Get your fedora-shaped space suit helmets ready, because No Man’s Sky is adding archaeology with today’s Relics update. Relics is a brand-new update that lets players dig down — literally — into the history of their planets and unearth the skeletal remains of the creatures that lived there long ago.
Hello Games’ Tim Woodley said, “We wanted players to feel like true paleontologists. When new bones are discovered, Travellers can piece them together to their own design. They can even create their own museums, or share their collections with other players.” Woodley promises a “truly huge variety” of procedurally-generated bones to discover, excavate, and collect. It’s almost like a game within a game.
Players who want to finish their collections but can’t seem to dig up a specific bone can barter with a paleontological specialist aboard the Space Station. That said, it’s not all fun and games; digging up long-buried secrets can be dangerous, and we don’t just mean in the Indiana Jones way.
As Woodley puts it, “Some things have been buried for a reason.” While digging for fossils, players might disturb living creatures like Stone Ghosts and the Stone Golem, both formidable foes intent in protecting their secrets.
The Titan Worm also makes an appearance in a big way. The creature has been around since the Expeditions update, and players can harvest eggs, rope, and other resources from it — but now, you can assemble its bones to create a terrifying display in your own base. Let that serve as a warning to anyone who thinks you’re to be trifled with.
The team at Hello Games compares the Relics update to the more focused “fishing” update from last year. It’s a narrow, objective-oriented update rather than something that makes sweeping changes to gameplay. While Relics will introduce a few new elements, it’s mostly for fun and not something you’ll want to start a new playthrough for.
