No Man’s Sky just got way closer to being the game fans originally dreamed of

From sandworms to tornadoes to towering vaults, there’s a lot to dig into with the Origins update, and it’s all free

No Man’s Sky is living its best life with the just-released Origins update. After Hello Games’ Sean Murray promised this moment would mark “the beginning of something new,” I came in with big expectations, but I’m still caught off-guard by the scope of what’s included. The list keeps going and going.

If I had to roughly sum up Origins, I’d say that it pushes No Man’s Sky within reach of many fans’ wild hopes and dreams before the game launched. You know, back when the possibilities felt endless? Kinda like that. Update 3.0 aims to make the universe “stranger, richer, and more varied” across the board.

There are too many highlights to rattle off, but I’ll try my best:

• “New life has been breathed into every planet in the universe,” including giant flying beetles, sandworms, roaming synthetic creatures, and infestations. Some species will “flock together.”
• There are new planets in “most star systems” and they can “generate much more varied terrain, including mountains four times larger than anything previously possible.” You might also find towering vaults with “data, treasure, and directions to long-forgotten ruins.”
• Active volcanoes, firestorms, meteor showers, tornadoes, lightning storms, and gravitational anomalies will make surface exploration more dynamic and memorable.
• “Black market traders, piloting their ships across planets, will now sometimes land on the planetary surface.”
• “The game’s interface has had a total visual overhaul, including the boot flow, all in-game menus and screens, and the Analysis Visor.”
• “A local information guide has been added to the mission log. This guide displays detailed information about your current planet or star system, as well as tracking the progress of your discoveries.”
• “Portal interference for conventional portals has been removed. Players may explore freely.”

Reading through the full patch notes (and knowing Origins isn’t the end of the road), I feel like No Man’s Sky has secured its future for another four years. I just can’t see it becoming irrelevant anytime soon.

I’m especially curious to see what Hello Games can bring to the table on PS5 and Xbox Series X.