Hello Games is working on a "huge, ambitious game like No Man's Sky"

News
By published

The studio just released The Last Campfire, a small-scale indie puzzler

(Image credit: Hello Games)

Four years after the release of No Man's Sky, Hello Games is hard at work on its next big game. The studio released The Last Campfire, a much smaller-scale effort, in August.

Talking to Polygon, Hello Games founder Sean Murray teased the studio's next original game, which will apparently be similar in scope to No Man's Sky. While he didn't reveal any other details, Murray described the project as a "huge, ambitious game like No Man's Sky."

No Man's Sky has lived a unique life, first releasing in 2016 after months of loud hype only to land with a thud. Even though theoretically you could fly around for literally millions of years without encountering two identical planets, there was a lot of empty space between those planets and not much to do once you landed. Critical reviews were mixed, at best, and No Man's Sky's legacy seemed to be cementing in damning memes.

But No Man's Sky 2020 is a very different game, thanks to Hello Games swiftly and resolutely righting the ship with updates leading up to major expansions like Next and Beyond. Today, the conversation around No Man's Sky has largely forgotten - or at least, forgiven - its controversial launch. Even considering the turbulent ride to success, Murray isn't sure what he'd go back and change if given the chance.

"There is this poison chalice or deal with the devil that I think any indie game developer would find actually a very difficult choice, right? The choice that we had with No Man's Sky where if I was to go back again, I would find it very difficult to know what the right path was. Where you will have incredible interest in your game, you will have a huge amount of excitement for it. But you will be in a rocket ship, launching towards the sun, and you will be building that rocket on the way up."

If you're preparing for launch for the first time or just need a quick refresher, don't miss our essential No Man's Sky tips.

Jordan Gerblick
Jordan Gerblick

After earning an English degree from ASU, I worked as a corporate copy editor while freelancing for places like SFX Magazine, Screen Rant, Game Revolution, and MMORPG on the side. I got my big break here in 2019 with a freelance news gig, and I was hired on as GamesRadar's west coast Staff Writer in 2021. That means I'm responsible for managing the site's western regional executive branch, AKA my home office, and writing about whatever horror game I'm too afraid to finish.