No Man Sky’s Xeno Arena update has given me something I never knew I needed: Pokemon battling in VR

No Man's Sky just added Pokemon battles to its ever expanding universe. The Xeno Arena update (which I'm still convinced must have started life as an elaborate April Fool's joke) lets you take the animal companions you've registered and use them in turn-based battles. At first, I figured this wouldn't really be that cup of tea; I can't say the battles have ever been my favourite part of the Pokemon games. Then I remembered that every new No Man's Sky update is immediately available in VR, and curiosity got the best of me.

The companion system in No Man's Sky has always been a neat, if somewhat trivial part of the game, but now I'm able to take my beasties and square off with intergalactic rivals, adding depth and a reason to recruit and register more creatures in my compendium. It's all particularly brilliant in VR, allowing you to oversee the battles as if you're standing there at the holographic table where the showdowns take place. Honestly, I don't think I'd ever considered how the turn-based Pokemon formula would work in VR, and while No Man's Sky's version is a pretty straightforward one, there is something great about physically being in the space where the sparks are flying.

Pet project

Hello Games has been trying something a bit different with its latest No Man's Sky updates. The last one was a garbage truck haulage simulator that actually served to give players more of a reason to use the Colossus vehicle. Xeno Arena may seem like an oddball one-off, but really it's there to add depth and focus to the companion system that's been in the game for years at this point. Slowly, but surely, Hello Games is recontextualizing old updates and giving players a reason to dive deeper into the world.

I've only really scratched the surface of Xeno Arena, and I'm unsure how deep the battling can really get. Still, there's individual XP and level up mechanics for each of your creatures, egg breeding, and apparently even the ability to face off against other players aboard The Anomaly (No Man's Sky's shared social space).

I've played the new update with and without VR, and it's surprisingly fun in both modes. I'm already completely changing the way I explore new planets since the update landed, as well. Thanks to a new scanner mode, I'm stopping to check out every creature I come across just in case they're secretly a powerful battler that I can then use to climb the ranks back at Space Stations.

It's VR that's really had me digging further into Xeno Arena, however. I'm going to show my age now and bring up the 2004 British children's TV show Bamzooki (think of it like a virtual BattleBots). In it, kids would design their own 3D creatures and then use them to take on different obstacle courses. I'm still unclear as to how that show worked, but on TV I was always mesmerized by how the colorful computer generated creatures were animated as the hosts and contestants stood around watching them. I always wanted to be on that show, and I'm happy that now, 22 years or so later, No Man's Sky's Xeno Arena is fulfilling my lifelong dream of being a Bamzooki master.

It's been five years since companions were added to No Man's Sky, and in all those years I've only really bothered adopting four or five of them. Just three hours into Xeno Arena, and I now have 11 registered, all with different typings and stats and genetic mutations (evolutions) that can be triggered. I need Nanites to unlock new slots so that I can build out my roster, which has me grinding in parts of the game I've not touched in years.

A sentient blood balloon named Hank

The creatures of No Man's Sky are decidedly more nightmarish than those of Pokemon, mostly due to the whole procedural generation aspect of how they're created. As such, one of my strongest Xeno Arena team members is a floating balloon filled with blood that drips a never ending stream of red onto the ground below him. He's called Hank, and for some reason he has impeccable combat skills. Then there's the 40ft sandworm I adopted a few years back that now has the ability to carpet the battlefield in a deadly smog of abrasive dust.

It's been hilarious to see some of No Man's Sky's weirder animals suddenly become ultra-powerful killing machines, though the game does mention several times that it's just holograms fighting, and no actual space oddities are harmed during Xeno Arena matches.

I'm liking this new cadence by Hello Games, as the studio adds depth to pre-existing systems and has me playing in new ways even after hundreds of hours. Unfortunately, I now want a Pokemon VR game, which isn't something I ever would have said before the latest No Man's Sky update dropped. Nintendo had better get working on a new cardboard Labo headset. I'd be there on day one.

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