Hello Games releases a big update for No Man’s Sky, called Atlas Rises. According to the creators, the update adds 30 hours of new content to the story. Also, up to sixteen players can now see each other in the game.
It’s the first time that multiplayer functionality comes to No Man’s Sky. Before the game’s release, the developer said players could meet each other in space, but that did not prove to be the case. The new way to play together is what Hello Games called “joint exploration”. The patch notes describe this as followed:
Glitches in the simulation have begun to appear. Visualised by strange floating orbs, up to 16 players can see and communicate with one another, and explore the universe together. While interaction with others is currently very limited, this is an important first step into the world of synchronous co-op in No Man’s Sky. While interaction is very limited, VOIP (Voice over IP) allows proximity based voice chat with other nearby explorers. Use portals to quickly travel to more populated planets, or to meet up with friends.
The full patch notes can be seen here.