No Man’s Sky expands into a galaxy-wide war
Hello Games has released The Swarm, the latest major update for No Man’s Sky, and it is focused on scale. The studio says the patch introduces the game’s biggest space battles to date, along with large faction-based objectives and a new threat called the Hive of Glass.
The update arrives ahead of No Man’s Sky’s 10th anniversary in August, giving players a new event-style conflict to work through across the galaxy.
Three factions, shared goals, and a giant enemy presence
According to Hello Games, players are assigned to one of three factions through a personality test when they log in. Each group will both cooperate and compete as part of the wider war effort against the Hive of Glass.
Progress is tracked through the Nexus, the Space Anomaly, and the Galactic Atlas. Hello Games says the most successful faction will earn a permanent memorial inside the Space Anomaly.
- Three factions are assigned at login
- Community progress is shared across Nexus, Space Anomaly, and Galactic Atlas
- Top faction reward: a permanent memorial in the Space Anomaly
What players can expect in the battles
The headline feature is the scale of the fights. Hello Games says The Swarm includes battles with hundreds of ships. The Hive responds with robotic drone swarms and a new superweapon that can wipe out freighter fleets and may also target space-station-sized objects.
The update also adds more to do on planets. Players can salvage crashed drones, investigate swarm activity, and disrupt enemy systems with the Gravity Gun, which was added earlier this year.
| Update feature | What it adds |
|---|---|
| Faction warfare | Three player groups competing and cooperating in a shared event |
| Massive space battles | Encounters involving hundreds of ships |
| Hive of Glass | A new central threat appearing in planetary skies |
| Planet gameplay | Drone salvage, swarm investigations, and sabotage |
Rewards and where No Man’s Sky stands now
Players who take part can unlock a retro-inspired armor set, a new rifle, an upgraded jetpack, and other cosmetic rewards linked to the event.
The Swarm is the third No Man’s Sky update of the year. It follows Remnant in February, which added the Gravitino Coil gravity gun, expanded physics interactions, salvage systems, and Colossus customization, and Xeno Arena in April, a pet battler with a more unusual premise.
Hello Games says the full feature list is in the official patch notes. No Man’s Sky is available on PSVR 2 via the PlayStation Store and on PC VR headsets via Steam.
