taking on missions together.
  • Creature Taming/Riding/Milking: Planetary creatures became usable companions, mounts, and sources of resources.
  • Virtual Reality: VR support, VR controller support, and VR user interactions expanded the game’s interface and exploration options.
• Living Ships: Organic starships became incubatable, growable vessels—the first new starship type since ATLAS RISES. Their missions followed Korvax experiments, while unique internal organs determined abilities and organic cockpits changed how players flew them.
• Minotaur Exocraft: This exocraft-and-suit hybrid provided immunity to hazardous atmospheres and added a powerful jetpack for movement and landing. The update also brought base-building improvements and graphical enhancements.
• Abandoned Freighters Exploration: Players boarded derelict freighters with unique stories and hazardous interiors, then salvaged upgrades for their capital ships.
• Synthesis Update: The update substantially expanded personal equipment and vehicle management.
  • Starship Outfitting Terminal: Players salvaged unwanted ships, added inventory slots, and upgraded ship class.
  • Personal Refiner: Elements could be refined directly inside the Exosuit.
  • Terrain Manipulator: New modes and visual effects improved terrain editing, while terrain changes inside bases gained protection from regeneration.
  • ByteBeat Device: Bases gained a device for composing procedural music.
• Cross-Platform Multiplayer: PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC players could explore together, supported by a new networking architecture and the Cross-Play Update.

Visions Update released on November 22, expanding exploration with new biomes, more colorful worlds, archaeology, salvaging, and new fauna and flora. The Abyss Update added a substantial underwater layer, while Beyond was announced with full-game VR and a redesigned social experience; its planned August 14 release fell outside this window.

• Visions Update: The exploration-focused update broadened planetary variety and discovery.
  • Archaeology and salvaging: Added new mechanics for investigating ruins and recovering valuable finds.
  • New biomes and colorful worlds: Introduced more varied environments and stronger planetary color variation.
  • New fauna and flora: Added additional alien species and plant life to discover.
• The Abyss Update: Delivered the largest new gameplay space of the window through underwater exploration.
  • Nautilon: Added a submersible Exocraft for underwater travel, combat, and mining.
  • The Dreams of the Deep: Introduced a new story involving a troubled crew and underwater ruins.
  • Sunken Wrecks: Added submerged ruins, freighter wrecks, lost cargo, and underwater treasure hunts.
  • Submersible Building Modules: Added more than a dozen underwater construction parts, including Marine Shelters and viewing bays.
• Beyond announcement: No Man’s Sky VR and No Man’s Sky Online were announced on August 2 as major parts of the next chapter, but neither was delivered in this window.
  • No Man’s Sky VR: Promised full-game virtual-reality support.
  • No Man’s Sky Online: Previewed a significantly expanded social and multiplayer experience.
• Exocraft expansion: The Pilgrim added a motorbike-style vehicle, while the Exocraft Summoning Station, Exocraft Upgrade Modules, and new Exocraft customization options made planetary vehicles more flexible.
• Community features: Community Research Mission: New Anomaly added a shared objective involving the Space Anomaly and Specialist Polo, while Discovery Leaderboards provided a new way to track Galactic Atlas exploration.

No Man’s Sky NEXT was announced as a free update on May 18, targeting July 24, but the available entries did not confirm that NEXT itself had launched. Its planned headline beats were Full Multiplayer Experience, Command Freighters, Unlimited Base Building, and a Visual Overhaul; the strongest confirmed delivery was Overhauled Save System, which added five save slots to every game mode.

• Save and progression: Overhauled Save System added five auto and manual save slots for every game mode. Progression for players who learned all alien words restored story progress, while Missions from recruited base NPCs and the Creative mode mercenary missions requirement opened previously blocked routes. The Portal Visit Save File issue was fixed, preventing bloated saves from impeding saving.
• Exploration and flight: Analysis Visor Enhancements expanded scans to farm plants, ships, and resources, while ship handling variances between types/classes gave individual ships procedural speed and handling traits. Economy information to galactic map and Altered teleporters in space stations improved route planning.
• Freighters, trade, and bases: Item Transfer Enhancements connected base and freighter containers to inventory management. Trade Terminal Stock Adjustments, Improved Trading NPCs, and Improved pricing of freighters and trade-in values made commerce less static, while the Base Parts Transfer Issue was fixed when moving to a new base.
• Combat and survival: Penalty added for killing civilian ships changed the cost of space combat; Increased Pirate Spawn Chance, Balanced Scatter Blaster upgrade damage potential, and Reduced resource requirement for tech repairs in Survival mode reshaped combat and upkeep. Storm Changes on Humid/Lush Planets made lush-world weather less predictably toxic.
• Presentation and navigation: Improved fog and weather effects, Updated terrain editing effects, and Exotic Ship Audio Added sharpened the presentation. Base terminus teleporter mission objectives also made story travel more legible.

Atlas Rises was announced as a free Update 1.3, outlining a planned 30-hour branching story, deeper lore, portal travel, and joint exploration rather than confirming those features as released. The biggest confirmed additions were Base Building Feature and Exocraft Vehicles, alongside Freighters, new game modes, and expanded progression systems.

• Atlas Rises / Update 1.3: The August 11 announcement described a central-story overhaul with branching quests, Portal Stargates, deeper interstellar trading, overhauled space combat, terrain manipulation, crashed Freighters, and more varied economies and biomes. It remained an announcement, not a confirmed shipment.
• Base Building Feature: November 2016 delivered a major foundation for player-owned outposts and long-term progression.
  • Freighters: Players could purchase and customize large ships for storage and transport.
  • Normal, Creative, and Survival modes: Three distinct ways to play were introduced.
  • Hydroponic Labs: Biome-specific crops could be grown through the new farming system.
• Exocraft Vehicles: March 2017 added planetary vehicles for faster traversal and inhospitable terrain.
  • Permadeath Game Mode: Death wiped the save and restarted the run from the beginning.
  • Photo Mode: Players could capture scenes while adjusting time of day, fog, clouds, and filters.
  • Base Sharing via Steam Workshop: Player bases could be shared online, while vehicle race tracks expanded Exocraft building options.
  • Improved Visuals and 4K Support: High-resolution textures, improved lighting, ambient occlusion, and 4K support upgraded the presentation.
• Ship and Weapon Specialisations: Quality levels and specialization choices gave ships, weapons, and multi-tools clearer progression paths.
  • Increased variety in space battles: Encounters varied more in size, including larger battles.
  • Autonomous Field Mining Units: Their resource yield increased, while Exocraft mining lasers used less fuel.