No Man’s Sky OMEGA Update Out Now Featuring a New Expedition, New On-Planet Missions, and Free Weekend

Hello Games is once again back with a massive No Man's Sky update called OMEGA. The headline feature is the addition of the titular Expedition (due to run for four weeks), which the studio said has been created from scratch to be the ideal introduction to newcomers. The over 25 free updates released to date might feel overwhelming from the outside, but this Expedition will guide new users through the basics of base building, trading, space combat, lore, and more, thanks to a series of milestones and quick missions. At the same time, the OMEGA Expedition features some of the best rewards available through Expeditions, such as a particularly cool starship.

There's a reason this Expedition is geared towards new players: No Man's Sky is free to play this weekend until Monday 19, for the first time since its launch in 2016. Any progress made during the free weekend will remain available after purchasing the game.

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There's more. Expeditions have so far been their own modes, but Hello Games is now integrating them into the main game. From the OMEGA update onward, travelers will get the opportunity to join Expeditions with customized provisions, bringing along their spaceships and multi-tools of choice, and then head back to their main save with all the loot and rewards gained in the Expeditions.

That's not all No Man's Sky players will find in the OMEGA update. The developers have also introduced a wide range of new procedurally generated missions available on planets. Talking to alien life forms will result in missions specific to their location, climate, and personality.

The Atlas Path has been revamped, allowing users to commune with the Atlas and honor it with a new Atlas staff, jetpack, and helmet. Last but not least, there's a new pirate Dreadnought players can obtain after defeating the pirate freighters and boarding the ship to take over