Well, now we know why the No Man's Sky team has been quiet - huge new Foundation update adds base building, survival mode, freighters and more
No Man's Sky is a very different game after the arrival of the Foundation update.
No Man's Sky developer Hello Games has broken is long silence to announce the Foundation Update, a whopping patch that dramatically changes the game.
Well, having said that - one of the major changes is that No Man's Sky now has three modes, and one of them provides the same experience you've been enjoying so far. Here's what Hello Games said about the three modes:
- Normal mode is the original chilled exploration experience.
- Creative mode allows players to explore the universe without limits, and build the biggest base they can.
- Survival mode creates a much more challenging endurance experience.
Base building? That's right. No Man's Sky players can now set up a home base where they can store gear, farm crops, and even employ NPCs to research new technology and products.
Since No Man's Sky encourages you to travel the cosmos, you'll be delighted to know you can warp back to your home base from any space station. Not being able to get back to where you came from had been a common complaint, so that's rad.
No Man's Sky bases are built from modular components so they're pretty customisable, and if you decide you no longer wants your base, you vcan dismantle it to get back all the resources you spent.
As well as building bases, No Man's Sky players can now create a number of structures in the field. Save points will help you out in survival mode. Permanent way points mean you can always find and return to your favourite discoveries, such as rich resource beds. On that note, you can also create autonomous mining harvesters to gather resources while you're busy elsewhere, and signal scanners to help you find said resources. Communications terminals allow you to leave messages for other players.
The other major change in the Foundation update is the introduction of Freighters to No Man's Sky. This new class of ship is encountered in space, and if you hire Freighter captains, they'll allow you to teleport goods to their holds whenever you're on a planet surface, and summon them to you from anywhere in the galaxy. That's going to make mass trade much easier. Freighters are very expensive, but can be customised and staffed like bases.
You can probably see how these changes are going to smooth out some of No Man's Sky's rough edges, and Hello Games has also introduced stackable products, larger inventories, a quick menu and early warning of pirate activity, among other improvements. On top of that, the update adds loads of new resources, products and technologies. Read more about all of this on the No Man's Sky website.
The Foundation Update should hit No Man's Sky this week, judging by the phrasing on the No mMn's Sky news blog, and a post on the PlayStation Blog suggests the update is at least in certification if not already passed.
Although Hello Games released several updates for No Man's Sky shortly after launch, its calling this "Update 1", suggesting this is only the start of its plans for the project. It's a pretty good way to break nearly three months of silence, and a massive undertaking for such a tiny team. Is it enough win back the goodwill lost when No Man's Sky launched against such massive and arguably misleading hype?