What you need to know
- No Man's Sky has released update after update since its shaky launch, adding massive amounts of content, changes, and features.
- Its latest update, and the first major release for 2021, is releasing today for No Man's Sky with the Companions update.
- The Companions update builds on the work done in the 2018 Beyond update, with significant feature changes for creatures in-game.
- Players can now tame and befriend creatures, bond over time, breed their creatures with genetic modifications, work alongside them, and more.
If any game has experienced a "redemption arc" since a failed launch, it's No Man's Sky. The ambitious game from Hello Games launched to mostly-negative reception after not delivering on its initial promises, but No Man's Sky has released update after update (twelve significant releases so far), like the Origins update dropping late last year. Today, No Man's Sky is launching the latest major update, Companions, which builds on the work done in the earlier Beyond update.
The focus of the Companions update is on the creatures in No Man's Sky. One of the biggest draws of No Man's Sky is the diverse life that players can find on countless planets, which vary wildly in size, shape, and characteristics. Players could already feed, milk, and even ride some of these creatures, but now Companions lets players do so much more. This update includes:
- Adopt creatures and bond with them over time
- Creatures have unique personalities based on their species, home, and more
- Creatures can communicate with you through a neural harness linked with your Exosuit
- Creatures can have different reactions when meeting other travelers and creatures
- Play, feed, and pet your creature
- Train your companion to do a variety of tasks, including:
- Scan for resources
- Mark hazards
- Provide light
- Hunt other dangerous creatures
- Find settlements
- Excavate buried treasure
- Mine for materials
- Breed your companion with a variety of features, including:
- Lay eggs
- Incubate eggs
- Genetically modify eggs to change the species of your creature over time
- Trade eggs with fellow travelers
- Customize your creature with accessories and decals
No Man's Sky is available now on Xbox and PC, and can even be played through Xbox Game Pass. If you haven't played yet, or if it's been a while, jumping in through Xbox Game Pass is the best way to play. The No Man's Sky team even mentioned the success of launching on Xbox Game Pass, which "saw several million new travelers warp into the universe for the first time." Learn the basics with our No Man's Sky Ultimate Beginner's Guide.
No Man's Sky has become a big game after numerous updates, and joins many other fantastic choices on Xbox Game Pass. Ensure you have plenty of space for everything with one of the Best External SSDs for Xbox Series X|S.
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