No Man’s Sky Relics Update Lets Players Become Space Palaeontologists

No Man’s Sky developer Hello Games has detailed its latest update, Relics, which lets players become palaeontologists by digging up the skeletal remains of alien creatures. It’s out now across PC, console, and VR for free.

When new bones are discovered, players can piece them together to their own design, Hello Games explained. They can even create their own museums, or share their collections with other players.

“There is a truly huge variety of procedural prehistoric bones, in all shapes and sizes, to excavate and collect,” Hello Games added.

“It’s up to you how you reassemble them and there’s a lot of fun to be had building ever-more outrageous skeletons to put on display in your bases-turned-museums or share with your fellow Travellers.

“Fossils out there to be discovered vary hugely in rarity, so you never quite know what you’re going to unearth. There’s a real buzz when you find something truly rare. The most uncommon finds hold huge value. For those trying desperately to finish their collection, we introduced a specialist who can be bartered with at the Space Station.”

Alongside the launch of Relics is a community expedition focusing on palaeontology, which challenges players to compete for the rarest finds.

“Players should be wary where they choose to excavate though,” Hello Games warned.

“Some things have been buried for a reason. Dangerous creatures guard the greatest treasure and may be awoken from their slumber, including Stone Ghosts, and the colossal Stone Golem. New creatures have been introduced too, along with their skeletons. Including the awesome skeletal Titan Worm!”

No Man’s Sky continues to receive free updates even now, years after launch. And it’s clearly keeping players interested. Hello Games said the recently released Worlds Part II update fueled some of No Man’s Sky’s highest player numbers early in the year.

In November, Hello Games hailed No Man’s Sky hitting a ‘very positive’ Steam user review user rating for the first time, eight years after the game’s controversial launch was slammed by players.

No Man’s Sky launched in August 2016 on PS4 and PC to tens of thousands of negative reviews on Steam, with players complaining about broken promises and a lack of meaningful content, particularly on the multiplayer side. The game quickly settled on the dreaded ‘overwhelmingly negative’ Steam user review rating, a clear sign to anyone who visited its Steam page that something was very wrong.

But Guildford, England-based developer Hello Games has continued to update No Man’s Sky over the years, improving player sentiment to the point where it is now considered superb. It took two years to hit ‘mixed,’ then another three to hit ‘mostly positive.’ At the time, five years after launch, Tim Woodley, Head of Publishing at Hello Games, explained how hard it was to claw back Steam user reviews from such a low base.

As Hello Games continues to work on No Man’s Sky, it’s developing its next game, Light No Fire. It’s about adventure, building, survival and exploration together, set on a fantasy planet the size of Earth.

Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.