No Man’s Sky’s next update will let you explore infinite space in virtual reality

NelsonG · March 26, 2019

No Man’s Sky just figured out a way to make a wildly absorbing space exploration game even more immersive.

Announced during Sony’s first PlayStation State of Play update, No Man’s Sky devotees will soon be able to explore an endless procedurally generated universe in virtual reality. Hello Games’ Sean Murray followed Sony’s news with a bit more color on Twitter.

The VR update is part of No Man’s Sky Beyond, the development team’s latest extremely generous bundle of new content, doled out to existing players for free. No Man’s Sky’s virtual reality makeover will launch on PlayStation VR and Steam VR this summer.

The VR update will bring enhance the first-person perspective of the existing game, allowing players to steer a starship using their thruster, reach into a bag to fetch their multitool and wave to fellow players meandering around the vastness of space.

No Man's Sky Virtual Reality is not a separate mode. Anything that is possible in NEXT or any other update is ready and waiting in VR. pic.twitter.com/zSMSCaz4es

— Sean Murray (@NoMansSky) March 25, 2019

While we don’t know all of the details yet, that experience will dovetail nicely with the forthcoming feature cluster known as No Man’s Sky Online, “a radical new social and multiplayer experience” for the at times isolated space sim.

“No Man’s Sky Virtual Reality is not a separate mode, but the entire game brought to life in virtual reality,” Murray wrote in a blog post. According to Murray the update will offer “a true VR experience rather than a port.”

You can get a glimpse of how this will look in a teaser video, though since much of it depicts normal gameplay, there’s plenty of surprise still in store. Assuming the game runs well enough, No Man’s Sky Virtual Reality will be a far cry from gimmicky VR games that lack true depth, offering one of the most expansive — if not the most expansive — VR experiences to date.

No Man’s Sky fans should still keep an eye out — there’s one more mystery announcement left for the Beyond update, which is shaping up to make the No Man’s Sky world more epic than anyone who played the game at launch could ever have hoped for.

“By bringing full VR support, for free, to the millions of players already playing the game, No Man’s Sky will become perhaps the most-owned VR title when released,” Murray wrote.

“We are excited for that moment when millions of players will suddenly update and be able to set foot on their home planets and explore the intricate bases they have built in virtual reality for the first time.”