No Man's Sky Origins Patch Notes Detail New Planets, Weather, And Sandworms

Last week, Hello Games revealed that a new update was on the way for No Man's Sky. Dubbed Origins, Hello Games teased that this update would be "the beginning of something new" for No Man's Sky, at the same time indicating that it wouldn't be as big as some previous updates. Today is apparently the big day, as Hello Games published patch notes for No Man's Sky: Origins just a few minutes ago.

Those patch notes give us a good indication of the scope of this update. There seems to be a lot of focus on environmental improvements in Origins, with Hello Games saying Origins adds millions of new planets, binary and ternary star systems, new alien life, and increased diversity among "planetary flora and curiosities."

Some planets will now be home to marshes, while others will have active volcanoes and firestorms. On the new planets that have been added, Hello Games promises "vast, sweeping terrain," that should give a much different feel from that planets that have been in the game up until this point. The terrain on those old planets won't be changed, with Hello Games saying that existing worlds "will retain their old character, allowing player bases to remain undisturbed."

Origins also brings about new cloud rendering quality that accurately represents cloud coverage when viewing a planet from space. We'll also updates to the UI, the portal interface, the discovery menu, and the crafting system, with a number of rarely-used items culled from the game to cut back on inventory clutter. Add to that insects, wild robots, tornadoes, lightning, and – at long last – sandworms, and this seems like quite a large update despite Hello Games' claims to the contrary last week.

As always, the arrival of these patch notes means that the update is rolling out today on Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PC. You can head over to the No Man's Sky website to read more about the Origins update, but otherwise, it sounds like players have a vastly expanded universe to explore beginning today.