No Man’s Sky is boldly going where no nine-year-old exploratory space sim has gone before: Switch 2. Developer Hello Games has announced a free launch-day update that’ll bring significant upgrades compared to the original Switch release, including enhanced visuals, multiplayer, and more. That’s in addition to a major update for all platforms arriving today.
Starting with Switch 2, Hello Games says this new version of No Man’s Sky is a “huge leap” over the original Switch release, featuring “massively” increased density and detail, plus higher resolutions and improved frame rates (the studio’s announcement video suggests 40fps at 1080p while playing portable, and 30fps at 1440p in docked mode).
Switch 2 also gets multiplayer and settlements – two features missing on Switch 1 – as well as cross-save and cross-play, so it’s possible to jump seamlessly between devices. No Man’s Sky’s Switch 2 upgrade is free to existing users and launches alongside the console on 5th June.
It’ll also include No Man’s Sky’s new Beacon update, which arrives today, 4th June, on all other platforms. This provides a significant overhaul of the space sim’s existing settlement system, which essentially enables players to become the mayor of their own Mos Eisleys.
There are new robotic settlements, for instance, and it’s now possible to own multiple settlements instead of just one. There’s also suggestion of more granular customisation and management, with talk of new upgradeable buildings types and settlement features, ranging from custom starship merchants to fishing ponds. That’s alongside citizens with their own stories and abilities, and the option to enlist wingmen to protect your settlements from pirates. All of which sounds wonderful, but if the update wipes out the sprawling, settlement-adjacent cliffside base I’ve spent the last two years building, I will 100 percent cry.
So to recap, No Man’s Sky’s Beacon update is out today on PC, PCVR, Steam Deck, PlayStation 4, PS5, PSVR, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, and Switch 1, with a Switch 2 update due tomorrow, 5th June. And as Hello Games is fond of teasing, “more will follow”. But what of the developer’s next game, planetary sim Light No Fire? It’s been a while since we’ve had an update on that, so fingers crossed for a bit of Summer Game Fest news.
