4 No Man’s Sky NEXT Features That’ll Make it the Game We Were Sold

VR Support

Knock it all you want, it’s difficult to deny how absolutely gorgeous No Man’s Sky is. The game’s popping color palette is a visual feast for the eyes, and even if there isn’t always a whole lot to do on a planet, breaking through the atmosphere and watching the sun set from your ship never gets old. You know what would make all of that even better, though? VR support on consoles and PC with the upcoming NEXT update.

It’s a natural fit for a game like No Man’s Sky. This is a space exploration game played through the first-person view, and it’s supposed to be an immersive experience that makes you feel like you’re actually in space. VR support would elevate the gameplay experience to the next level, and it just might draw in a few new fans as well.

Multiplayer

We’ve been asking for this since launch, and Hello Games have so far only been able to deliver a halfway step in lat year’s Atlas Rising update. Players can now see each other as blue orbs and use proximity-based voice chat to communicate. But that’s not enough. Hello Games and Sean Murray did say that this upcoming NEXT update would be the biggest they’ve ever implemented in No Man’s Sky, and we think that could mean the game could finally be receiving proper multiplayer functionality.

Even if PvP is completely out of the question, it would definitely be nice to be able to explore the different galaxies with a friend. To make the world feel even more alive, players should be able to trade with each other for materials, blueprints, and maybe even ships. No Man’s Sky already features a portal system where players can warp into the galaxy from their base, and while it might go against the philosophy of lonely travel through space, being able to team up with friends as and when you want would make this game a lot more fun.

More Lore

While it certainly took a backseat to all of the mining and crafting, Hello Games actually did quite a good job of establishing a proper world and sentient civilization in No Man’s Sky. The Atlas are this race of terrifying HAL-looking aliens that guide you along your journey, and the various structures you find scattered across planets are intricately designed and are always a nice surprise to stumble upon.

That said, the rest of the alien races could still be fleshed out a little more to make them feel properly distinct from one another. At the moment, they’re still simply NPCs that give you a random item based on your dialogue choices with them, and we’d like them to play a more active part in shaping the universe and its commercial hubs.

If Hello Games can expand on the game’s story even further in the NEXT update, that’d be even better. The Atlas still have so much untapped potential, and it’ll be interesting to see what the developers do with them next.

Underwater Exploration

The Path Finder update introduced land vehicles to the world of No Man’s Sky, which was a great addition that made planetary exploration a lot more convenient for players. Now, it’s much easier to travel across a planet face and mine whatever valuable resources you can get your hands on. The next logical step is to improve the game’s underwater exploration.

Yes, you can swim in the water bodies in No Man’s Sky, but there’s hardly any reason to. There are tons of watery planets to be found in the infinite universe, and if we actually got some form of ocean transport in the game, these would be much easier to explore. Improving the ocean environments and marine life in No Man’s Sky would open up a whole new avenue of exploration for players, and a big addition like this would be perfect for the NEXT update.

It’ll probably never reach the levels of Subnautica underwater exploration, but at least it’d be a start, and it’ll give players more to do in the world.