No Man’s Sky is consistently the most impressive comeback story in videogames. Yes, CD Projekt Red overhauled Cyberpunk 2077 after launch, and Bethesda keeps enhancing Fallout 76, but what Hello Games has achieved in the last nine years is extraordinary. The narrative of No Man’s Sky was far from over when it launched in August of 2016, as Hello Games has consistently delivered free updates that take the cosmic exploration game from strength to strength. Today is no different, because after months of waiting, No Man’s Sky Worlds Part 2 is finally here.
Worlds Part 1 dropped last year, and Hello Games founder Sean Murray said it was “refreshing the universe” of No Man’s Sky. The team improved the water, clouds, and weather of the game, but the ‘Part 1’ label promised more was to come. Now, Murray says Worlds Part 2 “allows us to push the boundaries of our engine with new technology,” somehow making the space game even bigger.
It starts with expanding the universe. No Man’s Sky now has “billions of new solar systems and trillions of new planets,” according to Murray, with new biomes and terrain available on each. The ground you walk on is more detailed than ever before, with huge mountains to climb and vast plains ripe for adventure. You’ve not just got more planets to explore, though, as the scale of each has grown massively as well.
Then there’s the all-new gas giants. These celestial bodies are ten times bigger than the largest planets in No Man’s Sky, and offer up another layer of challenge. Colossal storms rage across the surface, and Murray says these are proper endgame confrontations that will test all you know.
Hello Games has also given water another overhaul, making it feel more realistic than ever before. Oceans can be several kilometers deep with the light vanishing the further you go, only to be replaced with giant creatures that poke out of the darkness. Fauna can also wade through water now, and ships can make huge, journey-ending waves as they skim across the surface.
All of the lighting in No Man’s Sky has also been rewritten. This means shadows have even more detail, light can flicker between the leaves, and caves are darker than ever before. Everything Hello Games is doing in Worlds Part 2 is to further immerse you in the ever-expanding universe, making it look better than ever.
If you want to experience it all, Hello Games has added a new expedition to No Man’s Sky that takes you on a tour of all the new worlds, and it’ll even give you some rewards for completion. Then there’s the mysterious quest “that ties together some strands that we’ve been building for years,” but Murray doesn’t want to spoil it just yet.
Even in its ninth year, No Man’s Sky continues to surprise me. It’s a completely different experience now than it was at launch, and the sheer volume of free updates is nothing short of spectacular.
No Man’s Sky Worlds Part 2 is out now on all platforms, so you can experience the improvements for yourself. The full patch notes are available right here.
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