No Man’s Sky’s Next Update Makes Planets More Real

The developers of No Man’s Sky have announced their next update, dubbed Worlds Part I. According to Hello Games founder Sean Murray, this update will be one of the game’s most beautiful to date, literally changing the way players view the universe. No Man’s Sky“What you see on the screen is generated by the computer,” Murray wrote. “The level of diversity we are achieving is far beyond what was possible before.”

The update is largely graphical, adding a host of new weather and terrain features designed to make planets feel even more real. Water will produce waves and reflections, waves will now respond to different weather phenomena, and the game will finally allow ships to land directly on water. Worlds Part I will also add new atmospheric conditions. Lava flows will spit sparks into the air while fog, blizzards, rain, and clouds will make procedurally generated locations feel more like living planets.

According to Murray, creating realistic clouds has presented a unique challenge for the team. With the Worlds Part I update, new cloud technology (no, not that kind) will introduce even more variety to planets. He also shared that the update will have a Starship Troopers atmosphere featuring a new mech whose enemies players will have to fight.

Murray wrote about how new technologies and working on Hello Games’ next project, Light, no fire, allowed the team to go back and work on No Man’s Sky“Over the last five years of making the game, we’ve learned new things and put them back into No Man’s Sky,” Murray said.

The update is available today, but with a name like World’s Part I, you can naturally be sure that a second part won’t be far behind.