No Man’s Sky (2016) is well beyond its redemption arc now, having just shipped ‘Voyagers’ across VR and flatscreen platforms, making for one of its biggest updates yet.
Starting today, you’ll be able to step aboard even bigger starships that you can crew with your friends. From the trailer, it certainly feels like No Man’s Sky is finally delivering on the sort of hardcore Star Trek/Star Wars space fantasy players have always wanted.
Called ‘Corvettes’, the massive customizable ships come replete with hulls, wings, landing gear, cockpits, engine parts, thrusters—everything you’d expect, but also real interiors you can kit out and customize with friends.
Inside, you’ll find med-bays, sleeping quarters, war rooms, radars, and teleporters, Hello Games says in a post on Steam.
“By design, Corvettes are encountered a little way into the game and veteran players will be able to unlock them reasonably swiftly,” the studio says. “But we wanted to give all players a taste of what they can expect, so the accompanying ‘Corvette’ expedition is specifically designed to get you to the workshop as quickly as possible and to take you on a journey which unlocks some of the parts you’re going to need to build out your sci-fi fantasy.”
Notably, there are a few perks for VR users too. PSVR 2 players can now take advantage of PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution for better graphical fidelity. And PC VR users with compatible NVIDIA RTX graphics cards can also now enable DLSS4, serving up faster performance and improved rendering.
Here’s a quick recap of VR specific stuff in the game’s latest patch notes, also including some things to heighten visual immersion:
Rendering & Visuals
- NVIDIA DLSS 4 support (PC VR): boosts FPS, reduces latency, and improves clarity in VR on RTX GPUs.
- PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution (PSVR 2): AI upscaling for sharper, more detailed VR visuals on PlayStation 5.
- Intel XeSS 2 support: AI upscaling option for Intel GPU users, also helps VR rendering.
- Moment-Based Order-Independent Transparency (MBOIT): upgrade to glass, windows, aquariums, and cockpit transparency, improving visual stability.
- Hero Lighting: player character is lit independently of the environment, so your suit looks clearer even in dark scenes.
- Improved rendering stability: fixes flickering and corruption issues in VR, especially with distant or semi-transparent objects.
Performance & Optimization
- Multi-threaded rendering on PC: significant CPU performance improvements, especially noticeable in VR.
- Occlusion culling & optimizations: higher framerates in caves, buildings, and indoor environments, reducing in-headset discomfort.
- Reduced load times & memory optimizations: faster transitions in and out of VR-heavy areas like large bases.
Gameplay & Immersion Features
- Fully traversable Corvettes: fully walkable ship interiors are naturally more immersive in VR.
- Spacewalking & Skydiving: now fully supported, letting players float outside their ships and navigate with jetpacks.
- Improved mission HUD timers: better readability of estimated travel times.
You can find No Man’s Sky over on the PlayStation Store for PSVR 2 and over on Steam for PC VR headsets where it’s currently priced at $24, 60% off its regular $60 MRSP.
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