No Man's Sky Atlas Rises update out today, brings basic co-op, 30 hours of story content, missions, more

News by Sherif Saed Contributing Editor

Published on Aug. 11, 2017

No Man's Sky is getting a big update today.

After weeks of teasing as part of an elaborate ARG, developer Hello Games recently revealed early details of what's coming. Today, the developer officially unveiled the full list of additions and changes, and it's pretty big.

Dubbed Atlas Rises, the update's biggest highlights include a new basic form of co-op, a 30-hour story, procedurally-generated missions, improvements to many of the game's systems, and more.

Joint Exploration is what Hello Games is calling the new multiplayer mode. You and others will see floating orbs that represent players exploring the same planet when you run into them. You can interact with these players, but the system is very limited at the moment. You're able to voice chat thanks to the game's proximity voice chat, and explore the world together.

"This is an important first step into the world of synchronous co-op in No Man’s Sky," the studio noted.

The new story introduces a new race, and a quest system with narrative. "Discover the truth behind the Abandoned Building logs, the World of Glass, the Sentinels, the Redemption of the Gek, and the meaning of sixteen," Hello Games teased.

There's quite a bit more to Atlas Rises, and the video above recaps the biggest points. For the full list of notes, see below:

Generation

Increased variety in weather, planet and structure names
More base building parts have unique names
Prevented trees spawning on sheer cliffs
Improved object placement on slopes
Improved grass placement and density
Changed the default starting ship model
Regenerated galaxy to remove differences between survival, normal and creative game modes
Improved building distribution
Increased distribution of heridium deposits
Improved generation of beaches along shorelines
Repositioned player bases to accommodate generation changes

Exploration

Improved balance of hazards between planets
Improved settings for hazard damage and strength
Reduce cave hazard recharge times
Added Shielding Shard to the starting player inventory
Limited the depth at which buildings can spawn underwater

Gameplay

More tech available in tech shops
Balanced tech shop standing requirements
Standing lights have a proper name when you interact with them
Increased robustness of systems for locating buildings
Increased number and types of objects which can be scanned
Increased information available about scanned foliage and creatures
Improved planet resource lists
Craftable products now sorted by most recent use
Improved differentiation of weapons
Fixed pinning product recipes and technology guides
Continued story unlocked through abandoned buildings
Added interactions and dialogue options for many structures and characters
Overhauled secondary character interactions
Joint exploration has been introduced allowing 16 players to see visual representations of each other in game. Joint exploration does not require PS Plus, and is not currently available on GOG Galaxy.

Trade and farming

Alloys, farm products and new gas products now form separate branches of a larger craft tree
Added new valuable higher tier craft products
Added new harvester to harvest atmospheric gases
Added new trade specific products
Added new farmable “Star Bramble” plant
Added larger 4 plant hydroponic tray
Increased contrast between picked and unpicked resource plants to more easily tell them apart
Balanced priced of alloys, farm products and gases
Improved distributions of resources on planets
Improved scan ranges for resources on planets
Added scan markers on more smaller plutonium crystals to aid resource gathering

Freighters

Balanced freighter prices
Fixed collision on freighter bridge
Added freighter classes
Added ability to warp in your freighter
Fixed floating turrets on capital freighters

Space

Improved space heavy air
Added requirement to scan planets in order to reveal their names
Improved planet name display as you enter orbit
Fix for massive carve radius when mining asteroids

Galactic Map

Updated galactic map UI
Improved galactic map controls
Improved star names gathered in galaxy map flythrough
Improved distribution of different coloured stars
Added interstellar scan events

Starships

Added ability to summon your ship from the quick menu
Refined ship reticules
Added new holographic cockpit HUD elements: mini map, pulse drive warning and target ship
Added new ship technology
Balanced space combat
Balanced ship weapons and technology
Updated ship weapon projectile effects
Updated ship hit direction markers
Improved flare graphics on ships
Improved loot containers dropped by AI ships
Improved effects on damaged AI ships
Balanced crashed ships broken slots and repair costs
Added a more convenient swap inventory button for moving items between new/crashed ships and storage units
Updated design of Atlas pass icons
Added ability to look around the cockpit when landed
Allowed player to remain in ship cockpit after landing
Improved spawning and distribution of AI ships
Improved ship altimeter
Added in-ship communicator
Added button prompt for ship zoom
Fixed a bug where your ship could become invisible by visiting the galactic map
Improved Pirate systems including the ability to negotiate or call in support
Added low flight mode
Improved landing code