No Man’s Sky’s new Outlaws update lets players go full space pirate

No Man’s Sky adventurers can get into the grim and gritty side of space travel with Wednesday’s free update, Outlaws. Outlaws focuses on the criminal underworld of No Man’s Sky, which has so far been window dressing for the space exploration game. While players can already hunt down rogue pirates, shoot up ships for loot, and sail with cargo, Outlaws gives us the tools we need to forge our own galactic crime syndicates.

Outlaws brings you space combat updates and the introduction of the first ship class in the game for more than 2 years, the solar sailship. The players will be able to hire and recruit their own squadrons. No Man’s Sky players had settlements filled with NPCs and kindly characters that ran frigates; now, we’ll have the ability to invite our friends to join us in combat.

Players will also be able to smuggle illegal goods, which comes with risk due to those pesky space authorities. Luckily, captains can now forge passports and evade cargo scans. The mundane task of traveling to ports or warping across the galaxy should be a little more exciting. After all, the Sentinels can now forge passports and evade cargo scans.

Certain stations can be found in Outlaw system, which are conflict-prone and rough. It’s easier for players to rob other ships and get into scraps in Outlaw systems. Players will also have to protect their own people, as enemy pirate ships can also raid their settlements. Pirate missions, technology, goods and lots of profits can be found by those who dig deep into the underground.

Recent No Man’s Sky updates have focused more on the planet-side aspect of the game, like adding settlements and giant sandworms. It’s interesting to see Hello Games return to space and make that element of the game deeper and more dangerous.

Outlaws will offer some quality-of-life updates, including an auto follow mode for space combat and an increase of the maximum number of ships that a player can own from six to nine.

No Man’s Sky Outlaws is out Wednesday for the PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X versions of the game. Hello Games is bringing its space exploration game to Nintendo Switch this summer, and the port will include all of No Man’s Sky‘s existing updates.