No Man's Sky's Living Ships Update Adds Space NPCs and Strange Organic Spacecraft

After numerous teases involving eggs both in and outside of the game, No Man's Sky players on PC downloaded an experimental patch yesterday that introduced a new class of bioengineered spaceships to the galaxy, along with a bunch of other mysterious changes. Now, Hello Games is pushing this new Living Ships update to No Man's Sky on all platforms and shedding a bit of light on the new creatures and scenarios that players might encounter.

As Hello Games' founder Sean Murray explains in a post at the PlayStation Blog, Living Ships adds No Man's Sky's first new spaceship variant since 2017's Atlas Rises update. Underneath their procedurally generated carapaces and membranes, these new ships utilize new organic technologies for space flight and combat. It seems, as with any regular ship, that you'll be able to come across these in the possession of other NPCs and haggle for them—or, if you wish to grow your own, there's a new quest line that delves into their origins and grants players an egg that will hatch into a ship.

These bulbous rides aren't the only new lifeform added in the update. Between planets, players can now find other massive, strange beings that have adapted to life in space (or those beings' remains, as screenshots and video of massive skulls floating in an asteroid field suggest).

There's also a handful of other welcome additions and changes, like new NPC encounters while in space flight and the ability to warp between systems as a group in multiplayer. The full patch notes can be found at Hello Games' website.

On Twitter, Murray notes that Hello Games has been trying to release smaller feature updates more regularly since the launch of No Man's Sky Beyond last August. "We're enjoying these more regular updates, and hopefully the community seems to too," writes Murray. "This January had more players on all platforms than any previous year, with longer, more varied sessions too."

The Living Ships update is out today for No Man's Sky for PS4, PC, and Xbox One. If you've never tried it or haven't gone on a space adventure since one of Hello Games' massive updates like Beyond, USG's guide section should be able to help you get your bearings.