No Man’s Sky gets into smuggling and solar ships with the Outlaws update

Assemble a space pirate crew in the new update

Hello Games keeps on expanding the universe of No Man’s Sky. Today, it’s not just about the Sentinels or stars, though. The Outlaws update for No Man’s Sky brings some more space piracy into the mix.

Outlaw stations are popping up across the system. They’ve got their own merchants, marketplace, and unique mission agents. Contraband can be smuggled to them and sold. New missions and related rewards are available, and you’ll have to deal with reputation mechanics if you engage in the piracy.

Of course, the system authorities don’t look kindly on all that. They’ll scan your ship for contraband, so intrepid smugglers will need to mask their presence. And when all else fails, the new Wingman system will let players call in buddies to help fend off enemy ships.

Come (solar) sail away

Ship-to-ship combat has also been overhauled in No Man’s Sky. Shields and revamped weapons provide a little more variety, dogfights can head down into the planetary atmosphere, and destruction effects are overhauled. Pirate raids can attack settlements. My personal favorite is the new auto-follow option for fighting it out in space. This mode, either toggleable or on-hold, has the onboard ship computer auto-track ships, allowing players to focus on weapons without needing to steer. It’s a good option for both ease and accessibility.

I feel like I keep saying this, but No Man’s Sky updates just keep making this game larger and larger. Even though the Outlaws update focuses on the ship combat and piracy of No Man’s Sky, there’s also an entire section about updated cloth physics. And did I mention solar sail ships? Yes, solar ships. They’re procedurally-generated and can be found all over the universe.

Hello Games just added a massive mech update in February with the Sentinel update. Now, in April, the team is launching an entire Outlaws update. It really just seems like this is the space sim that will keep on trucking.