No Man's Sky gets pirate freighter battles and Star-Wars-style trench runs

eurogamer.net:

Is the relentless predictabilty of freighter life getting you down in No Man's Sky? Well gloom no more because things are about to get a whole lot rowdier thanks to the exploratory space sim's latest free update, Echoes, which introduces epic freighter-to-freighter battles and Star Wars-style trench runs, alongside a new robot race and more today, 24th August.

Starting with those freighter battles, Echoes — which got the tiniest of teases to celebrate No Man's Sky's seventh birthday at the end of last week — expands on the game's previous system, which made it possible for small ships (whether they be piloted by players or NPC pirates) to attack friendly freighters and fleets. Come Echoes' arrival, however, players can encounter situations where merchant fleets are instead under attack from aggressive pirates freighters officially known as Dreadnoughts — which they'll have the option to defend against and defeat.

In time-honoured video game fashion, that involves attacking their weak spots, which is where the Star-Wars-style trench runs come in, requiring pilots to zip along narrow corridors in their opponents' hull to shoot their red blinky things (a combat HUD overhaul now handily displays the hull integrity of large vessels) until they're completely atomised.

Away from freighters, Echoes also introduces the Autophage, No Man's Sky's first new race since launch in 2016. This «never-before-seen, long-hidden race of robots» — which will take its place alongside the existing Korvax, Gek, and Vy'keen — comes with new story content and associated mechanics, with players able to take on assignments and rituals in order to earn a «huge array» of mechanical parts used to fashion their own robotic avatar.

Elsewhere, Echoes