No Man's Sky Aquarius is the fishing update that Hello Games is "finally" adding after 8 years - and it was inspired by a single piece of fan art

(Image credit: Hello Games)

No Man's Sky is taking another step towards becoming the most complete game of all time thanks to its latest update - Aquarius - which adds a fan-inspired fishing update.

In a press release, developer Hello Games noted the launch of No Man's Sky: Worlds Part 1, the game's recent update that introduced a suite of upgrades to planets, weather, wildlife, and more. Of those improvements, the studio says that "something folks really loved in the Worlds update was the new water technology," and that "tons of players were posting videos of themselves just chilling at the water's edge."

One submission really caught the studio's eye, however - a piece of fan art "of a player lazily fishing from their wing of their boat." That simple doodle inspired No Man's Sky Aquarius, in which Hello Games "finally" added fishing to the game. Fishing will allow you to trawl the galaxy searching for your favorite spot to cast out a line in an attempt to reel in "a huge array of fish," with different habitat and catching conditions. You'll be able to earn new trophies, complete fishing logs, and even go on a fishing expedition.

It looks like a deep system, so much so that I'm not sure I entirely believe Hello Games' claim that they only whipped this up after receiving some cool fan art in July. There are traps to bait, deep water platforms to construct, and new recipes all added to the game as part of this update.

Nevertheless, No Man's Sky Aquarius remains just another step in the game's never-ending redemption arc. It's a smart one too, as myriad RPGs and farming sims have proved that players do really love to fish. I just hope the devs don't spend so much time sitting with a line trailing into some alien sea that they forget about Light No Fire.

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