What the New Foundations Update for No Man’s Sky Gets Right — And Wrong

Hello Games recently updated No Man’s Sky with the “Foundation update” and added a few new features to the game, the most notable of which is the Survival Mode (which is basically just a more challenging version of the original game) and Creative Mode (which allows for infinite resources and the new base building feature!)

The idea of base building…

The base building feature might not be wondrous yet, but it is interesting. It allows you to snap prefabs and corridors to the walls of existing shelters in the game.

I just wish that they wouldn’t have gone with such a weird control scheme for it, as it can take some getting used to. For example — let’s say you wanted to delete an object, you would have to hold down one button to bring up a scroll screen, and from there you would have to select to either delete or change the color of said object. Not a terribly intuitive or fluid interface, to say the least. 

Freighters & other additions

You can now purchase your very own freighter for a base or storage. You can call upon your freighter from anywhere in the game, and it will come to you. You can customize the interior, just like you can with base building on the planets that allow you to, which is a really nice addition.

You can store lots of materials on these ships (as well as the bases on planets) and the fact that you can call upon it from anywhere adds great value to it.

The update also added new resources, some of which you will need new equipment upgrades in order to acquire: For instance, you need to unlock the new Hazmat Gauntlet Blueprint so you may pick up more hazardous materials, or you may need to unlock the new Mining Tool upgrade so you can break tougher mineral deposits.

You can also hire aliens from the space stations in each system, to help you to farm new resources,. They will also aid you in researching new technology and weaponry. You can also now craft a teleporter that will take you from your settlement directly to a space station, so you can go about your business with ease. 

Aside from these additions, they also made changes to some of the UI, such as:

• Specific symbols for resource element you have scanned, allowing you to easily tell what kind of resource something will give you.
• A quick access menu for seamlessly recharging your equipment in those life or death situations.
• Warning indications in your ship’s cockpit for any nearby pirate activity, and also a warning for when your warp drive is unavailable.

So what is the update good for?

On one hand, No Man’s Sky is a game about constantly exploring. After all, the goal of the game is to get from point A to B, all the way to Z. Some players would never really want to sit down and build a home in the process. In that case, the UI upgrades are nice. But the base building is a “take it or leave it” kind of thing.

On the other hand, No Man’s Sky is a game based on everybody exploring and naming their discoveries, so all the others can see “I was here first.” What better way to say that than having your own custom building looming over the landscape?

The only question in that case  is… Can you even see other player’s buildings? because it would be pretty lame if you never got to see somebody’s totally personalized building decorating a planet’s surface. Base building is a feature that many players were wanting out of No Man’s Sky, including myself, and now that we finally got it, it will be interesting to see what else Hello Games improves according to player feedback. 

All in all, I’m not gonna lie, this whole update is pretty cool, and I appreciate the fact the Hello Games wants to improve on their product. And while it’s just the “foundation” for many more updates to come, they have a long road to recovery. Now all we need is some easy cooperative multiplayer and we are set!

What do you think about the foundation update? What would you like out of the future updates from Hello Games? Let us know in the comments!