No Man's Sky fans playfully plead with Hello Games not to "overpromise" as lead dev describes new game Light No Fire as "the first real open world"

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By Anne-Marie Ostler
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"Looks amazing, Sean. Now, just make sure not to overpromise again"

Light No Fire announcement screenshot showing open world exploration
(Image credit: Hello Games)

Following the backlash No Man's Sky creator Sean Murray received when the highly ambitious spacefaring adventure didn't meet expectations at launch, you might think he'd be more cautious when drumming up hype for Hello Games' next project, but that's far from the case.

During The Game Awards 2023, Murray took to the stage to reveal the studio's new game, Light No Fire, which it's been working on for the last five years. Murray describes the game as "something very different" and "maybe more ambitious" than what's come before.

"For No Man's Sky, we generated a whole universe of sparse alien-looking planets, and that wasn't easy," he explains. "It was hard, but there is something that's much harder that we wanted to do." For Light No Fire, the developer is building the "first real open world" with a fantasy planet that's "bigger than Earth" and "without boundaries" that players can experience together.

"Something with mountains," Murray enthuses. "Real mountains, not video game mountains but mountains that are miles high, taller than Everest that when you climb to the top of them and look out, you can see rivers and canyons and continents."

While all of that sounds mighty impressive, and players are certainly keen to get their hands on Light No Fire, some on social media have been playfully pleading with Murray not to get too carried away when talking about the game.

After a bumpy start, Hello Game spectacularly managed to turn things around with No Man's Sky with a slew of updates, adding new content and features as well as visual and performance improvements. These days, it's one of the most popular space games out there and even managed to fight off stiff competition from the likes of Fortnite and Genshin Impact to claim the "Still Playing" medal at this year's Golden Joystick Awards.

For more experiences that are out of this world, check out our guide to games like No Man's Sky.

Anne-Marie Ostler
Anne-Marie Ostler
Freelance Writer

Originally from Ireland, I moved to the UK in 2014 to pursue a Games Journalism and PR degree at Staffordshire University. Following that, I've freelanced for GamesMaster, Games TM, Official PlayStation Magazine and, more recently, Play and GamesRadar+. My love of gaming sprang from successfully defeating that first Goomba in Super Mario Bros on the NES. These days, PlayStation is my jam. When not gaming or writing, I can usually be found scouring the internet for anything Tomb Raider related to add to my out of control memorabilia collection.

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