No Man’s Sky: Predicting What’s Coming with the Frontiers Update
when Man’s SkyLaunched in 2016, few people expected that the game would mark its fifth anniversary. This is even more surprising considering it has been supported for five years. The 16-year-old Hello Games has released Frontiers, the most recent update. Although it might be easy to overlook Hello Games’ ongoing support, No Man’s SkyThe studio is just doing its job. The recent debacle with cyberpunk 2077If there is one thing the industry has learned, it’s that saving a game from its death is difficult work.No Man’s SkyIt deserves all the praise it has received.
The announcement of Frontiers came on August 9th with a two-and-a-half-minute trailer, as seen below, highlighting different aspects of all the updates Hello Games has since released before simply ending on the logo for Frontiers. The trailer contains very little information, and Mr Murray’s PlayStation blog post describes the upcoming update as “a missing part of the sci-fi fantasies that we’ve always wanted”. It’s not clear what exactly Mr Murray is referring to, so it’s time for us to speculate!
What’s next for No Man’s Sky
Since the first No Man’s Sky event, Sean Murray has been determined to create a game where a single screenshot could be used as the cover of a Science Fiction novel. These books are the inspiration for all achievements and trophies in No Man’s Sky. The goal was achieved with the introduction of photo mode, as well as the building system. Further, No Man’s Sky updates have expanded biome diversity, added a full-length narrative, vehicles, and mechs, and much more. Fans may wonder what Hello Games can do to make the universe more interesting. The update’s name may suggest that it is nothing. Frontiers are something that is beyond what is known or explored. It seems unlikely that Frontiers will expand any existing systems, though it might do so in addition to its main attraction.
It is more likely that No Man’s Sky Frontiers will do something totally out of the ordinary, just like the Foundations update with base-building. The most recent game mode, Expeditions, shares a similar stylistic theme to Frontiers. Both invoke images of new ways of exploring. Perhaps Frontiers will take Expeditions to the next level and introduce branching paths, choices, and a clear narrative with even more unique rewards to boot. Although No Man’s Sky would be more MMORPG-friendly, it doesn’t sound like the missing piece to sci-fi fantasy Murray referred to earlier.
Cityscapes in No Man’s Sky
There are few tropes Sean Murray, and Hello Games haven’t covered. However, one trope that is missing is the inclusion of sprawling, lived-in towns and cities. No Man’s Sky already has horror sci-fi in the Desolation, and Abyss update has mastered planet exploration on a large scale with the Pathfinder and Companions updates. It has achieved the novel-cover goal through the Visions and Prisms visual upgrades. There is only one frontier that No Man’s Sky must conquer: cities.
