No Man's Sky free Xbox 'Orbital' update with Space Station overhaul out now

The spiritual predecessor to Microsoft’s Xbox exclusive Starfield, No Man’s Sky, just received a major update that delivers a Space station overhaul, greater ship customizations and Intervention Events.

The new ‘Orbital’ update for No Man’s Sky is a free upgrade that’s available for gamers as of today and follows last month’s Omega expedition.

With ‘Orbital’ the developers of No Man’s Sky say they tried to address a portion of the game that hasn’t been touched since it was released to the Xbox platform over five years ago, Space Stations.

The first thing to strike you about these news stations is their vastness. They loom ever larger upon your starship as you approach the docking entrance. Secondly, their procedurally generated exteriors mean that you rarely encounter the same form twice. Upon initiating the docking sequence, the large, cavernous landing strip you traverse hints towards a much larger interior than previous, again with a wide variety of layouts.

Sean Murray, Founder, Hello Games

Visiting the space station map users are immediately greeted with Ship Fabrication, a new customization tool enabling the creation of new starships with a wide variety of custom designs.

Users can get as granular as using parts of salvaged ships tp create “near-limitless” ship configurations.

Users will also get a chance to reguarly interact with envoys from the three universe guilds at one centralized location thanks to the updated Space Station.

The ‘Orbital’ update also introduces a new game concept called “Intervention Events” which will now support Frigate communication mid-journey.

Users will be able to direct or assist Frigates on lucrative missions in the middle of their expeditions allowing gamers to intervene to make sure those missions are successful.

In addition to some new gameplay aspects, ‘Orbital’ also brings the customary patches and improvements to various aspects of the game, all at no extra charge to existing Xbox Game Pass holders.