Summary

  • No Man's Sky has transformed since its disappointing launch, now offering base building, multiplayer, NPC questlines, and more.
  • The latest Expedition in No Man's Sky, 'Adrift', creates an isolating and challenging experience devoid of sentient life.
  • Players who survive the Adrift Expedition will be rewarded with unique items like the Iron Vulture hauler and Stealth Paint option.

Originally released back in August 2016, No Man's Sky was an infamous critical disappointment upon its initial launch, but it's come an absurdly long way in the last eight years. With over 25 major content updates now under its belt, No Man's Sky hasn't just become the game that its developers had always promised it would be, but one that's managed to transcend that initial vision entirely, so much so that it looks and feels like a completely different, but much better game. Base building, multiplayer, NPC questlines, story missions, and a whole lot more have been added to No Man's Sky since launch, and it's still being updated.

One of the biggest highlights of No Man's Sky's consistent updates has been their Expeditions. Introduced back in March 2023, No Man's Sky's Expeditions see players embark on a quest to complete a series of tough challenges often themed around a specific in-universe event or story. No Man's Sky's most recent Expedition, 'Adrift', dropped just a few weeks ago, and it offers an experience that horror fans won't want to miss.

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How No Man's Sky's Adrift Expedition Puts a Horror Spin on Things

In No Man's Sky's Adrift Expedition, players are sent into a new universe. Though it may initially look very similar to the usual No Man's Sky universe, this one is completely devoid of sentient life. There are no aliens, no other spaceships, no spaceports, no freighters, no shops, and no bases. In No Man's Sky's Adrift Expedition, the player is completely alone in the universe, and it's up to them to explore the lifeless vacuum of space all by themselves.

Naturally, this lifelessness leads No Man's Sky's Adrift universe to feel exceptionally isolating. Players are still tasked with exploring various large-scale planets, but they won't be able to call in their friends for assistance, buy much-needed supplies from vendors, or even trade parts with another life form. Instead, they're left to wander these planets in complete silence, an experience that would make anyone feel small.

Along the way, players will be given a handful of survival and combat challenges. These challenges are designed to really push the player's skills as a lone wolf, only being able to rely on their own equipment and knowledge to complete objectives. While sentient life forms are nowhere to be found, hostile creatures still inhabit Adrift's planets, and some have even grown more aggressive, such as the sandworms, who now roam freely across a planet's surface.

No Man's Sky's Adrift Expedition is set to last up until around July 15 2024.

Players Will Be Rewarded Well for Surviving

No Man's Sky's Adrift Expedition might just be the game's most terrifying set of challenges yet, but players will be healthily rewarded for their efforts. Probably the biggest reward for completing No Man's Sky's Adrift Expedition is the new Iron Vulture high-capacity hauler, a ship that bears a striking resemblance to The Mandalorian's Razor Crest. This ship also comes with a unique ironclad metal finish that can be applied to other ships once unlocked. Completing Adrift will also net players a new Gnawing Scuttler companion, some Starship Wreckage base parts, and a new Stealth Paint option for ship customization.

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No Man's Sky
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7 /10
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Released
August 9, 2016
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WHERE TO PLAY

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Lose yourself in a vast sci-fi odyssey as you explore a near-infinite, procedurally generated universe. Set out from the edge of the Euclid galaxy and carve out your own interstellar existence in a vast universe teeming with life, danger and near-endless mystery. No Man's Sky is a hugely-ambitious, heavily-stylised, sci-fi adventure that spans entire galaxies all brought to life with procedural generation. Travel through an endless array of increasingly diverse and dangerous star systems, prospecting for rare materials, trading with alien life, populate planets and searching for clues to the meaning of the universe's mysterious existence. How you survive is up to you. Assemble entire fleets of dreadnought-class freighters and tear across the universe; build sprawling habitable bases across planet surfaces, beneath the ground or under the ocean; buy and upgrade your own weapons and star ships and do battle with outlaw space pirates, hostile alien fauna or the mysterious sentinel fleets.   The universe is yours to explore - trillions upon trillions of planets, waiting to be discovered.

ESRB
T for Teen: Fantasy Violence, Animated Blood
Developer(s)
Hello Games
Publisher(s)
Hello Games
Engine
Proprietary
Multiplayer
Online Multiplayer, Online Co-Op
How Long To Beat
30.5 Hours
File Size Xbox Series
20.36 GB (September 2024)
Metascore
83
Platforms That Support Crossplay
PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One & Xbox Series X|S
PS Plus Availability
N/A
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