In 2019, Hello Games added full VR support for No Man’s Sky, which we reviewed PC VR headsets and the original PSVR for PS4. In February 2023, Hello Games launched the latest update, codenamed Fractal, bringing PSVR 2 support to the PS5 version of the game. With that in mind, we’re here to give you our updated take on what’s been added to the game over the past few years and how No Man’s Sky runs on PSVR 2.
For those unfamiliar, No Man’s Sky is a space adventure and survival simulation that takes place in a procedurally generated infinite galaxy. You start out as an amnesiac astronaut who has crash-landed on an unknown planet. Your first goals are simple: recharge your livelihood and repair your equipment. Soon after you have a small ship to repair and then you can go into space and visit other planets and space stations and then start jumping between solar systems. During the game’s opening hours, you’ll also be introduced to basic building systems, alien races to trade and interact with, and much more.
I played and enjoyed No Man’s Sky at launch, but I ended up quitting the game after about 20-30 hours because it started to get a bit samey. I just jumped from solar system to solar system, swinging my way to the center of the universe and the current ending of the base story. Returning to the game for the Next Generation update upon launch on PS5 and Xbox Series X, I found the game packed with new things to do, new features and new possibilities. It still felt like the same game at its core, but with a lot more polish.
New boundaries
The latest Fractal update brings PSVR 2 support, but also an increase in texture quality, character spacing, and added reflections when playing in VR mode for both PSVR 2 and PC. Hello Games has also added some PSVR 2-specific features, such as haptic support for the Sense controllers and the headset itself. You can also now use the capacitive sensors in the trigger and grip buttons to perform gestures such as pointing, waving, or thumbs up in multiplayer. It even makes using the menus in PSVR 2 feel very natural – you can point to a new menu on your wrist with one hand, keeping you immersed in the world and feeling like a true sci-fi explorer. The vibration on your headset is also great for immersion, subtle rumbling when you leave the planetary atmosphere or when a large animal or vehicle comes close.
Something that has been added to all platforms with the Fractal update is new VR-specific interactions, such as physically pulling your canopy open to abandon your ship or grabbing and pulling different plants and organic matter around the world instead of getting there. just clicking. The grappling interaction is also particularly forgiving at a distance, so if you shoot under your teleport you won’t have to reposition to interact with an object.
There have been other updates along the way for the Next Generation and Fractal updates, adding everything from walking mechs, living ships to fly, and animal companions to tame. They also overhauled many aspects of the game, completely revamping the story and new player experience. It’s safe to say it’s a vastly different game, even when compared to the original 2019 VR support.
The biggest change for me was the new story experience and the redesigned space stations. My memory of space stations in No Man’s Sky was a sterile and small environment where maybe one or two NPCs sat behind desks. When I came back after the updates, I was immediately impressed that there was a lot more going on in these stations. At one point, I even came across an abandoned capital ship drifting through space that looked like some sort of Aliens-style horror story set in space. I didn’t have the right equipment to get far, but it’s encouraging to see opportunities like this come naturally during exploration.
Touch the sky
While I wasn’t a complete VR novice, before PSVR 2 I’d mostly played party games or smaller, more contained experiences, so booting No Man’s Sky in VR for the first time was an experience like nothing else.
In basic terms, No Man’s Sky’s gameplay loop is unchanged between flat screen and VR – saves are even compatible with both VR and flat mode, so you can take an old save and fire it up in VR or vice versa. However, it’s the added immersion that’s the biggest change when playing in VR. People often talk about the PS4 Spider-Man game as one where you really feel like Spider-Man, but it wasn’t until I played No Man’s Sky on PSVR 2 that I really felt like I was on another planet. There’s a pretty instant wow moment when you log in for the first time – I just stood still and spun around looking at the starting planet the game generated for me. As I explored my immediate surroundings, a huge capital ship entered orbit above me and slowly flew over the planet. Details like that really ground the experience and make the world feel alive, giving the procedurally generated planets more of a sense of place than other PSVR 2 experiences I’ve tried.