Here’s a complete breakdown and guide to Hello Games’ No Man’s Sky Beyond update, which releases on August 14 for free. Coming three years after No Man’s Sky debuted on consoles and PC is the game’s biggest and most expansive update yet. Last summer, Hello Games unveiled the No Man’s Sky Next update, which was meant to overhaul the game and make it more representative of what the developers initially wanted the procedurally-generated title to be at launch.
Now they’re moving onto a new level with the No Man’s Sky Beyond update - a content release that includes an all-new VR experience along with expanded online capabilities and general quality-of-life upgrades. Essentially, No Man’s Sky Beyond has been broken up into three pillars - one for No Man’s Sky VR, one for No Man’s Sky Online, and one for everything else that comes with the update, which is being referred to as No Man’s Sky 2.0.
All of these core pillars are meant to mark a new phase of the No Man’s Sky experience, and here’s everything you need to know about it.
No Man’s Sky Beyond Online & Nexus Hub Explained
While Hello Games implemented a complete multiplayer experience with No Man’s Sky Next last year, No Man’s Sky Beyond adds onto that with the Nexus social hub, which is essentially a ship/station owned by Polo and Nada. The Nexus hub can be accessed without a loading screen and is intended to be the No Man’s Sky version of Destiny 2’s Tower. In here, 16 to 32 players (depending on the system of choice) can gather together and either join each other’s groups, set out on new multiplayer missions, or simply upgrade their equipment through NPCs.
No Man’s Sky VR Explained
No Man’s Sky Beyond also includes VR support, which means players with PlayStation VR, Oculus Touch, Vive, and Valve Index can now experience all of No Man’s Sky in virtual reality (along with a handful of new animations, such as entering a cockpit). Using things like the PlayStation Move, DualShock 4 controller, Knuckles, Wands, and more, No Man’s Sky players can either teleport to wherever they want to go or walking around on their own and flying the ships themselves. It’s worth mentioning that No Man’s Sky VR isn’t a one-off adventure but rather a new way to experience the game; VR users can play through the entire game alongside non-VR players.
No Man’s Sky 2.0 Upgrades Explained
Aside from the online and VR portions of the No Man’s Sky Beyond update, there are also plenty of new upgrades - over 200 main items, in fact - in No Man’s Sky 2.0. It’ll be a brand-new version of No Man’s Sky, with heavily-requested fixes and features having been addressed. So while small features like sitting in chairs, milking alien animals, and flying around in third-person are great and truly add to the No Man’s Sky experience, by far the best upgrade in No Man’s Sky 2.0 is base-building. With No Man’s Sky Beyond, players can create even more complex bases, filled to the brim with programmable elements, electricity to power automated systems, and more. It’s a whole new world (or universe) for No Man’s Sky players.
Next: Journey to the Savage Planet is What No Man’s Sky Wanted to Be
