Hello Games announced that No Man's Sky received its first-ever update for the year called "Sentinel," which can be downloaded for free.
The update brought an overhaul to the survival game's combat system and weapons while it added new in-game elements such as a new robotic enemy in the form of the Sentinel Hardframe and new story-driven missions that they need to clear.
Combat Changes
The Sentinel update brought changes to No Man's Sky's combat mechanics.
According to a post on the game's website, Happy Games made several tweaks and refinements to several of its available weapons to make them more dynamic while creating an impactful combat experience.
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According to Game Informer, these tweaks include significant visual overhauls and retools for the game's Multi-Tool systems, including its Mining Laser and Scatter Blaster.
New combats upgrades are also added in the game to add more depth to combat.
These include upgrades that can stun or incinerate targets in existing weapons, those that can do the Multi-Tool deal extra damage to previously-tagged enemies, and a Cloaking Device for escaping combat situations.
The update also changed the Plasma Grenade, the Pulse Splitter, and the Boltcaster, while it improved the positioning of the player's weapons in VR.
Finally, the Sentinel Update tweaked the game's Sentinels to deploy their forces in greater forces.
According to the patch notes that are also posted on the game's website, the tweak was made to create more dramatic firefights.
New Enemies, Allies
The Sentinel Update also added new in-game elements in No Man's Sky, including the new robotic enemy called the Hardframe Exomech that the players will face when they venture into secured buildings or during high alert levels.
According to a post on PlayStation's Blogsite, these Sentinels can deploy their mobile energy shields while they can attack players with its terrain-destroying grenades and a plasma-powered flamethrower.
They can also launch themselves across the battlefield with their high-powered jetpacks.
Aside from the Hardframe Exomech, new Drone enemies are also added in the game, such as the Heavy Combat, Repair, and Summoner Drones.
The Combat Drones can use grenades, scatter shots, and a laser rifle while the Repair Drones can seek and repair any Sentinels and the Summoner Drones can call in waves of reinforcements to overwhelm careless Travelers.
The update also reworked the Sentinel Drones to make them deploy static combat shields and have them better pathfinding over rough terrain that will allow them to pursue any players inside buildings or caves.
Along with the new enemy is the new ability for players to reassemble and reprogram their robotic drone companion.
They can even salvage the Hardframe Exomech parts to build their own autonomous AI-powered giant mechanical escort.
Other Additions
Lastly, the Sentinel Update will introduce a new building type, the Sentinel Pillar, in No Man's Sky. According to the patch notes, these buildings can be found on planets across the game's universe.
From there, they will find Planetary Sentinels that can be shut down from the building's main terminal.
They will also find a new class of Royal Multi-Tool when they are harvesting weapon technology in the same location.
The update also added new story-driven missions, including ones where they need to help Space Anomaly uncover the Sentinels' secrets. Players who complete the new mission chain will be rewarded with a new title.
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