Ever since its divisive release back in 2016, No Man's Sky has spent years attempting to retool its experience into the ambitious vision it initially promised fans in the build-up to release. In turn, it's managed to win over a significant and passionate playerbase, adding base building, cooperative play, VR support, a third-person perspective, and much more.
Today, players can access a brand new update that adds another fresh feature to the game, that being the ability to adopt aliens and bring them on intergalactic adventures. The announcement was accompanied by a short trailer showcasing this new addition, with the footage highlighting what players can expect from No Man's Sky's pet update and how it will work in the game's world.
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The trailer begins with a player whistling for their alien sidekick, as the creature appears and begins following its owner. As becomes evident as the pair venture around the surface of a forest planet, animals of near any size can become companions, as everything from giant, hulking behemoths to small, passive creatures are shown following their owners around. It seems as though the pets players choose will also be summonable anywhere, doubling up as some adorable company to adventure across No Man's Sky's vast galaxy with as well as fun cosmetics to show off to online friends.
That's not all though, as it seems certain creatures will be rideable by players, with one segment of the trailer showing the protagonist sat atop a giant beetle-like creature. Alongside that, Sean Murray reveals via PlayStation Blog that players will be able to feed and play with their pets, while their companions will also be able to help out depending on the bond they've nurtured with their owner. That allegedly extends to hunting for resources, fighting other creatures, and using shoulder-mounted laser-mining canons. Murray also details how these bonds will work, claiming that interacting with pets will see them grow closer to the player.
Each creature will also have a unique personality derived from the ecosystem of its home planet. It'll have the ability to vocalize its needs via "alien neuro-translation" as well, so players can communicate with it in some regard. Companions may even lay some eggs, with players to hatch the item into a baby version of the creature or trade them with friends online. All in all, it looks to be a substantial new update that allows players to interact with the fauna of the worlds they explore like never before.
No Man's Sky is available on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
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Source: PlayStation Blog