No Man’s Sky 4.0 update provides new ‘relaxed’ mode and ‘massively elevated’ stock

Six years after its launch, No Man’s Sky has almost reached one other milestone, model 4.0. This comes as Whats up Video games’ galactic sandbox prepares to develop onto yet one more platform, Nintendo Change, on October 7. 

A Change debut could not really feel planet-shaking to longtime gamers on PC, however the 4.0 update will deliver quite a few adjustments to No Man’s Sky it doesn’t matter what platform you play on. And whereas this update won’t look as dramatic because the addition of dwelling ships or ridable sandworms or cosmic whales, there’s nonetheless lots to it.

“Persons are arriving, new gamers, and we type of need to tidy up our home,” Sean Murray mentioned once we chatted over Zoom in regards to the 4.0 update final week. One of many issues for Whats up Video games was not simply how the game will seem to new gamers on Change however to returning gamers on PC who could have been away for some time, doubtlessly even years.

“One thing I see on-line sometimes, folks will say, ‘I just like the game, nevertheless it feels overwhelming to return again,'” mentioned Murray. “And I would like [both new and returning players] to say ‘This is sensible. This feels cohesive, and it would not really feel like a bunch of disparate updates.’

“And so we dug into that lots. If you happen to come again to the game [in 4.0] there’s truly a log where you’ve a abstract of the story to date,” Murray mentioned. “We’ve got an information portal that can gather collectively every thing that you have finished to date, every thing you have unlocked, all of that, and provide you with extra information on it, to be able to dig into it.”

Longtime gamers who could really feel like they’ve completed every thing will discover a new source of motivation in update 4.0. Whereas No Man’s Sky would not have stage caps, it does have options like journey milestones that observe every thing from alien encounters to fight stats to time spent on planets with excessive climate. These milestones have been expanded in 4.0, giving gamers new objectives to purpose for. Stock has been “streamlined” to make it simpler for brand spanking new gamers, however Murray mentioned it is “additionally massively elevated,” so gamers who’ve unlocked the utmost quantity of storage slots will be capable of purchase much more.

And there is a new game mode in 4.0, known as “relaxed” mode, which is able to give gamers the sandbox expertise of No Man’s Sky however with much less of a give attention to survival. Murray thinks will probably be a superb mode for brand spanking new gamers to start out with however he additionally hopes it appeals to longtime gamers who’ve performed in regular or survival extensively however “simply need to relax” whereas persevering with to progress ahead. Relaxed mode will not have the problem of regular or survival mode, nevertheless it will not unlock every thing the best way inventive mode does.

“I do not need to oversell it and say it is a reimagining of the game or something like that. However it’s a totally different steadiness of survival sandbox,” Murray mentioned. Gamers will be capable of swap present saves into the brand new mode, and swap again in the event that they resolve they do not prefer it.

Survival mode itself, in the meantime, has been revisited to supply a better problem. “Over time, as you bought higher on the game and leveled up, it stopped being as troublesome, so we have additionally revisited that and truly crank the survival component method greater.”

Possibly most significantly, No Man’s Sky 4.0 will give gamers management over the steadiness of the game themselves. “If you wish to dial [the challenge] barely in a different way, if you wish to have permadeath in relaxed game mode, or no matter it’s, you are able to do these issues,” Murray mentioned. “You’ll be able to change a ton of issues to do with controls, a ton of issues to do with difficulty, survival, crafting, , you possibly can steadiness these your personal method.”

No Man’s Sky update 4.0 will coincide with the game’s launch on Nintendo Change, which is occurring later this week on October 7.