No Man’s Sky Frontiers Update lets you be overseer of your very own settlement

Find a new home among the stars, filled with NPCs

The vast expanse of No Man’s Sky keeps growing, and its latest update lets you take charge of the frontiers. The Frontiers Update, out today, allows players to become the overseer of their very own, procedurally generated alien settlement, while also overhauling the base building experience.

Frontiers is No Man’s Sky‘s 17th free update, and it centers on the new settlements. By earning the respect of the local citizens of a settlement, you can become the overseer. And that comes with some perks: choosing what to build, the town’s name, organizing festivals, resolving disputes, and yes, defending the town against Sentinel attacks.

Every settlement is procedurally generated, with its own unique buildings, layouts, color schemes, and both interior and exterior decoration. You can choose what to build, how to expand, and ultimately what your settlement will be as time goes on. But also, some defensive buildings will probably be a good idea, to help with those pesky Sentinels.

Base building has also been overhauled, with parts now laid out in a clear grid and a streamlined building interface making it a bit easier to build the hub of your dreams. And yes, there are some other updates too; destruction is crunchier, combat looks a bit prettier, you can save more discoveries than before, and multicolored nebulas now populate the far reaches of space.

With update after update, it’s honestly amazing to see what No Man’s Sky has become over the years. The fact that these have been free updates too has been something else. I guess buying it back in 2016 has paid off a bit. But still, Hello Games really seems to have gone beyond just righting the ship. I mean, settlements with actual disputes, defense scenarios, and unique layouts and aesthetic flavors? It’s a whole new frontier for No Man’s Sky.