No Man's Sky update adds companions to take with you on your adventures

You can now traverse the universe with companions.

The Companions update for No Man's Sky is now available to download for free.

Out now for PlayStation 4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, and PC, the update allows you to tame, breed, train and even speak to the creatures you encounter.

You can adopt the creatures and form close bonds, and they will travel side-by-side with you as you adventure through the universe. You can train them to scan for resources, find hazards, provide light, hunt dangerous fauna, find settlements, excavate buried treasure, and mine for materials.

Treating your companions well will cause them to will lay eggs which can be collected and incubated. You can also use the Space Anomaly’s new Egg Sequencer to genetically modify your companion’s eggs into different species. You can even trade their eggs to fellow Travellers.

Personalities will be defined by species and ecosystem, which means no two will be alike, and their personalities will continue to develop as you deepen the bond. You can pet, feed and play with them to deepen the bond.

Every adopted creature is equipped with a neural harness that connects directly to the Exosuit. This allows your companion's thoughts to be translated and sent directly to your internal communication channels.

The update also brings improvements to load and warp times for PlayStation 4 players.

You can look over the patch notes for today's update below.

No Man's Sky 3.2 PATCH NOTES

Animal Companions

• Creatures that have been fed can now be interacted with to access options for milking, riding and adoption.
• Players may adopt up to six creatures at any one time. New companion slots are available to be purchased with nanites.
• Your companions can be renamed, and then customised with a new range of accessories and decals.
• Some accessories, such as the torch or mining lasers, will be used by your companion as they explore the planet.
• Each companion has their own personality, which will influence how they behave and think. Some species are more likely to have certain traits than others, but each creature is unique.
• The creature harness has a neural link with the Exosuit, enabling the rudimentary translation of your new companion’s thoughts and wishes.
• Companions will assist their owners during planetary exploration but have needs of their own. They will periodically require food or attention if they are to thrive.
• Companions will need to be cared for over a long period of time in order to win their trust.
• While exploring, companions will assist their owners in a number of ways, including scouting for resources and buildings; digging up minerals and special items; hunting other creatures; and marking hazards.
• As well as acting on their own initiative, companions may be given specific instructions via gestures from the Quick Menu.
• VR players can point directly to send their companion to a destination.

Companion Eggs

• Creatures that have been well-cared for will lay eggs.
• After a short time, creature eggs will hatch into a brand new creature, related to but distinct from the parent creature.
• Baby creatures have different proportions from adult creatures and will grow to maturity over time.
• Players may trade eggs from their prized companions with other players.
• Creature eggs can be taken to the Egg Sequencer aboard the Space Anomaly.
• The Egg Sequencer allows players to remix the genetic material of their growing eggs to produce unique, never-before-seen creatures.
• Overdosing eggs in the Sequencer may cause dramatic creature reconfigurations…

Creature Improvements

• New creature and companion-related titles have been added to the Appearance Modifier.
• The construction cost of Creature Pellets has been increased.
• The stack size of Creature Pellets has been increased.
• Creatures no longer require advanced bait to unlock harvesting functions – any creature that has been fed may now be milked.
• Giant creatures can now be ridden.
• Creature locomotion animations have been improved.
• The particle effects emanating from creature dung have been improved.
• Discovered creatures now have a different shaped icon in the Analysis Visor, to better distinguish them from undiscovered creatures.
• Creature icons in the Analysis visor have been offset to improve their appearance.

UI Improvements

• Players using a mouse and keyboard can now use hotkeys to directly select options in dialogue menus and interactions.
• Players using a gamepad can now use the analogue sticks rather than the cursor to move between options in dialogue menus and interactions.

Optimizations

• Warp and loading times on PS4 have been significantly improved.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed an issue that caused freighter ‘wings’ to be hidden.
• Fixed an issue that could cause an invalid system/base to appear in the teleport destinations list.
• Fixed an issue that caused the gloves to be out of focus in the Appearance Modifier.
• Fixed an issue that could cause players using Windows 10 to incorrectly report a network disconnect.
• Autowalk is now cancelled automatically when the player manually moves forwards or backwards.
• The creature feeding Nexus mission has been rebalanced to account for changes to the taming process.
• Concrete base parts now require Silicate Powder rather than Carbon to build.
• Fixed an issue in the Galaxy Map that caused the Distance To Core text to be vertically clipped, resulting in a comma that looked like a period.
• Fixed an issue that could cause players to upload/download an excessive number of creative discoveries.
• Fixed an issue that caused Cronus’ food to have an extremely bright glow.
• Fixed an issue that caused the Orbital Exocraft Materialiser to have an overly bright glow.
• Fixed an issue that caused base specialist terminals to snap incorrectly in specific large rooms.
• Fixed an issue that could cause an increase in load times while attempting to download base data from other players.
• Fixed an issue that could cause incorrect text to appear when harvesting food substances from some unusual creatures.
• Fixed a VR issue that caused the Exosuit backpack to be invisible in the inventory if the player’s body was turned off.
• Fixed an animation issue with the player weapons in VR.
• Fixed an issue that could cause incorrect UI scaling in VR.
• Fixed a VR issue that could cause UI screens to move while the UI was closing.
• Fixed a rare hang that could occur when taking a screenshot in Photo Mode on PC.
• Fixed a networking crash on Xbox platforms.
• Fixed an issue that could cause very large save files to crash during loading on PS4.
• Fixed a crash that could occur when the leader of a herd died.
• Fixed a number of memory-related crashes on PS5.
• Fixed an audio-related crash on PS5.
• Fixed a rendering crash on PS5.
• Fixed a crash related to the preview of summoned objects (eg starships).