After an unfortunately rocky launch in 2016, No Man’s Sky has changed drastically. The passionate team at Hello Games poured their heart and soul into improving their product, eventually transforming it into a fantastic title.
Over the last seven years, Hello Games has released a mind-boggling 32 expansions and major updates for their space-faring adventure. At first, No Man’s Sky was little more than a speck in the night sky—but now the game is a titan, and all of its content can be challenging to keep track of.
A full list of No Man’s Sky updates and patches
The first few patches
No Man’s Sky launched to an overwhelmingly negative response from players, but the development team didn’t hesitate and immediately began work on their game. Patches 1.04 to 1.09 focused on fixing the initial issues. They improved performance and stability and prepared the game for its first major update, Foundation.
Foundation
After a brief hiatus and silence from the developers, Hello Games released Foundation. The update came with a ton of new content, including base-building mechanics, farming, freighters, and two new game modes: Creative and survival. As the name implies, this update laid the foundation for more free updates to come, and boy, did the developers deliver.
Afterwards, Hello Games released two smaller patches to continue fixing issues in preparation for the next expansion.
Path Finder
The second free update to No Man’s Sky was no less impressive than the first. It introduced planetary vehicles and transportation, multiple ships, and ship specializations. The update also came with online base sharing, giving players a glimpse into the promised multiplayer function of the game that was largely absent from the initial release.
The three updates following Path Finder drew heavily from player feedback and focused on addressing fan requests. Summoning your vehicle from anywhere in space, as opposed to one’s home planet, was one of the most significant quality-of-life changes.
Atlas Rises
Atlas Rises was the biggest update to-date, and it completely reshaped No Man’s Sky. It featured a revamped story, new biomes, a mission system reminiscent of Skyrim, and much more.
The key aspect of this update was undoubtedly joint exploration—the developers finally added multiplayer, so players could traverse the galaxy with their friends. It wasn’t fully implemented, as players would merely appear as orbs to other players, but it was another step in the right direction, and the fans certainly obliged.
Regular patches following Atlas Rises focused on community-reported issues and bugs. The game’s performance and stability improved, and bugs became much less of an issue. No Man’s Sky was slowly becoming renowned as a gaming miracle.
Next update and Xbox release
No Man’s Sky: Next was a massive expansion introducing many new systems and mechanics, alongside releasing on Xbox. Two years after its initial launch, No Man’s Sky finally dropped on Microsoft’s platform, with a ton of content to bring to the party.
Next gave players proper multiplayer, the ability to have multiple bases, third-person perspective, character creation, expeditions, and freighter fleets.
Next also improved No Man’s Sky’s procedural generation and graphics. This was the patch that proved that, with enough resolve, any game can become as good as it promised to be.
Though generally focused on bug fixes and adjustments, the subsequent Next patches contained as much content as one of the earlier major updates. They introduced new missions, enemy and biome behaviors, and even added community-made content into the official game.
The Abyss
What is space compared to the oceanic microcosm? The Abyss overhauled the underwater areas of No Man’s Sky and added a new questline for players to dive into. They also added Submarines and an Exocraft Shop for all your planetary vehicular needs.
The Abyss was followed by a brief patch that added even more content, including a new mission, emotes, and adjustable foliage.
Visions
A transitory update, Visions brought a ton of new and diverse content to the game. It featured new biomes, archeology and excavation, shared community mission progress, and more. It also focused on improving the game’s visuals with graphical overhauls, rainbows, and lush environments.
Patch 1.77, which came shortly after Visions, expanded the update with new missions and Gek-inspired rewards.
Beyond
The Beyond update took the principles of Next and pumped them full of steroids. It immensely widened the game’s multiplayer scope: Players could now encounter one another in the vast expanse of space. The patch also came with revamps upon revamps and VR support to further improve immersion.
The story was overhauled, new NPCs were added all over the universe, progression was improved with new tech trees, and more. It’s astonishing how an update of this size could be free, but Hello Games was hard at work making No Man’s Sky a game they could truly be proud of.
Bugs were inevitable with an expansion of such size, and Beyond was followed by several smaller patches that focused on fixing them. Most of the updates were exclusive to either platform, but there were also some cross-platform bonuses, like new missions and items.
Synthesis
Synthesis focused on adding more community-requested features to No Man’s Sky. A follow-up to Beyond, this update added the ability to save custom outfits, new starship upgrades, and various changes here and there to make the game even more immersive. Synthesis considerably elevated No Man’s Sky’s core gameplay loop, making it more intuitive and easier to pick up and play.
Bytebeat
Most of the patches that followed Synthesis were routine updates and bug fixes. One stood out, though—Bytebeat. It added an audio creation app and a ton of interesting musical tools.
Living Ship
As the name might imply, Living Ship added, well, living ships. These organic, sentient starfaring vessels can spawn in many corners of space. These ships come with their own organic components, and the update added a new story, missions, NPCs, and more.
Exo Mech
The primary feature of Exo Mech was a new player-controlled Minotaur robot. Other exocraft and planetary vehicles also received improvements and updates. The update included various quality-of-life improvements, expansions to the base building mode, and refined graphical fidelity.
Cross-play
Another self-explanatory update: Cross-play introduced cross-play to all platforms (Xbox, PC, and PlayStation).
The update significantly expanded multiplayer functionality and accessibility with speech-to-text, new options for lobbies, and more quality-of-life features. No Man’s Sky also launched on the Windows 10 Store and the Xbox Game Pass.
It wasn’t without problems though, as these new online features created their own set of issues—but Hello Games focused on fixing them in the subsequent routine patches. No problem remains unfixed under the watchful eye of Sean Murray.
Desolation
The Desolation update introduced players to new derelict freighters: Terrifying, infested, and procedurally generated points of interest. Freighter exploration came with a ton of new mission content, generated interiors, and story additions. The graphics and lighting were improved, making freighter interiors a whole lot scarier.
Origins
For the third time (so far), No Man’s Sky had a re-release with the obscenely large Origins update. It completely reshaped the game’s procedural generation to make it more diverse, fresh, and exciting to explore. Newcomers and seasoned players alike could start anew and witness the infinite universe.
One of the most incredible additions from Origins was the sandworms—colossal creatures roaming the surface of desert planets. New flora and fauna, terrains, biomes, items, and so much more were added with Origins, making it among the largest of Hello Games’ undertakings yet.
This behemoth of an update was seemingly not enough for the developers, as they further expanded upon it in later patches. No Man’s Sky’s gameplay and stability dramatically improved, and Origins showed just how competent the team really was.
Halloween update and next-gen console improvements
Halloween 2020 was a big occasion for No Man’s Sky, as Hello Games added challenging yet horrifying derelict freighters. Players could explore a new, unnerving version of these colossal ships built only for the toughest space adventurers.
Soon after the Xbox Series X and PS5 hit the shelves, Hello Games updated their game for both platforms. To make use of the consoles’ immense horsepower, the developers focused on improving graphics and load times.
Subsequent patches optimized the game for next-gen platforms and provided more bug fixes for players on every system.
Companions
The Companions update introduced a much sought-after feature: Pets! Everyone loves having pets around their home. Now imagine a weird, Lovecraftian horror casually waltzing through your base. How awesome is that? With the pet adoption mechanic, the Companion update naturally diversified fauna generation. Hello Games also improved PS4 load times as the console was starting to show its age.
Expeditions
The Expeditions update introduced a whole new game mode called Expeditions. We have to commend Hello Games’ straightforward naming scheme.
This new game mode is a milestone-based way of playing No Man’s Sky. It emphasizes sharing your journey with other adventurers and relaxing along the way.
Space station missions also saw significant changes. Additionally, No Man’s Sky’s cross-platform functionality and performance were further enhanced for a smoother online experience.
Expeditions was quite the undertaking, so the team released quite a few patches to fix things up. General issues with gameplay were quickly resolved and the new Expeditions mode was tremendously well-received by the community.
Expedition two: Beachhead and Beachhead update
Hello Games added a whole new community expedition containing new milestones and rewards. They subsequently concluded the expedition with the Beachhead update release.
Prisms
After being sidelined in favor of gameplay for years, No Man’s Sky’s graphics finally received a major improvement. All graphical fidelity was revamped with new and better lighting, effects, weather systems, reflections, biome detail, and more. Nvidia’s stellar (pun intended) technology, DLSS, also found its way into Hello Games’ behemoth.
Frontiers
No Man’s Sky’s lonely and often empty planets received new settlers through the Frontiers update. It added settlements and a settlement management system, hundreds of new base parts, settlement simulations, and so much more, focusing on extraterrestrial social life. Base building was also overhauled to accompany the new mechanics.
Expedition three: Cartographers
Released in addition to Patch 3.64, the Cartographers update featured a ton of gameplay and technical improvements alongside the third expedition.
Expedition four: Emergence
Though it was posed as a regular update and expansion to the expeditions game mode, Patch 3.70 added a whole host of new features to No Man’s Sky. Sandworm hunting, new narratives, and many other additions joined the game in this mini-update.
Expeditions: Revisited
This update brought back older expeditions for those who missed them and implemented a few routine fixes.
Sentinel
The Sentinel update focused heavily on changing the combat mechanics of No Man’s Sky. It completely overhauled existing systems, introduced many new mechanics and enemies, and expanded the lore and story. The update also added new points of interest and an array of new weaponry to use against the sentinels.
Outlaws
From the game’s very release, players had anticipated playing as actual space pirates—but that never materialized, until this patch. Hello Games never forgot what players wanted, and finally introduced space piracy in the Outlaws update. It introduced space combat encounters with pirate ships, bounty hunting, and all the goodies encompassing interstellar swashbuckling.
Expedition seven: Leviathan
This update added a new community expedition and further expanded upon the Expeditions game mode. Above all, though, we were most excited about space whales. Space whales! What’s cooler than that?
Endurance
The Endurance update heavily expanded cosmic base building. Your capital ship could now truly become a Warhammer-like star fortress. The update also featured improved freighters, cosmic storms and nebulae, and organic fleets for truly Lovecraftian space adventures.
Waypoint update and Nintendo Switch release
October 2022 saw No Man’s Sky released on the Nintendo Switch. With it came the Waypoint update that overhauled the UI, added a ton of quality-of-life improvements, and introduced new missions and custom game modes.
Releasing on a new platform warrants extensive groundwork. Hello Games promptly addressed all the bugs and issues, and the game was in an excellent state for Nintendo newcomers following the Waypoint update.
Holiday Expeditions: 2022
This patch reintroduced expeditions from 2022 in case any players missed them, alongside bug fixes and general improvements.
Fractal
Fractal was a massive overhaul to the VR version of No Man’s Sky. It featured new and improved controls, ships, garages, and high-end VR graphics. Hello Games also added dynamic resolutions and HDR.
Interceptor
The Interceptor update significantly improved exploration by adding a ton of new open-world content. New corrupted worlds, an evolving story, abandoned camps, and nexus missions were among the most prominent features added in this update. Interceptor also introduced capital ship battles, in case regular dog-fighting wasn’t your cup of tea.
No Man’s Sky on Mac
Patch 4.25 brought No Man’s Sky to Mac systems. This patch finalized the game’s release cycle, as it was finally available on all major platforms and systems. What a journey through the stars—in the most literal sense.
Players gaming on PCs and Macs encountered several new bugs and issues following this release, but they were quickly resolved in Patch 4.26. We’ve got to commend Hello Games’ speed and diligence.
Expedition 10: Singularity
Patch 4.30 was another mini-update, introducing a new expedition alongside new missions and mechanics. If sentient AI wasn’t scary enough, this update added ships haunted by AI souls. How’s that for an early Halloween treat?
Echoes
Echoes is the latest in No Man’s Sky’s extensive series of free updates. Continuing the story from Interceptor, players seek out and perform cultist rituals, learn alien languages, and indoctrinate their staff. The update also adds massive freighter battles, staff customization, a new story, and deeper space combat.
More recent No Man’s Sky patches included bug fixes and general improvements to the game’s seemingly never-ending library of content.
