Hello Games has introduced a new horror-themed free update for their open-world space exploration game, No Man’s Sky. The horror update is called Desolation, which will add abandoned freighters, including the new savage and alien threats.
According to the developers, the Desolation update will drop these abandoned freighters across the game’s galaxy. Players can choose to breach and explore the airlocks by themselves or in co-op. The freighter’s interior is said to be procedurally generated, which will also include both hand-written and generated ship logs. These ship logs provide a backstory of how the freighters become derelict.
The developers further explained that each freighter is packed with potential salvage, including upgrades for your capital ships. These salvages again can only be obtained in abandoned freighters. The tech you can salvage from them will resemble the ship you took it from. This means that your ship will tell the stories of where it has been visually.
However, players won’t easily be walking away with those upgrades. There will be hazards inside the abandoned ships, which can be varied. These include scrambled defense systems, environmental hazards, and alien infestation.
The Desolation update is said to be inspired by the 80s and 90s science fiction stories. According to Hello Games, they decided to explore the feelings of dread and fear that comes from being alone in space. It will feature a rich science fiction tradition that has not been touched by No Man’s Sky until this update.
The update will also tweak effects and feel for weaponry to make a better combat experience. The Desolation update will also bring several quality life improvements in the game.
No Man’s Sky was first released in August 2016 for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Microsoft Windows gaming PC.