No Man's Sky's Swarm Update Introduces a Mysterious Death Star-Like Structure

Hello Games has rolled out The Swarm update for No Man's Sky, adding a "mysterious Death Star-like construct" to the sci-fi adventure.

The update brings "something new, huge and foreboding" to the skies above planets. Hello Games describes it as "unlike anything we've seen before." The patch notes, shared on the No Man's Sky website, are detailed below.

"Players are going to need a combined community effort to figure out what is going on," teased Hello Games chief Sean Murray. "Travellers will boot up to be greeted with a personality test, dividing players into three factions, each will need to co-operate, strategise and compete to counter the Hive of Glass, an existential threat to the universe."

"A war effort is being launched from the Nexus, with defenses rapidly being constructed, and a new bulletin page tracking progress," Murray continued. "Your contribution to the face-off with the Hive is being logged for all to see in both the Anomaly and the Galactic Atlas. Travellers will want to keep a constant eye on which squad is contributing the most to the war effort. The most effective faction will be memorialised in the Space Anomaly for all time!"

The Swarm update delivers No Man's Sky's "biggest and most epic space battles to date," according to Murray. "The Hive of Glass protects itself by releasing swarms of robotic drones, creating an awesome spectacle of battles with hundreds of ships. The Hive itself is a weapon too, with the iris opening to release the largest weapon we've ever seen in No Man's Sky. A laser capable of destroying freighter fleets and perhaps even something as large as a space station..."

"While in space there are huge battles, on planet there is investigating and pillaging the remains of crashed drones (using the newly-acquired Gravity Gun we introduced earlier this year). Shot down drones need to be salvaged and researched. There are miniature planetary swarms to defeat, and research efforts to sabotage the swarm's network. The secrets of the Hive's origins and weaknesses can be uncovered and shared with your fellow rebels."

Murray added: "The prospect of all existing Travellers converging on a single area of the universe to take the largest space battles to date, against the back-drop of an ominous, mysterious Death Star like construct, with the ability to destroy space station sized objects… is going to make for some exciting weeks ahead for us and for players. We can't wait to see how this plays out."