No Man's Sky Reveals Biggest Update Yet: Beyond

No Man's Sky, the space exploration game by Hello Games, is making its way to headlines once again. This time, it's because of a major upcoming update: No Man's Sky Beyond.

Announced on YouTube and Twitter, director Sean Murray wrote in greater detail about the update in a post on the PlayStation Blog. He explains that the next three updates would be combined into one large update instead of separate releases.

"Earlier this year, while working on our roadmap of three future updates, we decided we wanted to interweave their features, and had a vision for something much more impactful. We are excited to announce that Beyond will contain those three major updates rolled into one larger free release."

While not showing all of their cards just yet Hello Games announced that one of the features would be "No Man's Sky Online."

"a radical new social and multiplayer experience which empowers players everywhere in the universe to meet and play together."

It's not clear what this means exactly. Players can see and interact with other players in the world already, after all. Murray reassures readers that it won't be considered an MMO, and that "it won't require a subscription, won't contain microtransactions, and will be free for all existing players."

No Man's Sky had received harsh criticism at launch. When the game hit store shelves, players were unhappy with a large number of unkept promises and generally unsatisfying gameplay. Since then, the game has undergone multiple major updates, fleshing out the universe and options available to players. It would even win 2019's SXSW Game Award as the most evolved game.

Stay tuned as the other two components to Beyond are revealed.