No Man's Sky Omega update takes aim at new and lapsed players with free weekend and pirate dreadnought

Hello Games describe No Man's Sky's latest Omega update as being geared towards newcomers and "lapsed players looking for a way back in". Hey, they're talking about me! I haven't played the wide-eyed space game since before the pandemic, partly because I only own the PS4 version and now that I'm RPS news editor, I'm not allowed to touch consoles any more. Seriously, they burn my skin on contact. Anyway, let's have a gander at the trailer.

No Man's Sky: Omega Update Trailer

The update introduces a full overhaul of the game's expeditions, which will now be integrated into the main game rather than being a separate mode, alongside new stuff for the Atlas Path core questline, a bunch of new on-planet missions, and a pirate Dreadnought you can commandeer. As part of Hello's "big plans for 2024", the main game will also be free to play (that's genuinely free - no microtransactions or FTP mechanics) over the weekend of 19th February.

At the heart of the Omega update is a new Omega Expedition, which runs from four weeks from today, and "has been built from the ground up as a perfect introduction for new players, but with some of the best rewards in any expedition to date, including a gorgeous new starship to explore the universe with," according to our old friend Mr Press Release.

If said gorgeous new starship isn't enough for you, you might prefer to hijack one of those dreadnoughts. "For the first time, take on the universe with a fleet of frigates led by a Dreadnought capital ship," Mr Press Release adds. "If players can defeat pirate freighters in combat, travellers can board the Dreadnought to demand control."

As for expeditions, there's now a new system that lets travellers join them with bespoke provisions using their preferred starships and custom multi-tools, returning to their main save with loot. The Atlas Path, meanwhile, has been bolstered with a new Atlas staff, jetpack and helmet, and you can talk your way into new procedurally generated quests on planets - each specific to the quest-giving lifeform's location, climate and personality.

Lord, imagine if some interstellar voyager showed up on your doorstep demanding a quest specific to your location, climate and personality. I think the best I could manage would be "please take the recycling out before it overflows again".

Find the full patch notes for the Omega update here. Hello's other big plans for 2024 presumably include on-going development of Light No Fire, their new fantasy survival game, which cuts you loose on a single, very large planet and lets you galavant around on a monster kingfisher wearing a rabbit hat, seemingly. I'm going to embed the trailer again because I do like the music - it's Hunger Of The Pine, from Alt-J.

Light No Fire Announcement Trailer