No Man’s Sky 1.1 “Foundation Update”

Finally, the silence from Hello Games has ended today, with the release of the Foundation Update. This is the first of many free updates. The Foundation Update gives the player three modes to choose from. Normal mode, Creative mode, and survival mode. Each mode presents new challenges for the player to overcome. Along with the new modes, there are also UI changes and tweaks to the overall gameplay. This was the update I was waiting for, it still may not be the game everyone wanted, but it’s a big step forward in making the game Hello Games imagined.

The three modes you choose will impact the way you play. Normal mode doesn’t change much in terms of gameplay, but it’s the two new modes that change the way players play. Creative mode gives the player complete freedom, resources don’t play apart in your ship fuel or suit. The last mode is Survival which ramps up the difficulty. Resource intake is more severe, and environments are more hostile. These modes are a great addition, it gives more players different ways to play. Though I feel like these modes should’ve been at launch.

There are a series of tweaks and fixes in the patch notes – you can read them all here, I won’t get much into it. Base building was a feature that Hello Games was working on before launch. It’s more deep than I thought. The player can only build when there is an abandoned building. Over time you will be able to farm plants, build resource gathering robots, and recruit other alien species, which allows the player to discover new resources and technology.

The UI interface has changed and has been improved. The Quick Access Menu is easy and fast to navigate. A big problem with gathering was the player only had a limited number of resources in your inventory, they now address the problem with stacked resources – up to five stacks. The update fixes the time you travel on foot by teleporting your items to your ship. These are just some changes that were much needed for a better playing experience.

After three months of silent development, it shows that Hello Games knows that this wasn’t the game they wanted to ship. They knew that nothing they said was going to bring them out of the hole the dug themselves. The only way they could’ve saved their credibility was to put out something that was closer to what they have imagined. The Foundation Update isn’t going to fix everything, but if they release updates like this, it will bring them closer to their and the fans vision of No Man’s Sky.