Summary
Asopen-world exploration gamesgo, few can match the depth and breadth ofNo Man’s Sky. The game has had 34 major updates so far, all of which were released as free DLC by the developers, Hello Games. The latest major update is Aquarius, which is primarily focused on the new fishing mechanics.
The Aquarius update forNo Man’s Skyalso adds a number of other new gameplay features, such as additional food recipes, a new exocraft, more things to discover, and an excellent new community expedition that shares the same name as the update. Overall, the Aquarius update and associated expedition give a lot toNo Man’s Skyfans and extend thesurvival gameplayas well.
7Tentacled Figurine
A New Ship Bobblehead
Hello Games began adding ship cockpit bobbleheads to the game back in 2020 and has continued to give away the blueprints for additional bobbleheads with each update and expedition. The latest addition is the Tentacled Figurine.
This bobblehead doesn’t give any passive bonuses as many of the previous bobbleheads have, it is purely cosmetic. However, it does fit with the theme of the Aquarius update very well, being a strange squid-looking creature. For players who enjoy collecting bobbleheads inNo Man’s Sky, this is a great new addition for them. It looks great in the cockpit ofexotic class shipsas well.
6Fishing Focused Discoveries
With Catches Tracked
With the addition of fishing toNo Man’s Sky, players have also been given a way to track their catches in the Aquarius update. A whole new section has been added to the discoveries catalog to facilitate this.
Fishing records show each type of fish that can be caught, giving details on where they can be located and the type of environment they prefer, andthe weatherthey can be caught in. Fish that a player has never caught are grayed out. Fish the player has caught are colored in, and show additional details such as the largest specimen a player has caught.
5New Cooking Recipes
Fish And Seafood Recipes
As part of the Aquarius update forNo Man’s Sky, a number of new cooking recipes have been added. Each of these uses some form of raw fish as one of the basic ingredients needed to cook the food.
Recipes that have been added to the game include fried fish, grilled fish fillets, pickled fish, and fish steaks among others. Overall, this adds a fun new gameplay loop to the game. Players can now go on fishing trips, and then come back and cook all of the fish they catch to make useful food.
4Automated Fish Traps
Catches Fish Over Time
SomeNo Man’s Skyplayers may not enjoy fishing for the raw ingredients to cook the food mentioned in the previous section. The good news for these players is that the Aquarius update added automated fish traps to the game, which solves the problem.
The automated fish trap can be constructed and placed in shallow water and will float on the surface trying to hook fish. The trap takes an hour to cycle completely, after which time it should be completely full. The trap has 4 separate hooks, each of which will catch stacks of different species of fish. It is a shame there is no similar automatedway to milk animalsas well.
3New Exo Vehicle
The Exo-Skiff
Many of the species of fish that have been added in theNo Man’s SkyAquarius update can only be found in deep water, out in the ocean. This means the player cannot fish from the shore and catch them, they need some form of platform to fish from in deep water.
There are a couple of solutions to this problem. Firstly, a player can use their ship to stand on and fish from, with the ship hovering on its jets over the water. Secondly, a specialized Exo-Skiff was added to the game in this update, which can be deployed straight from the player’s exosuit. TheExo-Skiffalso has plenty of cold storage to keep fish in.
2Aquarius Expedition
A New Community Expedition
Every major update toNo Man’s Skycomes with a newcommunity expedition, and the Aquarius update has an expedition of the same name. This new expedition is entirely focused on the new fishing mechanics, with the player completing milestones and phases that involve tracking down and catching specific fish.
Some of the rewards are excellent, and include a complete deep-sea diver armor set and the Lost Angler’s Fishing Rig. It takes around 10 hours to complete the expedition from a cold start, or even quicker if a player pays the cost in nanites to bring their main ship and multitool into the expedition.
1Fishing
A long Awaited Addition
One of the most commonly requested gameplay features to be added toNo Man’s Skyhas been fishing. Finally, in the Aquarius update, Hello Games has finally fulfilled this wish. However, it must be said that thefishing mechanicsare somewhat basic in practice.
That being said, where the new fishing mechanic inNo Man’s Skyshines, is in the massive number of species that can be caught. Many of these are only catchable on specific planets, or in specific weather for example. Overall, a fun new addition to the game.
