Check Up: No Man’s Sky (1.3 Atlas Rises Update)

It’s been a while since I did a check-in on No Man’s Sky. My last post for this game was made back in January for the “Foundation Update“. Since that time there have been a few incremental patches made to the game but all of these pale in comparison to the newest updated: Atlas Rises.

This is the patch that everyone was waiting for. With the introduction of 1.3, No Man’s Sky now has a proper storyline, side quests, and even limited player interaction! Gameplay elements added by previous patches are all integrated into the game’s new narrative, so simply playing through the storyline will ensure players can experience things like bases and exocrafts. No longer do players have to simply stumble upon abandoned structures to claim a base. This resolves a major pain point that players have been screaming about since the game’s inception.

Second on the list of big complaints by fans is; multiplayer. Even after it was promised by the game developers – the game has thus far, failed to deliver. Now, even with the Atlas Rises patch, we don’t have true multiplayer capability. But finally, players will be able to detect when they within the vicinity of each other and even engage in VOIP chat with another traveler. The developers have hinted that they will continue to expand multiplayer functionality in future updates.  – We’ll see.

For me, this patch addresses a lot of what was wrong with the initial game. While there was a certain charm to the mystery that was No Man’s Sky, having an actual storyline that sheds some light on things is more welcome than not. My biggest complaint seems to be with performance issues after the update.  I’m playing on a PS4 Pro, I do have the latest 1.31 patch yet I often suffer from temporary lock ups, stuttering and even occasional crashes.  Also, after experimenting with the new “Terrain Editor” weapon, I ended up falling through the world and getting stuck in some invisible water and dying on more than one occasion. Other’s have also complained about the performance, so I hope to see this addressed in the near future. This is the only game on my PS4 that suffers like this.

All in all, the Atlas Rises patch is a very welcome and much needed fix for No Man’s Sky. I hope to continue to see these types of enhancements in the future.