Hello Games announced the Prisms update for No Man’s Sky today, which brings a significant and stunning visual overhaul that improves the game’s aesthetic and adds new effects and features.
The sheer number of new visual effects is too large for us to list — the best way to explain the new visuals is to check them out in the trailer above. According to Hello Games, “virtually every aspect of the game has had a visual overhaul.” The update uses both new technology and new art to improve the visuals across the board.
To give a quick overview, the game has improved reflections, added new texture effects, increased biome detail, added volumetric lighting effects, added light refraction effects, improved starfields, added fur to creatures and much more. To see the full, impressive list of changes and additions, check out the patch notes here.
Weather effects have also been improved, with “rain which refracts the light and surfaces that become slick and wet,” along with caves that have new lighting effects and more detailed environments, along with a “greater variety of generation.” The night sky will now “shines with the light from thousands of distant stars” and new visual and audio effects have been added for warping between destinations.
Interior locations have received some love as well, with “volumetric lights, detailed surfaces from Parallax Occlusion Mapping and gorgeous reflective metallic surfaces” added to improve all those shiny metal surfaces. Flying creatures can also now be tamed and adopted as a companion, allowing you to ride them while they fly.
Photo mode now has “improved depth of field and bloom controls,” so you can properly capture all the new visual upgrades. For those playing on next-gen consoles such as the Xbox Series S/X and the PS5, there are “more detailed reflections, improved lighting quality, more detailed biomes.” As reported last month, DLSS is also now available to PC players, with PC VR support.
Following the Expeditions and Companions update, Prisms is the third free update for No Man’s Sky this year, with more to come.
