New No Man's Sky Update Lets Players Be Space Pirates

Game developer Hello Games is launching Update 3.85 of No Man Sky's, titled Outlaws, where players can live out their space pirate dreams.

Rolling out today, the update adds a smuggling mechanic where players can obtain illegal products from outlaw systems and sell them for a lot of in-game money. In addition to the game mode, Update 3.85 makes a lot of graphical changes and enhances the space combat with new features.

As a space pirate, players can accept new "procedurally generated missions" from Bounty Masters, in which you terrorize the local star system. But being a space pirate, you'll have to contend with the Sentinels protecting these resources.

If you prefer being lawful, players can instead defend settlements from pirate raids or engage in dog fights with the improved space combat, which has been rebalanced for challenge and speed. New solar spaceships are available that possess unique features, according to Hello Games, but the developer didn't say what they are.

Ships now have an autopilot to automatically target enemies, too, and players can hire pilots to form a squadron.

As said previously, the game's visuals have also been improved. Explosions for ships and freighters have been overhauled to be more dramatic, and a new cloth physics engine has been added to realistically simulate draping hoods and capes.

The update also includes bug fixes and performance optimizations, so the game should crash less often now. No Man's Sky Outlaws is out now on PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Series X/S, and Steam.