Hello Games’ Sean Murray wasn’t teasing Light No Fire after all, but No Man’s Sky Worlds Part 1 – a huge update featuring upgraded planets, weather cycles, wildlife, and much more

It turns out the No Man’s Sky studio wasn’t teasing its new game, Light No Fire, earlier this week, but rather a massive update for the spacefaring game itself, which has now been revealed.

Hello Games director Sean Murray sent fans into overdrive earlier this week with a single emoji. At the time, many took the little emoji to be an indication of a new announcement surrounding Light No Fire, the studio’s new game, but it’s now been revealed that the teaser was in fact related to a brand new update to No Man’s Sky.

Simply dubbed ‘Worlds,’ this update is billed as a “complete refresh of the universe” in No Man’s Sky. Planets are effectively getting a huge upgrade, with brand new flowers and fauna, as well as different terrain and new weather cycles, including hazardous lightning storms and intense fog.

Even planetary oceans have had a big overhaul, including waves for the very first time since No Man’s Sky launched in 2016. Planets also have wind patterns now, which will in turn feed back into the dynamic wave patterns that you’re going to see across the vast oceans.

Worlds bring with it “incredible immersion” with new storms, which sweep over the surface of planets and cause surrounding flowers and fauna to react accordingly, such as trees taking a battering, or sand billowing up from the surface of planet to further impede your vision. 

Coming with all these new weather features are new creatures scattered across planets, some of which seem understandably hostile to having a laser rifle fired at them. There’s the tease of the new “combat-focused Expedition” in the new Worlds update, complete with a hulking mech for you to pilot.

For those hoping this would be about Light No Fire, hope isn’t lost. Hello Games mentions it in a press release as an “insanely ambitious game,” adding that “over the last five years making game, we’ve learnt new things, and we’re feeding that back into No Man’s Sky. It feels like we’re bringing technology back from the future!”

Take a look at our guide to the best sci-fi games if you’re hankering for a new spacefaring adventure.