Free No Man's Sky The Abyss DLC brings submarines, sunken wrecks, and deep sea horrors

Though Red Dead Redemption 2 fever has well and truly struck the gaming populace since its launch last week, there's still life beyond the dusty dunes and snowy peaks of Rockstar's open world. Case in point: No Man's Sky is getting its first major update since the release of its game-changing Next expansion in Summer, and this one's all about life under the sea. Entitled The Abyss, developer Hello Games has been teasing the upcoming free patch for weeks, but today's new trailer (which you can check out below) finally sheds some light on what to expect after downloading the update onto your PS4, Xbox One, and PC.

"Oceans were always vast in size in No Man’s Sky, but are now a huge, deep part of our gameplay", says Sean Murray in a press release for The Abyss, explaining that the studio "wanted to focus on improving underwater, and also on some of the eerier elements of the game for Halloween."

As the trailer outlines, The Abyss expands No Man's Sky's underwater biomes with new flora, fauna, and deep sea creatures, some of which won't necessarily take kindly to the presence of your customisable space adventurer. 

Additionally, there's a new story campaign - The Dreams of the Deep - which adds new aquatic based missions to flesh out No Man's Sky's overarching narrative with more context and lore, complete with sunken wrecks to explore and underwater base parts to create your very own Rapture with. 

Last but not least, the Nautilon is The Abyss' new Exocraft vehicle, a nifty little submarine that can keep you safe and dry while exploring the depths of any planet's oceans, which can also be upgraded with extra parts and cosmetics.

The launch times for The Abyss update across each platform haven't yet been specified, but you can expect to be enjoying all of its new content in time for Halloween later this week, free of charge to anyone who already owns the game.  

Struggling to make ends meet in the procedurally generated universe? Here's how to make  money fast in No Man's Sky before The Abyss arrives later today. 

Alex Avard

I'm GamesRadar's Features Writer, which makes me responsible for gracing the internet with as many of my words as possible, including reviews, previews, interviews, and more. Lucky internet!