When No Man’s Sky first launched back in 2016, I was a spritely 18-year-old fresh out of college and about to go for my first job interview. It was a disappointment for many people (the game, not my job interview), but I enjoyed playing it regardless.

I became obsessed with travelling from planet to planet, discovering flora and fauna on alien worlds, and finding new ships to explore the galaxy with. My biggest disappointment around that time was actually getting that job after the interview, because that’s when adult life truly started.

A few months later, Hello Games released the Foundation update, which saw the introduction of base building, alongside a significant number of improvements to the experience. It was the beginning of a slew of updates that continues to this day, almost a decade later, many of which have made similarly massive changes to the experience, ranging from multiplayer to freighters to virtual reality to next-generation graphics.

Last week saw the arrival of the Voyagers update, which adds a huge new ship type - the Corvette starships - that can be fully built, customised, and explored via the interior. This also allows for skydiving, space walks, and a huge new path of potential for the game as we head into its second decade of life.

But this update also feels like one of the most significant changes the game has ever had, completely uprooting the fundamentals and offering new possibilities while utterly rejuvenating the love I have for No Man’s Sky.

I Never Thought Hello Games Would Add This

Years ago, I’d hoped that No Man’s Sky would one day have a third-person mode, and eventually, Hello Games added it. Another time, I’d hoped for some kind of shipbuilding, and Hello Games added that too. For all of those years, including only a couple months ago, as I played the game with some friends, I’d hoped for larger, custom ships that we could walk around inside of like Starfield, and bring multiple players along on voyages. This was a feature I never thought Hello Games would actually add, because it just seemed too drastic an addition.

Well, Sean Murray just loves cooking up eggs and serving them on my face, because now I have exactly what I’d always wanted.

It’s a little buggy right now, but these updates are usually met with a number of rapid patches and fixes in the weeks that follow. This being an update that had to rework the majority of the game just to become a possibility, I think that’s to be expected more than ever.

A big reason something like that was made possible was also because of Hello Games’ next title, Light No Fire. For the upcoming game, Sean Murray stated that the oceans would be so big, you’d need boats and crews just to cross them. As such, the tech needed to be possible - and to a degree, player tested via No Man’s Sky - as Hello Games has similarly dual-developed systems like this with the Worlds Part One and Part Two updates, which focused on planetary generation and visual systems.

Voyagers Makes 2025 The Best Time To Become A No Man’s Sky Player

The Voyagers update is not only significant in gameplay alone, but it has proven to be popular for players, bringing the player count up dramatically. It continues, even reaching a new peak height for the game since its launch almost ten years ago.

It goes without saying that now is a great time to get into No Man’s Sky, if you haven’t already. With every update, I’m pulled back into the game and love welcoming new players, but with Voyagers, that’s bigger than ever. Huge numbers of players like myself are returning once more, but it’s easy to see that countless new players are amongst those numbers, too.

With a huge universe, ten years' worth of content, and now the best and most seamless way to customise your adventures across the galaxy, with the option to bring friends along for the ride as part of your crew, No Man’s Sky has earned its place as one of - if not the - best space exploration games available. Elite Dangerous and Starfield are both excellent in their own ways, and upcoming games like Jump Space will offer new and exciting space adventures for you and your friends. Star Citizen exists, too. Maybe. Some day.

But No Man’s Sky does it all, and does it well. It’s evolving, it’s colossal, and the universe is big enough for everyone, so don’t be afraid to take the plunge, build your own Corvette ship, and fly out into the stars.

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No Man's Sky

Adventure Action Survival Systems 4.0/5 10 8.9/10 Released August 9, 2016 ESRB T for Teen: Fantasy Violence, Animated Blood Developer(s) Hello Games Publisher(s) Hello Games
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