Following its brutal reception at its August 2016 release, No Man’s Sky, a space adventure game, is offering players an opportunity to relive its unique feature of absolute solitude in the cosmos through its 13th expedition known as Adrift.
“The many years after the release of No Man’s Sky have brought significant changes,” said Hello Games president Sean Murray. The game is well-loved in its current state, but the unique sense of loneliness in the universe at its release was striking. I hold fond memories of the early unreleased versions, where NPCs, shops, and help were non-existence… only you, the player—a tiny dot lost in infinity.”
Adrift is an ‘alternate universe’ where active ships, life forms, and economy are non-existent. The setting is gloomier with dilapidated or aged buildings and the only landmarks being the graves of lost travelers. The location also comes with increased dangers, such as roaming sand worms. Players are faced with ‘repair, research, and combat’ tasks while pondering ‘the darkness of deep space’.
The expedition will run for roughly seven weeks. Successful completion yields exclusive items including a creepy companion, posters, a ‘ship of the damned’—a creepy drifting frigate,— and a new massive spaceship “Iron Vulture”. The ship which serves as a safe haven in the new world can be customized as players deem fit, thanks to the “Starship Fabricator” system added in March. The rewards are accessible when any save file is loaded.
The creators note that due to its unique content and changes, this expedition feels more like a full-scale update rather than an add-on. The 4.70 patch which features Adrift also fixed bugs and improved memory use. The full list of changes is available on the official site.
In addition to Orbital which has also transformed the outer architecture and interior of space stations, the team released the Omega update with the same name for Expedition and numerous improvements this year. Players can look forward to “even more” updates before the end of 2024.
No Man’s Sky is available on PC (Steam, GOG), PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X / S, and Nintendo Switch, as well as in Game Pass.
