No Man’s Sky has undergone a multitude of changes since its rocky 2016 release, with last year’s “Next” dramatically reworking several of the game’s features, adding true multiplayer support, improved base building, and a huge graphical overhaul. The game’s next big expansion, titled No Man’s Sky Beyond, has finally received a release date of August 14 after a slow drip-feed of information over the past few months.
Beyond consists of three main components and has been described as “three major updates rolled into one larger free release” by the game’s development team. The first major addition is full VR support on PC and PlayStation 4. Players will be able to interact with the environment, terraform planets, and even pilot their ships and vehicles with their own two hands.
The second major component of Beyond is called No Man’s Sky Online, but details are scarce as to what this will actually add to the game. Hello Games co-founder Sean Murray has described it as a “radical new social and multiplayer experience which empowers players everywhere in the universe to meet and play together.” The “Next” update already added multiplayer support for up to 16 players last year, so it’s unclear how No Man’s Sky Online aims to improve the multiplayer experience. Murray stated that while Online will feature “many recognisable online elements,” the team doesn’t consider No Man’s Sky to be an MMO and that the update will be completely free, no subscription required. There won’t be any microtransactions either, which is always a huge plus.
The absolute strangest aspect of No Man’s Sky Beyond though, is that the update is out in less than two weeks and we still don’t know anything about the third major component of the update. We know there will be three substantial updates, two of which being VR and Online, but the third remains a mystery. Perhaps it’s a new chapter in the No Man’s Sky story. Maybe it’s an overhaul of the game’s procedural generation. Whatever it is, we haven’t heard anything about it yet, so expect some news in the coming weeks (although I wouldn’t put it past them to keep it a secret until release).
No Man’s Sky Beyond launches on August 14 for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC. The update will be free for all existing owners of No Man’s Sky.
