No Man’s Sky, the action-adventure survival game from indie developer Hello Games, is getting an an Xbox One release today as well as a content update. Titled “Next”, the free patch adds fully developed multiplayer to the game. Just in time for the new gameplay, a No Man’s Sky PC download is on sale at GameStop for $29.99 (usually $59.99). There was a lot of hype surrounding the original release that No Man’s Sky couldn’t possibly live up to. In Polygon’s review of the 2016 game, we noted that Hello Games seemed to focus more on making beautiful and groundbreaking tools than on developing compelling gameplay. This update will hopefully improve interactions within the impressive procedurally generated universe. If you haven’t yet played No Man’s Sky because you were put off by the limited gameplay, now’s the time to jump in, especially if you’re looking for an open world multiplayer game. Think of it as a much, much bigger Minecraft with weird looking aliens instead of creepers and zombies. A No Man’s Sky PC download is half off at GameStop, while PS4 owners can pick up a physical copy for $19.97. The new Xbox One release is listed at $49.99. Update: Similar deals are cropping up on other retailers as we wait for the patch to update. A PC download at Green Man Gaming is on sale for $25.47; PS4 copies at the PlayStation store are $29.99 ($26.99 with PS Plus).<doc-sep>No Man's Sky's latest 'Next' update is the deepest reinvention of the game to date. In terms of the improved rendering tech, the addition of a third person camera, a long-awaited multiplayer mode, upgraded base building, and much more - we've come a very long way since the its original PS4 launch. Indeed, this isn't just No Man's Sky's biggest update so far but also a landmark release for Xbox One and Xbox One X, with users of Microsoft console hardware finally able to enjoy this fascinating game. The increase in install size compared to its launch on PS4 is telling. Back in 2016, No Man's Sky had a tiny 3GB footprint - a factor of the game's procedural generation of locations and artwork, but today's fully updated Next edition brings us closer to 8GB on Xbox One, with users of Microsoft's console getting all of the new updates and benefits in one package at release. And while it's difficult to show the exact before and after of visual upgrades, the promise here is of improved terrain generation, lighting, draw distances, better atmospheric effects, higher quality textures, water shaders, new sound effects - plus a third-person camera option. The new camera mode stands out immediately, and it's the default for anyone starting a new game. This has its pros and cons, but it does a great job of giving you a sense of perspective in a large spatial playground. A detailed, polygonal character is rendered on-screen, where animations are surprisingly varied. It looks great: every step, every type of incline, is factored in - meaning a steep hillside triggers a sideways trot, while flatlands can be navigated at a sprint. One frustration here is the way the camera orbits behind, only loosely attached to the player's movement. It sways left to right constantly, and never fixes on the subject - making aiming the target reticle harder than in the first-person view. It's perhaps a triumph of style over function, but it's undeniably a neat extra, and can be undone with a simple toggle if you'd prefer. No Man's Sky's strength has always been to show your relative size in a universe, and having an avatar in third-person does help to illustrate that scale. Equally, the base building is vastly expanded to highlight the very same thing. Through a redesigned tutorial, you're encouraged to build a base using smaller blocks before a storm kicks off - walls, ceiling, doorways, and a swathe of other parts assigned to pushing up on the d-pad. All of this is far more flexible on the Next update, letting you even build towards bodies of water if you'd prefer. A 4K video breakdown of the new Xbox One version of No Man's Sky. In many ways it's the version we've waited two years for. Factor in the multiplayer - available from the start - and it's now possible to build, fight, race, or explore planets as a team. Inadvertently perhaps, this changes the tone of the game from what we played at launch. The original release succeeded in making you feel alone in the universe, a sole traveller dislocated from the rest of civilisation. But with this Next update, the goal shifts towards finding others, in order to show off what you've built or the planets you've found. Obviously, there is still value to playing purely on your own - and that's very much kept in place. Improved draw distance is another key upgrade. The game continues to use procedurally generated terrain - laying the tracks ahead of the player just before they get to it. With Xbox One X as the first version we booted up, pop-in isn't as obvious as it was on a base PS4 at launch. Looking back, mountains and trees were prone to fizzling into view only just ahead of the camera on Sony's machine, especially while in flight. While there are still signs of terrain fading in on the Next upgrade with X, it's hidden more effectively, and other new visual features are added to the mix. For example, cloud simulation is a brand new variables added to each planet, letting projected shade pass across the ground. Pick the right planet, and the atmosphere is as such that it'll also speed up based on properties for wind - creating a surreal pulse between light and dark. It's a standout extra in the Next upgrade, and weaves in beautifully with the existing snow, and rain effects - and lighting stays consistent with the day-night cycle that governs every planet. The only drawback to this is the clouds themselves: these render at a low resolution, almost as if a higher quality asset is waiting to pop in. Hopefully this isn't the final intended effect, because everything else around it holds up. Elsewhere, you keep all of the great legacy effects No Man's Sky's built up over the years: the motion blur, temporal anti-aliasing, and even post-effects like depth of field across the distance stand out. It gives the game an aura of a high-budget title at a distance, even if up close the building blocks of the world are easy to spot in some muddy texture-work. That's all there right from launch for Xbox One users, and the same goes for the elegant light shaft effect added in the Pathfinder update. Looking back, there were a lot of challenges for Hello Games to overcome - and this effect originally didn't work on PS4. Here, everything is in place and working wonderfully. Moving the code from PS4 to Xbox One consoles has clearly been a long time coming though, so it's interesting to see how S and X machines stack up today. The base console delivers a native 1600x900, up against the standard PS4's 1080p - though image quality still looks good - if only a little blurred - thanks to the temporal anti-aliasing process. As you might expect, Xbox One X aims for something suitably more ambitious. Its six teraflop GPU is put to work across two display modes, dubbed 'quality' and 'performance'. On top of that, frame-rate can be capped at 30fps or unlocked on either mode - a feature that some may enjoy in the here and now, but may only truly come into its own on future Microsoft consoles. No Man's Sky at last lands on Xbox One consoles, with a specific X enhancement that allows for two modes: quality and performance. Xbox One X delivers the full 4K experience - the first to do so on console. Its quality mode renders the game at 3840x2160, while X's performance mode drops this to 2560x1440. Either way, it's a big leap over the 1600x900 native resolution on base Xbox One. Compared to the base machine, draw distances are pushed out on Xbox One X regardless of mode, alongside a texture filtering quality boost. Texture quality appears identical regardless of your chosen console, as shown on the character model here. A standard Xbox One holds up nicely at 900p, despite pushing the lowest resolution on console - with effects that come visibly close to the X's setting. Note that X renders more trees in the distance here. The quality mode offers the best-looking visuals for X users, simply by virtue of running at a true 3840x2160 resolution. It marks the first time No Man's Sky has ever run at a full 4K on console, and it pays off massively in letting you see far into the distance. All those fine details across a landscape - the mountains, trees and creatures - are all discernible from a great range. Quality mode is the way to go for the image quality purist and to make the most of it, you also get a few upgrades over the base Xbox One, including improved texture filtering, and further draw distances on objects and trees - though many texture assets appear identical. There's also a difference in ambient occlusion quality, faintly visible by eye, but otherwise the X hardware is mainly being pushed to a higher 4K.<doc-sep>No Man's Sky might have launched in a disappointing state, but developer Hello Games has been hard at work ever since, adding features and tweaking the game to make it better line up with fans' expectations. A big free update just landed on all platforms right as the game came to Xbox One for the first time. Called Next, this update includes a multiplayer mode, better base building, and graphical improvements. To celebrate the update, several retailers have put No Man's Sky on sale. Pricing varies wildly depending on your platform of choice. Since the Xbox One version is brand new, it's not surprising to see that it's the most expensive version you can buy. It's $50 nearly everywhere except for Amazon and Walmart, where it's $42. This version is Xbox One X-enhanced, so it looks especially nice if you have the right hardware. Over on PlayStation 4, you can easily get a copy for $20, as long as you're fine with a physical copy. The digital version from the PlayStation Store will set you back $30 unless you have a PS Plus membership, which brings it down to $27. PC gamers have to pay $30 at most retailers, but if you head over to Green Man Gaming before its Summer Sale ends on August 2, you can grab it for $25.47. No Man's Sky on Xbox One No Man's Sky on PS4 No Man's Sky on PC<doc-sep>
The No Man's Sky Next update has been received rather positively, and players are once again picking up the game to experience all of the new changes. However, since Next launched on PC, players have been encountering a number of bugs. To address the issues as they arise, Hello Games has continuously released patches. Patch 1.52.1 just went live on PC. Patch 1.52.1 fixes a few of the bugs for Next on PC, several of which occurred while players were trying to save their game. The patch fixes cases where invalid characters fail to load saves, and deletes a bug that stopped players from knowing the Living Glass recipe or Blueprint Analyzer after upgrading their save. The patch also fixes the Base Restoration mission that occurs during the tutorial. The game now finds a proper site for players to build their legacy base, instead of glitching out and failing to find anything. Next adds several large changes to No Man's Sky. Most notable among them are the new multiplayer and character customization features. You can now be one of five different species, and explore No Man's Sky's galaxies together with a group of friends. The update adds numerous upgrades to building and crafting as well, and even introduces a few weird surprises like a Xenomorph type alien. We've outlined the rest of the notes below, and the full patch list can also be found on No Man's Sky's website. Patch 1.52.1 for PC Fixed an issue where players would not know the Frigate Fuel blueprint if they undertook the fleet tutorial in multiplayer Fixed a number of issues with Galactic Commission missions that involved freighters Fixed an issue where players would not see their ships docked aboard a freighter when loading Fixed an issue where players would see multiple ships docked on the same landing pad when loading Fixed an issue where the freighter bridge would unload after accepting a mission from the Galactic Commission Terminal Fixed an issue where players would be jettisoned into space after warping aboard another player’s freighter Fixed a number of text bugs Fixed a number of incorrect prices No Man's Sky is available for Xbox One, PS4, and PC.