Hello Games has teased an upcoming update for No Man’s Sky, titled ‘Echoes’, which shocked fans after it dropped at the end of a montage video to celebrate the game’s 7th birthday.
The sci-fi exploration game famously did not live up to fan expectations after its release in 2016. It was hit with ‘Overwhelmingly Negative’ reviews on Steam and generally the popularity of the game died pretty quickly.
Ultimately the decline of the game came from its biggest selling point of having the feeling of almost unlimitable planets to explore. Players found after a time that most of the planets became repetitive and lacked creative differences that would make them want to keep endlessly exploring.
This set up the game for failure, however as years have gone by, the passionate developers have continued to update the game, drastically improving the experience and silencing their critics.
As Hello Games is a much smaller studio than most, it has naturally piled on the pressure to bring new things to life in the game, which is what they look to be doing after their surprise announcement of No Man’s Sky: Echoes.
No Man’s Sky announces “The journey continues” with a major update coming
On August 18, the developers uploaded a YouTube video to their HelloGamesTube channel.
The video features a heartfelt montage showcasing how the game has developed over the years as No Man’s Sky celebrates its 7th anniversary since launch.
Surprisingly, the video suddenly ends with the background going to black as the text states: ‘The journey continues”, followed by a mysterious title stating: ‘No Man’s Sky Echoes’.
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Sean Murray, the founder of Hello Games tweeted out the announcement video stating ‘Echoes?’ with a question mark leaving fans to speculate on what the update could bring as minimal details have been given.
🏗Foundations🚧Pathfinder💎Atlas Rises🚀Next🤿Abyss🧞Visions🥽Beyond📜Synthesis🥚Living Ship🤖Exo Mech💀Desolation🍊Origins🔮Next Gen🧶Companions🧭Expeditions🌈Prisms 👀Frontiers 🧠Sentinel 🏴☠️Outlaws 💪Endurance 🔭Waypoint ❄️Fractal 😈Interceptor❔Echoes❔ pic.twitter.com/QEon8tIige
— Sean Murray (@NoMansSky) August 18, 2023
As fans are sent into a frenzy wondering what it could mean for the game, praise has flooded in across online platforms.
“it had a terrible start but the devs stood by their word and made the game that it is today”, one user said, pointing towards how well the developers have turned it around as years have gone by.
Another user said: “This game and studio deserve so much praise.”
Other developers have looked to learn from No Man’s Sky’s mistakes in the sci-fi adventure genre, by releasing their own sci-fi travel games over the years.
The biggest threat yet perhaps is from gaming giant Bethesda, who have announced they are releasing their own big-budget sci-fi exploration game called Starfield, which is set to launch on September 6, 2023.
